About Us

Jefferson County Public Health (JCPH) is a nationally accredited health department [external link] committed to promoting health and preventing injury and disease for the residents of Jefferson County, Colorado. Public health is what we as a society do collectively to prevent illness and premature death and promote health in our neighborhoods and communities.

Mission, Vision & Guiding Principles

JCPH Mission

Promoting and protecting health for all people across the lifespan through prevention, education, treatment, response and regulation.

JCPH Vision

By 2030, we will achieve success with Healthy People, Healthy Places by purposefully serving and engaging the community, acting efficiently and effectively to address public health needs, using actionable and high-quality data and cultivating a thriving workforce.

JCPH Vision Slogan

Healthy People, Healthy Places

Guiding Principles

• Respect: We approach all people with esteem, understanding, dignity and empathy.
• Equity: We approach all people with fairness, impartiality and a willingness to help others.
• Collaboration: We work collectively for the mutual benefit of the community through the sharing of information, responsibility, resources and ideas to achieve our mission.
• Trust: We act with benevolence, integrity, transparency, reliability and competence.
• Innovation: We empower our staff to develop ideas, measure processes and improve methods to achieve our vision.

Programs & Services

Public health professionals monitor and diagnose the health concerns of communities and promote policies, practices and behaviors to assure our populations stay healthy. It is the collaborations and efforts of everyone that ultimately determine the county’s health.

With the support, policy oversight and mandates of the Jefferson County Board of Health, our programs work to:

• Prevent and control contagious diseases and epidemics
• Investigate health and safety hazards
• Protect our environment
• Prevent foodborne illness
• Link people to health care services
• Promote active living and healthy eating
• Advocate and enforce laws that protect the health and safety of everyone

Public Health’s 10 Essential Services

The 10 Essential Services describe the public health activities that all communities should undertake, and serve as the framework for the National Public Health Performance Standards. Public health systems should:

1. Monitor health status to identify and solve community health problems.
2. Diagnose and investigate health problems and health hazards in the community.
3. Inform, educate and empower people about health issues.
4. Mobilize community partnerships and action to identify and solve health problems.
5. Develop policies and plans that support individual and community health efforts.
6. Enforce laws and regulations that protect health and ensure safety.
7. Link people to needed personal health services and assure the provision of health care when otherwise unavailable.
8. Assure competent public and personal health care workforce.
9. Evaluate effectiveness, accessibility and quality of personal and population-based health services.
10. Research for new insights and innovative solutions to health problems.

The Core Public Health Functions Steering Committee developed the framework for the Essential Services in 1994. For more information, see the Public Health Functions Project website [external link].