Top 5 Healthy Ozarks blogs of 2022

In early 2022, Springfield-Greene County Health launched the Healthy Ozarks blog with a goal to connect, engage, and educate the community about public health related topics. Through this platform, we have worked to create blogs that are valuable to everyone so that you can make educated decisions about your health.

Before we begin a new year with Healthy Ozarks, let’s reflect on some of the top blog articles the community engaged with in 2022.

1. Public Health: Not Just for Pandemics

The most-viewed blog in 2022 detailed the extraordinary ways public health entities help their communities beyond COVID-19. Written by Assistant Director of Springfield-Greene County Health, Rinda Davis invites readers to learn more about what public health is, does, and contributes to the overall structure of our community including protecting and improving our community.

Read the full blog here.

2. 7 Ways to Reduce Your Risk of High Blood Pressure

Dr. Nancy Yoon, Chief Medical Officer at the Health Department, wrote the second highest viewed blog of 2022 about how we can reduce our risk of high blood pressure. High blood pressure is dangerous and often called a “silent killer” due to its lack of warning signs or symptoms. Checking your blood pressure is an important part of a routine when you go to see your doctor, but it’s also something you can check at home, too.

Read the full blog here.

3. We’ve Celebrated Pride — Now What?

Dr. Nancy Yoon and Public Health Information Administrator Aaron Schekorra teamed up for this blog post during Pride Month of 2022. Together, the two educated readers about how health disparities impact the LGBTQ+ community including inadequate care and discrimination leading to poor mental health.

Read the full blog here.

4. What you should know about Novavax, the new COVID-19 vaccine

When a new, fourth COVID-19 vaccine option became available to the public, many had questions about what it was and why it was different to readily available mRNA vaccines. In this blog, Dr. Nancy Yoon helped answer the most important questions circulating about the Novavax vaccine, including the difference between mRNA vaccines versus traditional vaccines.

Read the full blog here.

Novavax is offered at Westside Public Health Center (660 S. Scenic Ave.) only on specific dates. For more information, visit vaccine417.com.

5. Don’t Get Bit: Rabies and How it Spreads

Although the weather is significantly cooler right now, wildlife is still present and can cause fatal harm if they have rabies. This is why it’s important to not approach wildlife, feed wild animals, or try to handle an injured animal. In the fifth most-viewed blog, Kit Baumgartner, Supervisor of Animal Control & Stephanie Wohl, MSN, RN, Communicable Disease Prevention Coordinator, gave readers a break-down of how rabies spreads, how to avoid it, and what to do if you unfortunately are bit by a wild animal.

Read the full blog here.

As 2023 starts, our goal for Healthy Ozarks remains the same, and we hope the community continues to provide feedback about public health topics they care about.

If you want to stay up-to-date on new Healthy Ozarks blog posts, subscribe to the Healthy Ozarks newsletter by visiting http://eepurl.com/hYW1tX. If you have a health-related blog topic you’d like to see covered, email your ideas to healthpio@springfieldmo.gov.