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| April 23, 2013 - In This Issue |
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Home |
Women in Fight Against HIV |
Celebrating Environmental Health |
District 4 Fights STDs |
Emergency Exercise |
Track Sleep with Sleepbot App |
PHNEWS |
PHBRIEF |
PHRECIPE |
PHTRAINING |
PH
EVENTS
Georgia Resident Empowers Women in Fight Against HIV
Eva
Fields joins Alicia Keys in national campaign
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Eva Fields, of Roswell, is taking part
in a national HIV awareness campaign.
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You might recognize Eva
Fields before you ever meet her. The 37-year-old Roswell
resident can be spotted standing next to Grammy-winning
recording artist Alicia Keys in YouTube videos and on
billboards in Georgia and around the U.S. Fields wants
the ads to send a particular message.
"Yes, I
am an HIV-positive woman, but I'm not a ticking time
bomb. I'm not going anywhere," she said.
Fields
is joining Keys and four other HIV-positive women in
Empowered, a campaign launched by the Kaiser Family
Foundation's Greater Than AIDS initiative that aims to
highlight the power of women to change the course of
HIV/AIDS. On April 15, the group introduced the
Empowered campaign in an
event broadcast live from Washington, D.C. by the
Kaiser Family Foundation. During the event, Keys said
the campaign is a battle cry to put women first in the
fight against HIV/AIDS.
"We will
never see an AIDS-free generation without harnessing the
power and strength of women," Keys said.
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Behind-the-scenes professionals ensure
public's safety
 Recently,
thousands of passengers
aboard a pleasure cruise
ship were sickened with a
stomach virus transmitted
through their foods. While
not all such outbreaks can
be stopped, there is a
public health professional
dedicated to protecting you
and your family from these
and many other types of
diseases: environmental
health specialists.
What if no one inspected the
restaurants where your
family dines? Or, imagine if
no one inspected and sampled
the pool where your children
swim. Where would you go
with a complaint about an
environmental health or
safety hazard? What if your
child was found to have
elevated levels of lead? Who
makes sure your septic
system is properly sized and
installed? These are only
some of the services
provided by your local
public health environmental
specialists. They are part
of your county health
department but are the
unseen professionals making
your world a healthier and
safer place to live and
work. Their primary task is
to prevent diseases and
conditions that could affect
your health and ensure a
safe and healthy environment
through education, policy
development and regulation.
The environmental health
profession has its roots in
the sanitary and public
health movements of the
Civil War. During that war,
more soldiers died of
diseases and parasites than
in battle -- about 320,000.
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Public health staff partners with Gordon State College to raise
awareness
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Staff from District 4 Public Health and
Gordon State College hosted a HIV
testing event for students April 10
during STD Awareness Month.
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There are some top health rankings that Georgia
would be better off without: third in the nation for
syphilis rates, sixth for gonorrhea rates and
seventh for rates of chlamydia.
More
than 52,000 Georgians were infected with at least
one of these sexually transmitted diseases (STD) in
2010 and more than 18,500 were living with HIV,
conditions that can put health and life at risk.
April is STD Awareness Month and the Georgia
Department of Public Health (DPH) urges everyone to
learn more about these diseases, protect themselves
and get tested.
Young people are especially at risk. According to
the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
half of all new STD infections occur in people ages
15 to 24. The agency noted that stigma, incorrect or
inconsistent condom use, limited access to health
care and a combination of other factors lead to the
relatively high rates of infection for this age
group.
District 4 Public Health workers mobilized to spread
the word among this population and get more in the
area tested for STDs. They worked with Gordon State
College in Barnesville to host a HIV testing event
on campus on April 10. Nurses and epidemiologists
were on hand to brief students on the HIV testing
process, administer tests, give post-test counseling
and answer any questions. More than 120 students
visited the campus auditorium to get tested.
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Public information officers from all
over Chatham County, including the
Coastal Health District, participated in
the full-scale Joint Information Center
exercise which focused on the scenario
of a chemical spill in close proximity
to a school.
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It was a normal,
quiet Tuesday morning on Savannah's Westside.
Children were busy learning important lessons in
school and parents began settling into their work
routines. But all that changed when a bank robber,
holding a hostage and speeding away from the scene
of his crime, ran head on into a tanker truck
carrying hydrochloric acid.
The
truck overturned, resulting in spillage of the
clear, poisonous liquid. Emergency and media crews
quickly arrived on the scene. Nearby neighbors
started posting panicked messages on Facebook and
Twitter. School officials looked for guidance on
what to do with a building full of students and
staff. And in an instant that ordinary Tuesday
turned into mass chaos.
That
was the scenario during a full-scale, multi-agency
Joint Information Center (JIC) exercise recently
initiated by Chatham Emergency Management Agency (CEMA).
Public information officers (PIO) began receiving
notification of the incident around 7 a.m. and
quickly reported to the JIC in downtown Savannah.
Close to 20 PIOs from various agencies, including
the Coastal Health District, Savannah-Chatham Public
School System, Savannah Fire Department, U.S. Coast
Guard and the Chatham County Sheriff's Department,
participated in the exercise along with CEMA staff
and volunteers.
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PHRECIPE |
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Home |
Women in Fight Against HIV |
Celebrating Environmental Health |
District 4 Fights STDs |
Emergency Exercise |
Track Sleep with Sleepbot App |
PHNEWS |
PHBRIEF |
PHRECIPE |
PHTRAINING |
PH
EVENTS
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