A History of Public Health
In 2000, the Nebraska Legislature enacted Legislative Bill 1436, allocating millions of dollars to the Tobacco Free Network of Nebraska from the Tobacco Settlement Fund (Nebraska's share of the Multi state Master Settlement Agreement) over a three year period. This helped expand, create, and coordinate the existing tobacco coalitions in Nebraska. In the year 2001, Legislative Bill 692 provided $11 million to expand Nebraska's statewide public health system. Until 2001 local public health departments only served 22 of the 93 counties in Nebraska. As a result of Legislative Bill 692 almost all of Nebraska's counties have access to local or district health departments.
Today, Two Rivers Public Health Department is honored to serve the counties of Buffalo, Dawson, Franklin, Gosper, Harlan, Kearney, and Phelps.
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The Public Health Association of Nebraska created a timeline of the events that lead to the creation of public health in Nebraska.
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This is a scholarly article explaining the creation of local public health departments in Nebraska and explaining the activities of Tobacco Free Nebraska.
10 Essential Functions of Public Health
- Monitor health status to identify community health problems
- Diagnose and Investigate health problems, and environmental health hazards in the community
- Inform, Educate, and Empower the community/district about health issues
- Mobilize community partnerships to identify and solve health problems
- Develop Policies and Plans that support individual and community health efforts
- Enforce laws and regulations that protect health services and assure the provision of care
- Link people to needed personal health services and assure the provision of health care when otherwise unavailable
- Assure a competent public health and personal health care workforce
- Evaluate performance, accessibility, and quality of personal and population-based health services
- Research for new insights and innovative solutions to health problems
