All markets and farms listed were found on the Gwinnett County Convention and Visitors Bureau website. If you know of other markets that we can add to this list, please email us with information at healthpromotiongnr@gmail.com.

Did you know that nursing is the nation’s most trusted profession?  In 2012, Americans again voted nurses the most trusted profession in America for the 13th time in 14 years in the annual Gallup poll that ranks professions for their honesty and ethical standards. Nurses’ honesty and ethics were rated “very high” or “high” by 85 percent of poll respondents.

To honor the many nurses that work in Public Health, we want to share with you what some of these nurses do every day.

For many of us, the first time we met a public health nurse was when we received a shot or health screening at our local health department.  And while immunizations are an important part of what they do – public health nurses do much more.

At the Gwinnett, Newton and Rockdale County Health Departments our public health nurses are involved in program areas from children’s health to emergency preparedness.

Clinic Managers

Everything that takes place in our clinics is managed by a public health nurse.  They provide leadership to their staff while overseeing the day-to-day operations of the clinic.  Our Nursing Director and Program Manager are also both nurses.  They work closely with the clinic and program personnel to ensure that patients visiting the Health Department receive the highest quality care.

Child School Screenings

Children entering Georgia Public Schools must receive hearing and vision examinations and be issued certificates of completion.  Our nurses provide age appropriate hearing, vision and dental screenings for children.

Children 1st

Children 1st is a family centered, community-based program that promotes early identification of children with conditions that place them at risk for poor health and/or developmental outcomes.

Our Children 1^st nurses assist families by linking them and their children to primary healthcare providers where they will receive periodic comprehensive health assessments and developmental monitoring.

Women’s Health

Nurses in our Women’s Health program provide a number of services to help women maintain health throughout their reproductive years.  These include:

•   Physicals, which include pap smears
•   Discussion of pregnancy spacing and birth control methods
•   Education on the importance of maintaining a healthy lifestyle
•   Breast and cervical cancer screenings (mammograms for women over 40, if eligible)
•   Pregnancy testing
•   Diabetes education, screening, and referrals

Disease Control and Prevention

Nurses in our Epidemiology Division work with schools, long-term care facilities and other community organizations to provide education preventing the spread of infectious disease.  If any infectious diseases are reported to the Health Department, they investigate the sources and provide the necessary services to prevent or stop the spread of disease.

Emergency Preparedness

Our Emergency Preparedness Program is dedicated to the planning and preparedness for, response to, and recovery from disasters.  Within Emergency Preparedness, we have a Health Care Liaison.  This nurse works within our community, creating alliances with health care organizations.  These alliances work together to coordinate preparedness, response, recovery and mitigation activities related to healthcare organization disaster operations.

Several important milestones already have been reached in controlling vaccine preventable diseases among infants and adults worldwide. Vaccines have greatly reduced infant death and disability caused by preventable diseases in the United States. In addition:

• Through immunization, we can now protect infants and children from 14 vaccine-preventable diseases before age two.

•In the 1950s, nearly every child developed measles and unfortunately, some even died from this serious disease. Today, few physicians just out of medical school will ever see a case of measles during their careers.

•Routine childhood immunization in one birth cohort prevents about 20 million cases of disease and about 42,000 deaths. It also saves about $13.6 billion in direct costs.

•The National Immunization Survey has consistently shown that childhood immunization rates for vaccines routinely recommended for children remain at or near record levels.

It’s easy to think of these as diseases of the past. But the truth is they still exist. Children in the United States can — and still do — get some of these diseases.  For example, in 2012, preliminary data from CDC reports more than 41,000 cases of whooping cough (pertussis) in the US, including 18 deaths. Most of these deaths were in children younger than 1 year old. This was the highest number of pertussis cases in any one year in the US since 1955.

Our Health Director, Dr. Lloyd Hofer, is a pediatrician.  In this video he shares how he has seen a decrease in preventable diseases as a result of vaccinations.

• Inspecting restaurants
• Providing healthcare services at our centers
• Educating families on healthy eating and encouraging exercise
• Investigating diseases

The Health Department also prepares for and responds to various forms of disaster that affect the community’s health?  We work closely with state and local first responders, FEMA, GEMA and other emergency agencies to protect the health of our community.

We also provide information and education on how to be prepared for an emergency.  Through our website, Twitter and Facebook we post tips and links to help you and your family stay healthy and safe during emergency situations.

We have information that includes setting up an Emergency Kit for your home and having a Family Emergency Plan. [Tweet this!]

