The Ottawa County Department of Public Health received a state award for its beach health education campaign. The campaign educated beach visitors on how to prevent water-related illnesses, such as keeping pets off the beach and washing hands. Water tests over the past decade showed the county beaches had very good water quality, but advisories could not be posted for 24 hours after a water quality test. The education campaign provided a proactive way to protect public health at the beaches.

1. 4/20/2015 Ottawa County's efforts to keep people healthy at the beach honored with state award
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The Ottawa County Department of Public Health was honored by the
state for its beach health education campaign.
Ottawa County's efforts to keep people healthy at the beach honored with state award
Sue Thoms | sthoms1@mlive.com By Sue Thoms | sthoms1@mlive.com
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on November 06, 2013 at 3:24 PM
HOLLAND, MI ­ A beach health education campaign by the Ottawa County
Department of Public Health has been recognized with a state award.
The health department was awarded the 2013 Michigan Department of Community
Health Director's Award for Excellence in Local Public Health.
Ottawa County was selected because of its innovative collaboration and leadership in
its campaign to educate beach visitors on how to prevent water­related illnesses.
“Water test results collected over the last decade provide evidence that the beaches
in Ottawa County have remarkably good water quality and any surges in E. coli are
short lived,” said Adeline Hambley, environmental health manager. “Our challenge
was with the amount of time (at least 24 hours) between the water sample and
posting a no swimming advisory, the E. coli levels had already fallen below the acceptable threshold. We decided a better way to protect public health
was to be proactive and educate swimmers on how to prevent illness when visiting the beach.”
Messages to the public focus on ways to prevent illness, such as keeping pets off the beach, not feeding birds and washing hands before eating.
The health department also posts results of water sample tests on its website, miOttawa.org/beachwatch.
Sue Thoms covers health care for MLive/The Grand Rapids Press. Email her at sthoms1@mlive.com or follow her on Twitter, Facebook or Google+.
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