LANSING – The Michigan Public Health Week Partnership is seeking nominations of individuals and organizations that have made significant contributions to preserve and improve their community’s health for its annual Hometown Health Hero awards.

Hometown Health Hero awards are presented every April as part of Michigan Public Health Week. This year’s awards focus on the following five areas of public health:

-Mental Health

-Maternal/Child Health

-Violence

-Environmental Health

-Education

-Healthy Housing

“Everyone deserves to live a long and healthy life in a safe environment,” said Dr. Joneigh Khaldun, chief medical executive and chief deputy for health for MDHHS. “Hometown Health Hero awards are an opportunity to honor those tackling the causes of poor health and disease risk within their communities.”

Nomination forms can be downloaded from Michigan.gov/mphw. Completed nominations should be sent to Jim Koval via email at kovalj@michigan.gov or faxed to 517-335-8392 by Friday, Feb. 14.

Awards will be presented at the State Capitol on Wednesday, April 15.

The Michigan Public Health Week Partnership consists of the following organizations: Grand Valley State University, Michigan Association of Counties, Michigan Association for Local Public Health, Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, Michigan Health Improvement Alliance, Inc., Michigan Public Health Association, Michigan Public Health Institute, Michigan State University, University of Michigan School of Public Health and Wayne State University.