{"id":5781,"date":"2019-06-10T14:32:24","date_gmt":"2019-06-10T18:32:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goodwin.edu\/enews\/?p=5781"},"modified":"2024-12-19T17:10:06","modified_gmt":"2024-12-19T22:10:06","slug":"what-do-public-health-workers-do","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goodwin.edu\/enews\/what-do-public-health-workers-do\/","title":{"rendered":"What Do Public Health Professionals Do, Exactly?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Public health professionals have one of the most important jobs out there: they work to keep people and communities safe, healthy, and away from suffering. If you have a passion for helping people, and desire a true change-making career, the public health field may be for you.<\/p>\n

Right now, you may be asking, \u201cWhat do public health professionals do, exactly, and is it what I want to do with my future?\u201d This is a key question to ask as you consider your career options and potential educational path. As a public health college<\/a> in Connecticut \u2013 with both bachelor\u2019s and master\u2019s degree programs in public health \u2013 Goodwin College answers this question below. But before we dive into the public health job description, it\u2019s important to explain exactly what the public health field is all about.<\/p>\n

What is Public Health?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Public health is the science of protecting, as well as promoting, the health of people and their communities. It involves tracking, preventing, and responding to disease outbreaks. It entails advocating for, and educating people about, healthy lifestyles and self-care. It also requires great research, to identify the causes of disease, disability, and disaster, and to create strategies for change.<\/p>\n

Most of all, the field of public health is designed to improve our quality of life, and reduce human suffering across the world. As the CDC Foundation<\/a> writes, \u201cPublic health connects us all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, What Do Public Health Workers Do?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Public health professionals protect the health of populations. Think about it like this \u2013 in the medical field, doctors and nurses treat people who are sick and injured. In the public health field, professionals work to prevent<\/em> disease and injury in the first place. When an infectious disease is spreading, public health professionals work to track it, stop it, and keep communities as healthy as possible. They identify the causes of disease and disability, and implement solutions to treat them, but on a much larger scale.<\/p>\n

Like other health practitioners, public health workers also promote good health and wellness among the people with which they work. They encourage healthy behaviors and teach people (or populations) how to execute healthy habits and proper self-care. This might mean working with people on nutritious and healthy eating, or emphasizing the importance of good mental health.<\/p>\n

One of the core responsibilities of public health professionals \u2013 whether researchers, practitioners, or educators \u2013 is to research, develop, and implement programs for change. For example, they might work to identify the causes of gun violence in America, and develop interventions to lessen it in our communities. They might carry out changes to stop air or water pollution in regions around the world, or employ strategies to fight obesity and diabetes across the U.S. Currently, many public health professionals are fighting against the opioid crisis in America, developing strategies to prevent overdose, drug trafficking, as well as the birth of babies with neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS). Below are some other examples of what public health professionals will tackle on a daily basis:<\/p>\n