And we know it may be difficult to talk with your children about the possibility of something “bad” happening.  So we have provided a link to information from Sesame Workshop who, along with its project partners, created Let’s Get Ready! Planning Together for Emergencies.  Featuring beloved characters from Sesame Street, this website helps children learn how to be prepared in an emergency situation.

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Would you like to help yourself, your family, and your community prevent and respond to disasters?  Consider joining the Medical Reserve Corps. [Tweet this!]  No medical experience or training is needed.  For more information, click here.

If there is an outbreak of any disease, our Epidemiology and Environmental Health Departments work together to answer the questions: who? what? when? and why?  They work together to investigate the source of infection to identify the cause, calculate the extent of the outbreak, and recommend and/or implement control measures to stop the spread of disease.

One of the diseases our epidemiologists looked this year at is norovirus.  Norovirus is a gastrointestinal illness that generally causes vomiting and diarrhea. You may hear people refer to it as the “stomach flu,” but norovirus is not related to the influenza virus (flu), which is primarily a respiratory illness.

In the winter of 2012-2013, there was a rise in norovirus cases nationally.  Our epidemiologists worked to educate our community about how norovirus is spread and what organizations and individuals can do to help prevent it from spreading.

A list of all diseases/conditions that must be reported to the Health Department can be found here.

Shots (Immunizations):  All children in Georgia schools need to have a Certificate of Immunization.  The Health Department offers all the shots your child needs to enroll in school.  And keep them up-to-date by checking the Immunization Schedule here.

Shots (Immunizations) for Adults:  Staying up-to-date on shots is important for adults, too.  Through immunization adults can ward off illnesses that were once accepted as inevitable.  Check here to see the adult vaccines that are recommended based on your age and risk level.

Travel Immunizations and Consultation:  Planning a trip abroad?  Check with the Health Department for information on any immunizations you may need before leaving.  In addition to providing immunizations, we also offer counseling on the major health risks you may encounter while you travel abroad along with information on how to protect yourself. This includes up-to-date discussion of current health concerns plus, current U. S. Department of State advisories.

Child health checks/school screenings:  Children entering Georgia Public Schools must receive hearing and vision examinations and be issued certificates of completion.  We provide age appropriate hearing, vision and dental screenings for children at all of our Health Centers.   We also provide well child checkups and medical care at no charge for PeachCare members under 19 and Medicaid members under 21.

Women’s Health:  Our Women’s Health program provides eligible women (low income and uninsured) with cancer screenings, along with follow-up and referral if necessary.  Check our Cancer Screening page for additional information.

Public health is about protecting the health of entire populations. These populations can be as small as a local neighborhood, or as big as an entire country.  Your local Health Department covers Gwinnett, Newton and Rockdale counties.

Join us this week as we look at five specific areas where the Gwinnett, Newton and Rockdale County Health Departments protect and improve the health of our community:

• Regulating and inspecting restaurants, tourist accommodations and community pools
• Providing certain health care services, including women’s and children’s health and immunizations
• Promoting of healthy lifestyles, including healthy eating and providing health and wellness education
• Tracking and investigating infectious and chronic diseases
• Planning for and responding to various forms of disasters that affect the community’s health

We start today with Regulating and Inspecting.

Environmental Health

Protecting and Improving the Health of our Community through Regulation and Inspection

Did you eat out today?  On a typical day, 44% of adults in the U.S. eat at a restaurant.  More than 50% of school children eat a meal prepared at the school. So odds are you or someone in your family has eaten a meal prepared outside of your home today.

A large percentage of foodborne disease outbreaks reported to the CDC is attributed to food service establishments. A food service establishment may be a restaurant, school or institutional cafeteria, mobile food truck, or a catering service.

Through our Environmental Health Services Division, the Health Department inspects and regulates food service establishments. [Tweet this!] All inspections are unannounced and look at a number of items related to food safety, including:

• Employee hygiene practices – washing hands and wearing gloves as appropriate
• Protecting foods from contamination – maintaining clean food contact surfaces
• Food temperature control – ensuring foods are held at the proper temperatures
• Cooking and reheating food – heating and cooling foods to the correct temperature, within specific time frames
• Prevention of cross-contamination – keeping raw meat and eggs separate from “ready to eat” foods, like fresh vegetables that will not be cooked

In addition to restaurants, Environmental Health also inspects tourist accommodations such as hotels, motels, extended stay facilities, and trailer parks.  We check to ensure that linens are changed, glassware and other multi-use items are cleaned correctly, and facilities are free from vermin and insects.

