Small Business Spotlight - Obion County Health Department

The mission of the Obion County Health Department and the Tennessee Department of Health is to protect, promote, and improve the health and prosperity of people in Tennessee.

In order to better work towards this goal, Dr. John Dreyzehner, Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Health, established the Primary Prevention Initiative (PPI) in 2012. The goal of PPI is to focus the Department's energy on primary prevention, or eliminating risk factors for later problems. The intent of this project is for all Tennessee Department of Health employees to engage in primary prevention efforts in their communities.

In Obion County, the PPI Teams are composed of health department and regional office staff and their main primary prevention focus areas in Obion County are obesity and teen pregnancy. The teams present a number of programs around the county for adults and children including self-esteem and character building, healthy relationships and decision-making, nutrition education, exercise promotion, and workplace wellness.

The PPI Staff stated that they are most proud of the program they hosted with the Obion County Cub Scouts at their recent Pack Meeting. Because of the meeting's proximity to Halloween, the PPI team presented a program on bone health; what the scouts need to do to have healthy bones; and why healthy bones are important later in life. Following the presentation, the scouts played a rousing game of "Bone Bingo" which was a relay game that involved performing a variety of physical activities to fill a bingo card. Both the PPI Team and the Cub Scouts immensely enjoyed the program, and the team is looking forward to similar opportunities to educate Obion County residents in the future.

In addition to PPI efforts, interested residents of the Obion County Community are members of the Obion County Community Health Council. The council acts as a working council whose purpose is to address health issues of significance, resource availability and allocation, and to develop strategies to improve health outcomes within the community. For the 2014-2015 year, the Obion County Health Council has selected tobacco use and prevention, obesity, and teen pregnancy prevention as the top three priorities on which the council will focus.

For additional information about the Obion County Health Council or the Primary Prevention Initiative, please contact Jackie Franks at the Obion County Health Department at 885-8722 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..