Check out what Hennepin County Public Health accomplished in 2022.
Healthy You, Healthy Hennepin gives you an up-close look at what’s happening in Hennepin County that helps each and all of us be healthier and stronger. New stories are added regularly. Subscribe today for email updates.
The opioid and HIV epidemics cannot be addressed in isolation. As part of its opioid prevention response, Hennepin County is partnering with the Aliveness Project, a Minneapolis nonprofit that’s tackling HIV.
For many people, Hennepin County Health Care for the Homeless is their only access to health care. When COVID-19 hit, staff figured out how to respond.
During COVID-19, Hennepin County provided 2.7 million masks (and counting) to our community -- with the help of over 600 community partners. Here's the "behind the scenes" story.
Between January 2020 and July 2022, Public Health's logistics team has supported 187 COVID-19 testing events. They’ve also supported 516 vaccine events where 35,676 people have received 71,845 vaccines.
Hennepin County Public Health supported more than 160 community-based vaccine events between April 2021 and today.
Implementing the navigation center phone line was an important accessibility improvement undertaken by the county and a commitment to equity in the vaccine response.
During the pandemic, dozens of staff provided food, medications, and other essential services to Hennepin County residents who'd tested positive for COVID-19.
Due to COVID, many kids fell behind on childhood immunizations. Baby Tracks is taking innovative approaches to help.
Through a unique partnership, House of Dance Twin Cities is using dance and music to bring people together, build trust and friendship, and promote COVID-19 vaccination.
The county has partnered with dozens of community partners to administer the COVID-19 vaccine.
The strategic plan charts a course for the future of Hennepin County Public Health and its service to the county.
News of the opioid epidemic has gotten lost beneath COVID-19. Here's what's going on.
A message for people and communities in Hennepin County to take heart and take steps to stay healthy and safe from COVID-19.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, Franny Dorr, a Hennepin County epidemiologist, has spent hours on the phone, talking to people with COVID-19 and people they may have exposed.
Three staff at the Hennepin County Public Health Clinic describe how they've adapted their work to serve clients safely.
When Avra's daughter was nine weeks old, Minnesota had its first confirmed case of COVID-19. Throughout the subsequent shutdowns, one thing's been constant: WIC.
Learn how Hennepin County's Strong Beginnings partnership to trying to help children get the quality childhood care they need to support optimal brain development.
Check out what Hennepin County Public Health accomplished in 2019.
Since 2014, the Twin Cities Mobile Market has been bringing hundreds of food items to neighborhoods and housing units where people may find it difficult to access or afford fresh, healthy food.
Each week, Naomy provides mental health care to people experiencing homelessness in the Twin Cities.
Sisters Olivia and Sylvana had never taken swim lessons before Hennepin County's Make a Splash program. Now they’ve learned to float, kick, glide, and are starting to practice swim strokes.
A paid internship at Brooklyn Center High School is empowering youth to act as peer sexual health educators and to identify health issues they can improve within their school district.
Tyrone Patterson serves in the Army and provides clinical care to people with mental illness. For many years, he’s also struggled, sometimes silently due to stigma, with his own mental illness.
Each week, injection drug users visit Hennepin County Red Door Clinic’s syringe exchange program. The program has a surprising number of public health benefits.
Learn how kids, adults, and families are staying active, having fun, and connecting with their communities through the Step to it challenge.
For two decades, Dr. LaVonne Moore has been on a quiet crusade. Her passion project? Helping women all over the Twin Cities overcome barriers to breastfeeding.
Women face barriers to breastfeeding, especially women of color. A WIC program is trying to help by pairing breastfeeding mothers with women who have experience breastfeeding their own children.
Four friends were disturbed by how much food in the Twin Cities is wasted. So they did something radical about it.
Moving from Zimbabwe to Minnesota gave Fadzai Manungo eye-opening insights into health equity.
In 2009 an ambitious health and wellness initiative launched in south central Minneapolis. It's driven entirely by the community.
Last year, 162 people in Hennepin County overdosed on opioids. Read about a local couple who was affected, what we're doing to combat the epidemic -- and how you can help.
In January 2016, Toni Plante's 15-year-old daughter Ana took her own life. Read this article to hear Toni's story and to learn about local suicide prevention resources.
From a windowless basement office, Urban Landreman and Mei Ding oversee a survey that assesses the unique health issues facing Hennepin County residents.
Arnetta Philips and others are leading a community campaign to show people that menthol tobacco is harmful -- and that campaign is leading to new legislation.
Many people have barriers to receiving regular, preventive care. Cheryl Branch, a senior community health worker with Hennepin County Child and Teen Checkups, uses songs, humor, and personal stories to break those barriers.
In 2017, Minnesota was hit with its largest measles outbreak in 25 years. Here's what happened next.
When Robert Gillum was diagnosed with HIV in 1987, the options and outlook were much different. Today, with his HIV suppressed, he counsels patients that -- with testing and treatment -- viral suppression is possible.
