By Suzanne Bartole, County of San Diego Communications Office
Some County public health nurses work in disease control or bioterrorism prevention. Others work in disaster preparedness or immunizations. Or, like Robin Anderson, they work with new moms and their babies.
Regardless of their focus, all public health nurses have the same goals: improve safety, community health and access to care. Most nurses work within the Public Health Services division, but some work in other departments of the County Health and Human Services Agency.
Anderson educates expectant and new moms about good preventive and prenatal care, healthy eating, smoking cessation, stress reduction, oral health, baby care and safe sleeping and how to connect to health care, educational and other resources, especially for single moms who have dropped out of school, are unemployed or live in substandard housing.
Last year, County public health nurses like Anderson did 17,000 home visits to 1,700 families.
Suzanne Bartole is a multimedia designer with the County of San Diego Communications Office.
