Anyone with a smartphone now has Jefferson County Health Department services at their fingertips.
The Health Department has a new app available in the Apple Store for iPhone users and the Google Play Store for other smartphone users, said Jefferson County Health Department public information officer Brianne Zwiener.
She said the app can be found by searching for “Jefferson County Health Department” or “Jefferson County MO Health Department.”
“It will be our logo as the app image because there are a lot of different Jefferson County Health Departments.”
Zwiener said the app will be useful to a lot of people.
“If you don’t need any of our services, you can still utilize the app because we will be pushing out health information,” she said. “There is a push notification piece where we can send alerts like boil water advisories and things like that.”
Zwiener said push notifications are optional.
The app will allow people to send messages to the Health Department with questions or concerns.
Zwiener said the message section requires at least a name and message, but those who want an answer to a question must also leave at least a phone number or email.
“You need to put one or the other, so we have a way to follow up with you, but we don’t make it mandatory,” she said.
Zwiener advises people against sending messages about specific personal medical-related questions because they will be seen by the communications team.
If someone has personal medical questions, they should ask for someone to follow up with them or schedule an appointment.
Zwiener said people may expect a reply within 24 business hours.
She said the location of the Health Department mobile wellness van and dental vans also will be available through the app.
“It has a list of all of our clinics and events,” she said.
Zwiener said the app will offer people help 24 hours a day.
“At eight o’clock at night if you remember you need to get your kid into the dentist, you click, fill out the form and we’ve got your info and we’ll call you to schedule,” she said. “It’s really just convenient.”
The app also has a resource map with information about clothing assistance; food pantries; medication drop boxes; utility and rent assistance; physical activity options; healthcare agencies; and social service agencies.
Zwiener said she hopes to add more services to the map and if anyone knows of a service that should be on the map, they should send a message in the app about it.
She said she believes everyone can find something useful on the map.
“I can see caseworkers and police officers being able to utilize this when they go out on calls,” she said. “That’s why this part is really my favorite part.”
Zwiener said there also is a “Frequently Asked Questions” section.
“It’s really just to provide more information, have everything accessible to individuals and be able to reach more people in the county than we do with just socials,” she said.
Another feature is the “My Goals” section, which will allow people to track their progress on losing weight, lowering blood pressure, drinking more water and other goals.
Zwiener said the Health Department will not see any of that data unless the app users give permission to do so.
The Health Department Board of Trustees agreed in January to pay OCV LLC $42,986 to develop the app and support it for three years. OCV submitted the lowest of three bids for the project.
Zwiener said the department funded the app development with part of a $1,126,428 federal grant for epidemiology and laboratory capacity enhancing detection expansion.