DARLINGTON — National Public Health Week occurs each year in early April. This year’s theme is “Ready. Set. Action!” and calls on everyone to look back at the progress we’ve made and look forward to the steps needed for an even healthier future. Good health doesn’t just happen.

For more than 150 years, public health has reshaped what’s possible in the United States — adding decades to life expectancy and dramatically improving quality of life. These achievements didn’t happen by accident. They were the result of public health nurses, environmental health specialists, scientists and advocates doing the hard work of public health.

In celebration of National Public Health Week, the Lafayette County Health Department joins its regional partners in announcing the launch of a regional environmental health partnership “Southwest 7”, which includes seven county health departments in southwest Wisconsin. The counties include Crawford, Grant, Green, Lafayette, Iowa, Richland and Vernon. This regional partnership has been in existence in varying forms over several decades, but this announcement represents the largest footprint of counties to date. Additionally, it highlights the critical benefits of how working collaborative enhances the collective goals we are all striving to achieve.

Each county has a local health department. Often the work happening at the Health Department is invisible. Just a few examples of how the work keeps us all healthy and safe include making sure food and water are safe to eat and drink, testing homes for radon, making sure infectious diseases such as tuberculosis, measles or pertussis don’t spread; test ing a bat to ensure it does not spread rabies, and assisting with access to essential health services. The work of public health is also the relationships we foster in our communities. We’re all interconnected. We encourage our residents to come together to support our work in public health as we can’t do it without the help of the community. Everyone — individuals, families, communities and the public health field — can achieve the goals of public health.

More information can be found every day about the events and programs at the Health Department by following them on Facebook or check out their website or by calling the office at 608-776-4895.