PHHE 295: Introduction to Public Health
Public Health Program
College of Health and Human Sciences
Northern Illinois University
PUBLIC HEALTH IN THE U.S. OVERVIEW
(60 points possible)
DUE: SUNDAY, MAY 3, 2020 by 11:59PM
Students are to visit their county’s health department website and answer the following questions through
research on the website. Other websites will need to be visited in order to complete this assignment.
Please do not use Wikipedia. Use only evidenced-based websites (usually end in .gov or .org). Please
provide written responses in full sentences.
Section 1: Your Local Health Department
1. When was your local health department founded?
2. What is your local health department’s mission?
3. How is your local health department funded? (Hint: Check the most recent Annual Report)
4. What are the health priorities of your local health department? (Hint: Check the IPlan or Strategic
Planning report).
5. Review the departments of your local health department. Select two departments and provide a
summary of each that includes the following (Hint: Check the most recent Annual Report for
numbers):
a. Department Name
b. Services provided
c. Number of services provided as detailed in the most recent Annual Report.
Section 2: Comparing the Federal and State
6. Obtain organizational charts from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS)
(Figure 2.2 on page 38 of your textbook) and the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH).
Compare and contrast these charts and describe their similarities and differences.
a. Which departments in both DHHS and IDPH are working together to oversee the COVID-19
pandemic? Explain why.
Section 3: COVID-19 and the Chain of Infection
7. Review the CDC’s information about the coronavirus pandemic aka COVID-19,
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nCoV/index.html. Review the chain of infection model found
in Chapter 4, page 103. Also, read the Prevention of Communicable Diseases section of Chapter 4
from pages 100 – 107.
a. Identify the causative agent, where it is believed to have originated, and the mode of
transmission of COVID-19.
b. What primary prevention strategies were implemented to try to stop the spread of COVID-19
in the U.S.?
c. What secondary prevention strategies were implemented to try to stop the spread of COVID19 in the U.S.?
8. Upon reflection of the COVID-19 pandemic, what did Public Health do well to try to stop the spread
of COVID-19 in the U.S.? Identify specific strategies of your local health department, IDPH, or
DHHS. In your opinion, what could have been done to improve the response to COVID-19? Identify
how your local health department, IDPH, or DHHS could have improved the response.
Type a 3 – 5, double spaced, 1-inch margin paper following the APA Style on your research. Your
assignment should be free from all grammatical and spelling errors and should use in-text citations as
needed. Your written assignment is due by 11:59 pm, CT on Sunday, May 3, 2020.

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