Public Health & Mental Health

Public Health departments promote and protect the health of all who live, work, and play in counties throughout New York. Counties provide direct services and community partnerships in the following areas: development and maintenance of individual and community preparedness for public health hazards and events; investigation, prevention, and control of communicable diseases; prevention of environmental health hazards through assessment, regulation, and remediation; promotion of healthy lifestyles through outreach and education; and provision for evaluation and services to individuals, children, and families that have developmental delays and concerns.

NYSAC White Papers and Reports

2019

• Lead Poisoning Prevention: The Role of Local Health Departments and Changes in the 2019-20 State Budget - May 2019
• Making Cannabis Legal in New York State- Considerations for Counties (Updated September 2019)
• Marijuana Legalization- Fact Sheet (January 2019)
   
• County Coroners and Medical Examiners: Emerging Funding Challenges
• Counties Promoting Public Health, A Special NYSAC Report

Drinking Water Quality & Infrastructure

• NYSAC Report: Counties and Drinking Water Quality (2016)

• Letters from NYSAC and NYSACCHO to US EPA and NYS DOH -
  Re: Setting Maximum Containment Level for Perfluorooctanoic Acid “PFOA” and  Perfluorooctanesulfonic Acid “PFOS
  (August 2018)

• Clean Water Infrastructure in NYS (White Paper, December 2017)
• The County Perspective On Water Quality and Implementing the State’s Clean Water Infrastructure Act -  (December 2017) Testimony submitted by NYSAC to the Assembly Standing Committee on Environmental Conservation, Assembly Standing Committee on Health, and the Assembly Subcommittee on Oversight of the Department of Environmental Conservation

Battling the Heroin & Opioid Epidemic

• Opioid and Heroin Abuse - Fact Sheet, 2018 Budget Priority
• County Case Studies in Battling New York's Heroin and Opioid Epidemic
• A Primer on NY's Heroin Epidemic
• Video: An update on the battle against the opioid crisis - 1/30/18
• NACo-NLC Opioid Epidemic Task Force Report and Recommendations: Overview and Discussion (Webinar recording and report)
• County Leaders Unite To Fight The Heroin And Opioid Abuse Epidemic - 1/12/17

Public Health Issues

• NYS Budget Fact Sheet: Organ Donation
• Lyme Disease in New York State
• Medical Marijuana in New York State: An Overview