Carrie Brogoitti, the public health administrator for the Center for Human Development, recently received an email with news that is opening eyes across the region.

The email informed Brogoitti that CHD has been awarded national accreditation from the Public Health Accreditation Board in Alexandria, Virginia.

“The first word I saw (on the email) was ‘congratulations.’ I was very excited,” Brogoitti said.

And for good reason, since national accreditation from the PHAB is coveted in the public health service community.

“It is the gold standard,” Brogoitti said.

CHD’s health department is the only organization in Eastern Oregon to have received PHAB accreditation and one of just eight in Oregon. Nationwide, 200 health departments have been awarded this accreditation. The PHAB launched its accreditation program in 2011.

Brogoitti said that the PHBA accreditation CHD received means that community members can have great confidence in the quality of public health services CHD provides.

“Whenever you see our seal of accreditation, you will know that CHD has been rigorously examined and meets or exceeds national standards that promote continuous quality improvement for public health,” Brogoitti said.

The Public Health Accreditation Board was created in 2007 to serve as the national public health accrediting body, according to the PHAB’s website. It is jointly funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Applying for PHAB accreditation proved to be an exhaustive and painstaking process. CHD began its application process in 2012.

“It has been on our radar for quite some time,” Brogoitti said.

CHD started its application process as soon as the PHAB began offering national accreditation based upon national standards.

“We knew (working toward getting accreditation) would benefit our community, so we got on board,” Brogoitti said.

All of CHD’s public health services were evaluated by the PHAB as part of the accreditation process, including its disease prevention program. CHD strives to prevent disease outbreaks by providing immunizations and information to the public about how to prevent the spread of communicable diseases.

As part of the program, CHD is also responsible for inspecting restaurants, temporary food booths and school food programs to make sure they adhere to state standards.

“We are responsible for preventing food-borne illnesses,” said Andi Walsh, community relations coordinator for CHD.

CHD’s public health department also inspects public pools and spas, summer camps and motels to enforce health and safety regulations.

CHD’s protocol for preventing disease transmission was among many items examined by the PHAB, as were its past responses to disease outbreaks such as whooping cough in Union County in 2015.

“They looked at how we handled real events,” Walsh said.

CHD is the Public Health Authority for Union County. As the public health authority, CHD also provides services for maternity and child health, the Women, Infants and Children nutritional program, adolescent health, bioterrorism preparedness and tobacco prevention and education.

CHD is one of 16 public health departments in the United States to be awarded PHAB accreditation earlier this month. The others include the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health in Los Angeles, the San Francisco Department of Health and two in Oregon: Jackson County Public Health in Medford and the Washington County Public Health Division in Hillsboro.

“PHAB welcomes these latest health departments and their communities to the growing list of those who have put their work out for review against national standards and have been successful,” said PHAB President and CEO Kaye Bender in a news release. “What that means is that the people living and working in these communities can be assured that their health department is strong and has the capacity to protect and promote their health.”

The CHD’s PHAB accreditation is good for five years, and Brogoitti said that it will be applying for reaccreditation. She emphasized that this will help keep CHD’s public health department intensely working to boost its level of achievement.

“Our work is not done. We will continue striving to be better and more efficient,” Brogoitti said.