Iowa City stickers proclaim 'This is Public Health'

IOWA CITY — Consider the garbage can: A handy spot for ditching gum wrappers and banana peels, sure.

But is it more?

'This is public health,' proclaims red stickers plastered on metal garbage cans and bike racks in downtown Iowa City last week as part of National Public Health Week.

The goal is to raise awareness of how public infrastructure can improve citizens' health.

'Way back in history, people were dumping garbage in the streets and there were plagues and outbreaks,' said Doug Beardsley, director of the Johnson County Public Health Department. 'Trash service was instituted for public health.'

Brittany Holthaus, a University of Northern Iowa senior doing a public relations internship for the agency, saw the stickers online and thought of slapping them on city features, including garbage cans, bike racks, drinking fountains and bus stops.

'I don't have any public health background,' Holthaus said. 'I thought this could be education and awareness to the public about what public health means.'

Bike racks provide a way for people to bike downtown and keep their bikes safe. Bus stops represent public transit, which saves gas and reduces greenhouse gas emissions from multiple vehicles. Drinking fountains provide free, clean water — an amenity increasingly valued after public water in Flint, Mich., became contaminated by lead, said Dave Koch, community health manager.

'We take for granted having safe drinking water,' he said.

The City of Iowa City would only Holthaus to put stickers only on garbage cans and bike racks.

But she took the campaign to social media, encouraging people to take pictures of the red stickers around town and post them on Twitter and Instagram. The agency created a video — now posted to YouTube — asking people on the street what public health means. Her efforts yielded 50 new Instagram followers, eight new Twitter followers and 80 Facebook likes.

Holthaus will take that social media know-how into the working world after graduation next month. Plus, she now knows a lot more about public health.