ANDERSON COUNTY —

The S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) touches the life of every South Carolinian every day.

From making sure that drinking water is clean to assuring immunizations are provided to the most vulnerable populations, DHEC is divided into four general areas: Health Services, Health Regulations, Environmental Quality Control, and The Office of Oceans and Coastal Resource Management.

As part of Health Services, the Anderson County Public Health is in Region 1 and includes eight counties: Abbeville, Anderson, Edgefield, Greenwood, Laurens, McCormick, Oconee and Saluda. The Anderson Health Department provides a variety of services available to all residents.

DHEC Home Health

Services

— Provides health services to persons in their place of residence: (1) to assist them in achieving or maintaining their optimal health status; (2) to facilitate earlier discharge from hospitals and nursing homes; (3) to prevent or delay institutionalization; and (4) to provide care and comfort to the terminally ill.

— Certified Public Health Assistants — assist with medical monitoring, personal grooming, hygiene, walking and exercising.

— Medical social workers —provide assessments, counseling, education, advocacy, group-work, and resource linkage and community organization.

— Registered Nurses — coordinate, monitor, and provide medical services ordered by patient’s doctor. Instruct and explain to patient and family all phases of patient care.

— Physical therapists — help to restore strength, improve motion and relieve pain of disability.

— Speech therapists — provide therapy to rehabilitate speech, swallowing and voice disorders.

— Wound, Ostomy and Continence Nurse.

DHEC BabyNet

— If your child is birth to 3, BabyNet can check to see if there are any delays in his ability to see, hear, talk or move.

DHEC Vital Records

— Staff issues birth certificates for all of South Carolina. Death certificates are available for the county of death only.

— Process death and delayed birth certificates, corrections, acknowledgements, legitimacy and paternity.

— Provide identity verifications to state and government agencies.

DHEC Child Health

— Women, Infants and Children (WIC) certifications

— Immunizations.

— Newborn screening follow-up.

DHEC Children’s

Rehabilitation (CRS)

— Care for children from birth to 21 and some adults with special health care needs who have low to moderate incomes and eligible medical diagnosis.

DHEC Preventive Health

— Testing, identification and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases such as gonorrhea, chlamydia, syphilis, herpes and genital warts, etc. Risk reduction counseling for all sexually transmitted diseases.

DHEC Tuberculosis Control

— Treatment and close follow-up of all identified tuberculosis (TB) cases.

DHEC Newborn Home Visiting

— Available to eligible postpartum women and newborns.

— Includes a physical exam, nutritional assessment, education and family needs assessment.

DHEC Environmental Health

— Food Protection Program

Inspects places that prepare food, grocery stores and places that cater food.

— Investigates food complaints and when people get sick from food.

— General Sanitation Program.

— Issues permits for new septic tank systems.

— Inspects septic tank systems.

— Investigates complaints

— Rabies and Vector Control Programs.

— Advise how to get rid of mosquitoes, control rats, control insects and animals that carry disease.

— Investigate pet and wild animal bites.

DHEC Women’s Health

— Family planning counseling and education and help in selection of birth-control methods.

— Complete gynecological exams, including height, weight, blood pressure, breast exam, heart, lungs, abdomen check, pelvic exam and Pap smear.

DHEC Community-Based Services

— Promote community awareness about the effect lifestyle choices have on quantity and quality of life. These choices impact the leading causes of death in South Carolina, which are heart disease, cancer, stroke and diabetes.

— Respond to community requests for data collection and assessments, planning, grant writing and development of coalitions and support groups to address community health and quality of life concerns.

DHEC Epidemiology

— Epidemiology is the study of diseases and how they affect people.

— Strive to prevent and control the spread of certain diseases in the community working doctors and nurses, working with doctors and nurses, hospitals and laboratories, public and private schools, day care centers, and veterinarians.

— Responsible for keeping track of infectious diseases, follow-up of certain reportable diseases, investigation of disease outbreaks, and a 24-hour response team.

DHEC Pregnancy

Testing

— Prenatal care or birth-control information.

— Appointments for WIC certification.

— Appointments for prenatal care or Women’s Health for birth control.

DHEC Immunization

— Children are followed through the Immunization Tracking Program from birth to 24 months of age. Certificates of immunizations, which are required by law, are provided for child care and grades K-12.

— Annual clinics for flu vaccine are held in various communities each fall for clients of all ages.

DHEC Foreign Travel Immunization Program

— Foreign travel immunizations are available for the cost of the vaccine plus an administration fee.

Services are available by appointment only.

Supplemental Food Program for Women, Infants and Children

— The WIC program provides health assessment, referral, nutrition, education, breastfeeding support and supplemental food to eligible individuals.

— WIC services cover low-income pregnant, postpartum, breastfeeding women and newborns to 5.

Rachelle Propp Shirley is the public information director for DHEC Region 1.