July 17, 2023

Athens, GA – The Northeast Health District of the Georgia Department of Public Health – which serves Barrow, Clarke, Elbert, Greene, Jackson, Madison, Morgan, Oconee, Oglethorpe and Walton counties – recently launched an updated website to better serve local residents. 

One major goal of the website redesign was to provide easier access for all users. The revamped website was optimized for accessibility using funding from a health equity grant and has been redesigned to meet Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 AA standards. Pages on the new site feature screen readers, text alternatives, captions for multimedia content and an easier-to-navigate layout. The new website also has an improved interface that automatically adjusts to different device types, making it more responsive and easier to view whether using a desktop computer, smartphone or tablet.  

Users may select a variety of accessibility tools by clicking the red circle button that appears near the bottom right of all the site’s pages, and the appearance of the site will change based on those selections. Available accessibility profiles include blind, motor impaired, visually impaired, color blind, dyslexia, cognitive and learning, seizure and epileptic, and ADHD. More settings can be adjusted within the accessibility settings panel, including font size and style, background color and contrast settings. 

The District’s website can also be viewed in multiple languages now. Users can select from a menu at the top of any of the site’s pages and change to one of 12 languages, including English, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, French, Hindi, Hmong, Korean, Myanmar, Russian, Ukrainian and Vietnamese.  

An interactive map is featured on the homepage of the new website, allowing users to click on a given county for quick access to clinic and office addresses, telephone numbers and hours of operation. Another exciting feature on the updated website is a district-wide calendar. Users can click the Events tab in the top menu bar of any page to locate events in the 10-county area where the Northeast Health District will be providing community-based health services such as diaper giveaways, back-to-school vaccine clinics and mobile COVID-19 vaccination clinics, WIC farmers markets, HIV testing, and car seat safety and breastfeeding support classes. The calendar can be filtered by county and event type.  

The refreshed website connects local residents to a variety of individual and community health services, including immunizations for children and adults, birth control and family planning, a supplemental food and nutrition education program for pregnant women, new parents and children (WIC), screenings for breast and cervical cancer, blood pressure monitoring and treatment, health education and testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections, HIV and tuberculosis – as well as restaurant and septic system inspections and more.

To view the updated website and learn more about available services, please visit https://northeasthealthdistrict.org/