In March 1995 President Bill Clinton declared the first week of April to be National Public Health Week. Here are some exceprts from his proclamation:

While our society’s medical technology has advanced to a level unimaginable to the generations before, the crucial job of ensuring basic public health for all remains just beyond our reach.

Providing safe living and working environments, developing methods to immunize populations against infectious disease, maintaining good nutritional standards, and having good prenatal care for everyone are vital endeavors—and such primary and preventive measures can mean the difference between life and death.

Those words still resonate 18 years later. Here is a link to events happening around the state as part of Oregon’s Public Health Week. Here are a couple to look out for in Portland:

  • April 3rd, 7pm in the OHSU Auditorium (PDX): A showing of Escape Fire: The Fight to Rescue American Healthcare, a CNN produced documentary.
  • April 4th, 7pm in the OHSU Auditorium (PDX):  An evening with Michael Moss, Pulitzer prize-winning journalist and author. His talk is titled “Salt, Sugar, Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us”
  • Not everything is scheduled in Portland though. Other events around the state can be found at the Oregon Public Health Association website.