It’s not quite bathing suit season, but our Environmental Health Services Division is already starting to inspect community pools. [Tweet this!] These include pools in neighborhoods, apartment complexes and parks.

Anyone can see the inspection reports for any of these areas here on our website. Check the Environmental Health page to find the link to each of the three inspection types.

If you don’t smoke – don’t start.

Click here for information on Tobacco 101 from the Kick Butts community.

If you do smoke – there’s help to quit.

Georgia Tobacco Quit Line:

English: 1.877.270.STOP (7867)
Spanish: 1.877-2NO.FUME (266.3863)
Hearing Impaired: TTY 1.877-6534

Learn from a former smoker, Ms. Tina Long. Ms. Long stopped by the Health Department to talk with Ed Jones, Health Department Health Promotion Coordinator. Read Tina’s interview and story here.

Fact: TB is one of the world’s deadliest diseases. One-third of the world’s population is infected with the bacteria that causes TB, and each year, over 9 million people around the world become sick with TB disease. Almost 2 million deaths worldwide occur each year from TB.

In the United States, 11,545 TB cases were reported during 2009. While TB rates in the United States have been declining slowly since 1993, there remains a disproportionate burden of TB among racial and ethnic minorities. TB rates are higher for some racial and ethnic groups, probably because a greater proportion of people in these groups have other risk factors for TB.

2. Does everyone who becomes infected with TB bacteria get sick?

Fact: Not everyone infected with TB bacteria becomes sick with TB disease. People who become infected, but are not sick have what is called latent TB infection (LTBI). People who have LTBI do not feel sick, do not have any symptoms, and cannot spread TB bacteria to others. But some people with LTBI go on to get TB disease. People who have TB disease do feel sick, have signs and symptoms, and may spread TB bacteria to others. Learn more about the difference between LTBI and TB disease.

3. Can some people get TB disease easier than others?

Fact: While anyone can get TB disease, some people who get infected with TB bacteria are more likely to get sick. You have a higher chance of getting TB disease if you

• Have HIV infection
• Have been infected with TB bacteria in the last 2 years
• Have other health problems that make it hard for your body to fight disease
• Abuse alcohol or use illegal drugs
• Were not treated correctly for TB infection or TB disease in the past

4. What kinds of tests can detect TB infection?

Fact: Two Tests: A skin test or a TB blood test can be used to detect TB infection.

The Mantoux tuberculin skin test is performed by injecting a small amount of fluid (called tuberculin) into the skin in the lower part of the arm. A person given the tuberculin skin test must return within 48 to 72 hours to have a trained health care worker look for a reaction on the arm.

The TB blood test measures how the person’s immune system reacts to the bacteria that cause TB.

Not all people need a TB test. You should get a TB test if you are at increased risk. Conditions or activities that place you at increased risk are:

• You have spent time with a person known to have TB disease or suspected to have TB disease; or
• You have HIV infection or another condition that puts you at high risk for TB disease; or
• You have signs and symptoms of TB disease; or
• You are from a country where TB disease is very common; or
• You live or work in the United States where TB disease is more common, such as a homeless shelter, migrant farm camp, prison or jail, and some nursing homes; or
• You use illegal drugs.

5. How are latent TB infection and TB disease treated?

Fact: LTBI and TB disease can be treated by taking medicine. It is very important that people take the drugs exactly as they are told. If you stop taking the drugs too soon, you can become sick again. If you do not take the drugs correctly, the bacteria that are still alive may become difficult to treat with those drugs. You should take medicine as recommended by a doctor. Learn more about TB treatment.

Here are three easy steps you can do to prepare for an emergency:

1)       Be prepared:  Make your own Ready kit.  Good information can be found on the Ready Georgia website:  http://www.ready.ga.gov/Prepare

2)      Have a Communications Plan:  Your family may not be together when disaster strikes. Make a plan today. Know how you’ll contact one another and reconnect if separated. Establish a family meeting place that’s familiar and easy to find.  http://www.ready.ga.gov/Plan/

3)      Stay informed: Learn about your risk for specific hazards in your community.  Listen to weather updates.  And download the Ready Georgia app:  www.ready.ga.gov/mobileapp

Sesame Workshop, along with its project partners, created Let’s Get Ready! Planning Together for Emergencies.  Featuring beloved characters from Sesame Street, this website helps children learn how to be prepared in an emergency situation.