DIS Recognition Day is a time to celebrate all that DIS do in the field of STD prevention. They are committed to halting the spread of disease and promoting health in their communities. As dedicated workers in the field, they use their passion and skills to engage with people to get them tested and treated for STDs, HIV, tuberculosis, and hepatitis. The word cloud above was created from the DIS Scholarship applications for STD Engage 2018, using words that describe qualities of DIS and what DIS do. Below you will find quotes from the application’s video submissions, where applicants answered, “What does being a DIS mean to you?”

• Heidi Edwards (Virginia Beach Dept. of Public Health- Virginia) – “[Being a DIS] means working against the clock to prioritize cases to ensure early disease intervention and partner elicitation.”
• Bridget Hallock (New York State Dept. of Health) – “For me, being a DIS is the most amazing job in the world. I get to work with incredible people when they’re extremely vulnerable. And a lot of them face a ton of stigma and have been rejected by friends and family members. We get to have this interaction and make people feel loved and special and that they deserve respect, they deserve intimacy.” (0:00-0:33)
• Sandra Rogers (Los Angeles County Dept. of Public Health- California) – “I think we have a moral responsibility to…the people we serve in our communities to help them become healthy, give them the empowerment they need to thrive and survive. It’s always been a rewarding job.”
• Diann Sullivan (Rhode Island Dept. of Health) – “What a DIS means to me is to be able to reach out to someone that has been infected and answer any questions that they may have about the disease. But I also want to make them feel comfortable so that they know they can talk to me in confidentiality…I’m able to offer partner services to them, which I believe does make a difference…”
• Carolina Arredondo Sanchez Lira (Lane County Public Health- Oregon) – “The most important part is that I get to help the community, to link them to care, and to make sure that the community is healthy.”
• PetaGay Linton (Hillsborough County Health Dept. – Florida) – “Being a DIS, for me personally in the state of Florida, means working with individuals to educate them on the different STDs, helping them get treatment, work toward safety and safe sex so that we can help to control the epidemic that we currently face in Florida with HIV and syphilis…”