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Public Health Interview Report

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For the key informant interview assignment, I interviewed Sarah Rhodes, the Clinical Nursing Supervisor at Catawba County Public Health. She manages multiple areas at the health department including immunizations, communicable disease, and adult preventative health. Working with the epidemiologists at the North Carolina Division of Public Health, her role provides assistance in the monitoring and investigation of reportable communicable diseases. She works to ensure that infants, children, and adults are properly immunized to reduce the occurrence of vaccine preventable diseases. CCPH collaborates with the NCDPH to ensure that patients with infectious diseases such as HIV and syphilis receive proper care and follow-up monitoring and comply …show more content…

Catawba Valley Medical Center and Frye Regional Medical Center are the two hospitals serving the county. In addition to the local health department, many low-cost and free clinics are available to the community and include The Community Health Center, Mission Medical Practice, St. Joseph’s Catholic Church Good Samaritan Clinic, and Veteran’s Community Based Outpatient Clinic. The Ryan White Clinic is a specialty clinic that serves HIV/AIDS patients within the community. The Adult Preventative Health Clinic is available at CCPH and offers the Breast and Cervical Cancer Control Program (BCCCP), women’s preventative health, sexually transmitted disease testing and treatment. CCPH also offers an immunization clinic that provides immunizations at no or low-cost, in addition to a prenatal clinic. According to Sarah, CCPH clinics are well utilized by the public. Translators and Hispanic employees are available to assist non-English speaking individuals. Rhodes stated that the largest barriers to health resources within the community are transportation and affordability. However, public health works with individuals to inform them of low-cost services and programs, provide assistance with transportation issues and make referrals based on insurance and income criteria (Rhodes,

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