Celebrating 60 Years of Public Health in Southern Nevada

June 5, 2022 marked our 60th year serving as the public health agency charged with protecting and promoting the health of residents and visitors in our community. These past six decades have been filled with triumph and tragedy, and it has been an honor to serve as the District Health Officer these past few years and to be a part of the public health history that will continue to shape our community for years to come.

When the Health District began operations in 1962, the agency employed approximately 30 employees, including four sanitarians that inspected some 800 eating and drinking establishments. Today, the Health District employs more than 800 staff members that provide a variety of expanded services and programs, including inspecting more than 17,000 permitted food establishments each year with the same commitment to the people who live in and visit Southern Nevada.

The overarching goal of public health has always been to ensure the health and safety of communities. How that is done continues to evolve. In 1999, the Health District’s Office of Epidemiology was first established to conduct disease surveillance and investigate disease outbreaks, the internet was widely available and mobile phones were ubiquitous. Still, no one envisioned a time when tweeting, retweeting and status updates on social media would prove useful tools for an outbreak investigation. Social media proved to be just that in the wake of the 2011 Rock n’ Roll Las Vegas Marathon. In December of 2011, the Health District began receiving reports of gastrointestinal illness in marathon participants who fell ill during or after the race. Health District staff developed a survey as part of the outbreak investigation and posted it to the agency’s Facebook and Twitter accounts and the marathon’s Facebook page. Links to the survey were reposted and retweeted by marathon participants in several running forums. These venues proved to be effective methods for soliciting responses to the survey. Fast forward to 2022 and social media is now a routine communication method for the Health District for everything from program and special event information to ongoing updates during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 1964, the U.S. Surgeon General first reported the link between smoking and lung cancer. Since that time smoking cessation and intervention activities have evolved into innovative and evidence-based programs designed to help ensure people quit, or better yet never initiate tobacco use. In Nevada, efforts to enact smoke-free policies have met incremental successes over the past decades. These successes include the passage of the Nevada Clean Indoor Air Act in 2011 and more recently, decisions by a few local sports venues and the University of Nevada Las Vegas to become a smoke-free campus.

Today, we are still treating diseases we once hoped would be eradicated such as tuberculosis and syphilis. However, we have more tools at our disposal than would ever have been thought possible 60 years ago to help ensure our services are more accessible to our clients. Services are available to clients in non-traditional settings including the Sexual Health Clinic at All Saints Episcopal Church, and at-home testing kits for gonorrhea, chlamydia, and HIV can be ordered online through the Health District’s Collect 2 Protect program.

The Health District looks forward to leading our community into 60 more years filled with innovative programs and services, public health milestones, and working alongside our partners to meet the inevitable challenges we know our community will face.

View the Health District's timeline 1962-2022

Clark County reaches high COVID-19 community level

Clark County has reached a high community level for COVID-19, and the Southern Nevada Health District is strongly recommending individuals wear masks when in public indoor places and they stay up to date on their COVID-19 vaccines. People who have symptoms or have been in contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19 should get tested, and people who are sick should stay home and isolated from others in their household. Those who are at higher risk for severe illness may need to take additional precautions. This can include having a plan for rapid testing if needed and talking to your health care provider about options for treatments with oral antivirals and monoclonal antibodies.

Important Food Handler Safety Training Card Update

As businesses have fully reopened following COVID-19 closures and new food handlers are being hired or existing employees are initiating renewals, the demand for the Food Handler Safety Training Card program has surged. To meet the demand of our food industry workforce members, we have expanded appointment availability and are adding additional appointments to the schedule.

Environmental Health staff will continue to waive demerits for food handlers without cards through December 31, 2022. Additionally, Environmental Health staff will be evaluating the ongoing availability of Food Handler card appointments and adjust the date for waiving demerits, if necessary, so that businesses will not receive demerits for expired/missing cards until every food handler can reasonably test and receive their card. The Food Handler Safety Training Card website has also been updated to allow clients to look up their appointment times and reschedule their appointments if needed.