Community Health Department

Positively Impacting Health

When people are healthy, they are able to participate in the lives of their family, friends and community. We seek to make Lawrence and Douglas County a healthier place by providing accurate information about factors that influence health, promoting the use of proven, effective health promotion strategies, and encouraging and supporting community-based changes in policies, systems and environment that positively impact health for all.

Some of the principal ways Community Health strives to make Douglas County a healthier place to live are:

  • Analyzing and publishing health impact assessments
  • Leading the community health assessment
  • Spearheading the community health improvement plan

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nosmokingTobacco Prevention

Leading Preventable Cause of Death

Tobacco use causes nearly 1 out of every 5 deaths in the United States each year. Smoking is the leading preventable cause of death in the U.S. and causes more deaths than alcohol use, illegal drug use, firearm incidents, motor vehicle crashes and HIV/AIDS combined. In Douglas County, about 1 in 7 adults identified themselves as a current smoker in 2013. The peak years for starting to smoke occurs among the very young, however. The peak years appear to be during sixth and seventh grades (ages 11-13), with many beginning even earlier. In 2013, 14.1% of Douglas County youths reported having smoked cigarettes at least once.


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Be Active Safe Routes

Safe Routes to School

Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health partners each year with the City of Lawrence to produce maps for Elementary and Middle Schools in USD497 that help families find the safest routes to walk, bike, skate, or roll to their educational destinations. We also seek to help promote safe biking habits and active transportation as a way to integrate healthy behaviors into practical activities. You can find all of these resources available for download on the Be Active Safe Routes page of our website.