During National Public Health Week this week, UT Tyler School of Health Professions is emphasizing prevention and encouraging people to be active through events focused on nutrition, cardiovascular and brain health.
A week's worth of events highlight the importance of taking charge of your health and reflect the 2025 theme: “It starts here.”
“I want people to understand that not only can they make their own health better, but there are ways they can make the community's health better and if we work together as a community we can really change the health patterns in our community,” said Theresa Byrd, UT Tyler School of Health Professions Dean.
Northeast Texas has wider health disparities than the state of Texas. Residents have higher rates of heart disease, stroke, diabetes and lung cancer. The disparities are worse in rural northeast Texas, Byrd said.
Nationally, smoking rates have decreased while rates remain high in Northeast Texas. Rates in Northeast Texas are double the national average. More than one in four people smoke in this region, Byrd said.
The local events lined up for National Public Health Week include a health fair, walk with Tyler Mayor Don Warren at the Tyler Rose Garden, a presentation about the role diet plays in health at the East Texas Food Bank, a screening of a short film about public health and a talk on cardiovascular health and brain health at UT Tyler. In addition, local city and county officials will acknowledge National Public Health Week during Tyler City Council and Smith County Commissioners Court meetings.
This will be the second year doing the walk with the mayor. Last year, many community members showed up for the event, Byrd said. She hopes more people come out and take a walk in the Tyler Rose Garden on Monday at 10 a.m. for the kickoff to National Public Health Week. In addition, winners of the NET Health photography and essay contest will be announced.
UT Tyler School of Health Professions appreciates the support from NET Health and their efforts in the community to promote public health.
"We have one of the best health departments I've ever seen, and I've been doing this for a long time," Byrd said. "They're an awesome health department, very community oriented, and they very much support this kind of event, so we're excited to work with them."
On Tuesday, people can visit the East Texas Food Bank to listen to Dr. Maiya Madhura, UT Tyler School of Health Professions Assistant Professor, as she gives a presentation about nutrition from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.. In addition, Kinsey Thompson, Nutrition Education Manager at East Texas Food Bank will demonstrate healthy meals people can make.
“We know that people need to eat healthy food in order to stay healthy, and we also know that there are a lot of kids and adults in our community who are food insecure, who do not have enough food,” Byrd said.
One in six people are food insecure in East Texas, according to the East Texas Food Bank.
“We really like to support them because they really take care of that problem for a lot of people, but having this nutrition education will also, explain to people quite good nutrition is so important,” Byrd said.
A free screening of “Invisible Shield” will be shown at UT Tyler Mabry Theater from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday. The short film will talk about public health and how it has increased lifespans. In addition to showing the first two episodes of “Invisible Shield” at UT Tyler, people can tune in via zoom.
Dr. Eduardo Sanchez, Chief Medical Officer (CMO) for Prevention for the American Heart Association (AHA), will talk about cardiovascular and brain health at UT Tyler Mabry Theater from noon to 1 p.m. on Friday and will be shown via Zoom.
“It's really important for people to understand their heart health,” Byrd said. “And for those of us who are older, brain health is very important because, you know, a lot of us worry about dementia, we worry about being forgetful.”
To end National Public Health Week, there will be a community health fair on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at UT Health East Texas Physicians, 1000 E. Fifth St. The “Spring into Health” fair will feature food trucks, games, free health screenings and health education.
The role of public health is to help people be healthy through prevention and efforts such as clean air, food inspections, vaccines and educating the public on health issues.
“If we do our job right, people don't even know we were there because we keep things from happening,” Byrd said.
For more information on National Public Health Week, visit https://www.uttyler.edu/academics/colleges-schools/health-professions/public-health-week/. The UT Tyler School of Health Professions offers a two-year public health master's program. For anyone interested, visit https://www.uttyler.edu/academics/programs/public-health-mph.php.