During the first full week of April each year, the American Public Health Association (APHA) brings together communities across the United States to observe National Public Health Week (NPHW) as a time to recognize the contributions of public health and highlight issues that are important to improving our nation’s health.

The theme for National Public Health Week 2024 is Protecting, Connecting and Thriving:  We Are All Public Health. The DeKalb County Health Department (DCHD) has taken part in NPHW by sharing the daily themes on social media, encouraging community engagement in NPHW and participating in outreach events. Saturday’s daily theme for NPHW is emergency preparedness. DCHD will be continuing to feature this theme the entire month of April to highlight the importance of preparedness. This past week, DCHD staff have participated at various events to encourage community members to build or restock emergency supply kits. During the outreach events held at NIU, Cortland Public Library and Sandwich Public Library, community members had the opportunity to receive an emergency supply kit to help launch their emergency supplies.

Visit DCHD staff at one of the events below to receive an emergency supply starter kit:

• Genoa Public Library April 10^th from 10am-2pm
• Kishwaukee YMCA’s Healthy Kids Day April 13^th from 1pm-3pm
• Genoa Area Food Hub April 15^th from 9am-11am
• DeKalb Public Library April 16^th from 9:30am-11:30am
• Community Health Fair-Fox Valley Community Services April 16^th  from 1pm-3pm
• Malta Public Library April 25^th  from 10am-2pm

Please note kits will be distributed while supplies last. Visit the APHA’s website at https://www.nphw.org for more information about National Public Health week.

For additional information, visit the DeKalb County Health Department’s website at https://health.dekalbcounty.org/