We are the Mid-Ohio Valley Health Department. Our mission is to do everything in our power to protect the health of the communities in Roane, Wood, Pleasants, Calhoun, Wirt and Ritchie counties. Our services are broken broadly into four areas: Clinical; Women, Infants, and Children; Environmental; and Threat Preparedness.
Our Environmental Health Services Department conducts inspections and surveillance activities to protect the public from diseases that are largely food or water borne. This section permits and inspects food service operations, septic tank and home aeration systems, water wells, day care facilities, swimming pools and mobile home parks. Besides food and water borne diseases, the Environmental Health Services Department also conducts a variety of activities to monitor West Nile Disease, such as mosquito trapping and dead bird collection, and to monitor the spread of Rabies by collecting and analyzing the brain stems of certain dead animals.
The Clinical Services Department offers a various services, some of which focus on general health while others target specific contagious diseases. We offer developmental screenings and immunizations for diseases through our Children’s Clinics, Immunization Clinics and Healthcheck Clinics. We offer TB, STD and HIV testing and monitor contacts of infected individuals to restrict the spread of these diseases. We offer Family Planning Services, Flu and Pneumonia shots, and Blood Pressure testing. We also investigate outbreaks of a variety of diseases and introduce control measures to minimize their spread.
Women, Infants, and Children, otherwise known as WIC, serves income-eligible pregnant, post-partum, breast-feeding women, infants and children up to five years of age. It provides free nutritional educational and counseling, breast-feeding support, nutritious foods such as milk, cheese, juice, eggs, infant cereal, and infant formula for those who choose not to breast feed. Clients and their children also receive regular health screenings and medical referrals if necessary.
Our Threat Preparedness Program is charged with planning, preparing and organizing Health Department responses to both bio-terrorism and suddenly emerging diseases. Volunteer recruitment and training, coordinating with other first-responders (such as Red Cross, Police, and Fire), rapid dissemination of health alerts from the Centers for Disease Control and other such sources, and disease surveillance are main focuses of this program.
Like some other public agencies, we are charged to serve and protect. Opportunities exist within the Health Department to volunteer, whether to help in times of crisis when many people will be needed to assure that the necessary drugs are delivered to the residents of our communities during a life-threatening disease outbreak, or just to help us with some of the day-to-day activities of trying to make our communities healthier. We are your Health Department!