Single dad Douglas Taylor visited WIC because he was struggling to afford infant formula. He discovered more than formula.
Jeanie was 17 when her father was diagnosed with prostate cancer. Nine years later, he died from the disease.
Two-year-old Rim was displaying a variety of developmental delays. But then a connection to a statewide initiative that targets early childhood development changed everything.
Keith started gambling in 2011. Before long he was spending 10 hours a day, most days, at the casino. Then he started using his company credit card to gamble.
Beware the temperature danger zone.
Minneapolis is one of the best bike cities on Earth. But not if you're living with a disability.
It's not just young women who have them.
Seven years ago, Brian Kamin's life changed forever, when he discovered that his father Mel had Alzheimer's disease. But the Kamin family experience is not unusual. Five and a half million Americans are struggling with the disease.
After the birth of her first son, it took Emily Larson a few months to realize that how she was feeling wasn't normal.
In 2006, Polly Buttrum's apartment went up in flames. The culprit? Cigarettes. Spurred on by stories like this, there's been a nationwide trend toward smoke-free housing.
After a hospitalization, Scott, who's homeless, would have been discharged to the streets. Instead, he was transferred to a medical respite program.
An innovative youth development program aims to curb the teen pregnancy rate.
Tim Bakula has battled major depression for most of his adult life. Shortly after a 2016 psychiatric hospitalization, providers offered Bakula an unusual prescription: biking.
Quaylon, a military veteran and father, used Bridging to help restart his life.
Pat's cycled in and out of the criminal justice system so many times he’s lost count. But this time he’s receiving a different set of supports through Hennepin County’s Criminal Justice Behavioral Health Initiative.
This misunderstood mental illness affects two to five percent of the population.
For DeWayne Davis, a pastor at All God’s Children Metropolitan Community Church, combating the HIV/AIDS epidemic is personal.
At an independent senior community complex in Brooklyn Park, residents play fruit and veggie bingo and grow organic produce. And that's only part of their campaign to combat Alzheimer's and other dementia.
The FBI ranks the Twin Cities among the top 13 metropolitan areas in America for sex trafficking. In 2013, a woman named Vosiney escaped this life and now helps others restart their lives, too.
Emergencies happen in a hurry. Be ready. Start now.
People with intellectual and/or development disabilities lag behind the general population in healthy eating, physical activity, and more. An innovative horticulture project is trying to help.
When he was two, Tonio was jumbling sentences and misbehaving in daycare. Then his mother scheduled an early childhood screening.
At a Minneapolis homeless shelter, providers are teaching pregnant women about parenthood.
Providers are overprescribing opioid painkillers and the excess supply is being used by teens and adults. Opioid painkillers can lead to addiction and overdose -- and they can be gateway drugs to substances like heroin.
These health care providers are prescribing something innovative for people with mental health and chemical dependency issues. Employment support.
This bacterial infection doesn't always cause symptoms -- and it's increasing in broader segments of the population at an unprecedented rate.
Every year there are thousands of infectious disease outbreaks at childcare and school settings across America. Hennepin has resources that can help.
After a horrific sexual assault, this survivor created a forum for other sexual assault survivors to heal.
Not eating more veggies is fueling the obesity epidemic. And that epidemic is costing Minnesota $3 billion per year.
They've been abandoned, rejected, abused, neglected. Homeless youth seek shelter at night and try to build normal lives during the day.
Needle exchange programs save lives and stop the spread of HIV and hepatitis.
Active minds stay healthy longer. Reading is a good Rx.
For these disabled veterans, kayaking is a form of therapy.
It's invisible and odorless but dangerous. Are you at risk? A simple test will tell you.
The Blue Line Extension opens in 2021. By 2030, it will carry 27,000 riders each day.
It can be tough to control. These men are teaching other men how.
Some paramedics aren't just responding to emergencies. They're preventing them.
Kris's parents never read to her. Now she's breaking the cycle -- from behind bars.
She was 14 and a freshman honor roll student. Then she found out she was pregnant.
The Orange Bike Program boosts bike ridership and fitness in north Minneapolis.
Jared Walhowe's 4,800 square-foot “giving garden” feeds hundreds of hungry Minnesotans.
After Jessica LaPoint joined a workforce wellness program, her fitness skyrocketed.
DeVon Nolen is on a mission — to improve the health of north Minneapolis residents.
Chia Yang knows the value of talking to a doctor. An important discovery more than 25 years ago saved his life.
Mental health emergencies are never planned. Yet they happen. That’s why COPE exists.
In the Land of 10,000 Lakes, there are 10,000 and 1 good reasons to stay safe near water. One moment can change everything.
It’s a mid-July mid-afternoon and the movie “Wet, Hot American Summer” is playing at the Uptown.
Get email updates when new stories appear. Subscribe now.
