Jefferson County

Public Health Department

The County Health Department's mission is to promote good health practices, keep the environment clean, healthy and safe, and to help people enjoy good health and use resources effectively.

Vaccinations

The County Health Department offers vaccinations on a sliding fee scale basis. Below are the reccomended vaccinations by age. Information on the sliding fee scale is available here.

WIC (Women, Infants and Children)

WIC is the special supplemental Nutrition Program from the USDA for Women, Infants and Children. It provides valuable nutrition and health information to its participants. WIC helps families learn how to make healthy lifelong nutrition and lifestyle choices. Women who are pregnant, breastfeeding or just had a baby are eligible, as well as children ages 0-4 years of age.

Studies show pregnant women participating in WIC seek earlier prenatal care. Early prenatal care contributes to having healthier pregnancies and delivering healthier babies. WIC's supplemental foods add key nutrients such as protein, Vitamins A and C, iron and calcium to their diets. Children on WIC show improved iron levels (less anemia), have better vocabularies, have improved access to regular health care and have increased immunization rates when compared to other eligible children not on WIC

Participation in WIC is separate from all other programs. You do not have to participate in other programs to take advantage of WIC's many services. Being on WIC does not affect your participation in other programs. See the State WIC Program website for more details. http://dphhs.mt.gov/publichealth/WIC

Immunizations and Screening Tests

School Staff and Officials:Changes to the Administrative Rules of Montana mean school and daycare staff no longer need to be tested for tuberculosis.

Why do we vaccinate? Vaccines work!

Parent information from Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia: here.

Worldwide benefits of vaccination programs:Information available here.

What shots are required for Montana K-12? Find out here.

Planning/Preparing for Emergency Situations:

More information is availableon the Jefferson County Disaster and Emergency Services web page and pick one area each month to improve preparedness for business or home. here.

OTHER NEWS:

West Nile virus has been detected in 2 mosquito pools as of July 24th, 2018: Cascade County (Great Falls area) and Lewis and Clark County (Helena region). Please take precautions to avoid mosquito bites and limit mosquito breeding grounds.

This Time Magazine article from 2016 was specifically dealing with Zika Virus, which is not present in Montana, but it has very good advice for eliminating stagnant water reservoirs around personal property. http://time.com/4354955/repel-kill-mosquitoes-zika-virus/ ). Also, an additional article on mosquito management of ponds, fountains, and water gardens is worth reading if you’ve got those features on your property http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10847

Take Steps To Prevent West Nile Infection This Summer

Where to get Tested