Patrice Harris, M.D., director of health services for Fulton County

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and groups representing nearly 600,000 physicians recently gathered at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., to unveil their Talk with Your Doctor initiative, designed to motivate people to stop smoking and to encourage smokers to talk with their doctors about quitting smoking. 

Patrice Harris, M.D., director of health services for Fulton County and a board member of the American Medical Association, was there to help promote the initiative.

"Quitting is the best thing a smoker can do to improve their health and the health of their loved ones who may be exposed to their secondhand smoke," said Harris. "The message physicians are sending is clear -- don't wait. Talk with your doctor today about kicking the habit for good."

Talk with Your Doctor is part of the CDC's national tobacco education campaign, Tips from Former Smokers, which not only tells the story of how real people's lives were changed forever due to smoking or exposure to secondhand smoke, but also motivates people to quit.

From left, retired U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Chuck Clark, Georgia employer outreach volunteer for Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve; Diane Weems, M.D., district health director for Coastal Health District 9-1; Todd Jones, environmental health director for Chatham County Health Department; and retired U.S. Air Force Col. Edward Wexler, Georgia area chair for Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve.

Diane Weems, M.D., district health director for Coastal Health District 9-1, and Todd Jones, environmental health director for Chatham County Health Department, have been recognized by the Department of Defense, Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve with the Patriot Award. The award is presented to employers supportive of employees who serve the country.

Retired U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Chuck Clark, Georgia employer outreach volunteer, and retired U.S. Air Force Col. Edward Wexler, Georgia area chair, presented Weems and Jones with the award.

Weems and Jones were nominated by Chris Newton, Chatham County Health Department environmental health specialist 3, who is also a marine science technician 2 U.S. Coast Guard reservist currently deployed overseas. In his nomination letter, Newton recognized both Weems and Jones for their ongoing support of his duties as a U.S. Coast Guard Reservist.

Danielle Tack, D.V.M., and CDC preventive medicine fellow at the Georgia Department of Public Health, has made a plan to care for her dog, Abbey, if an emergency or disaster strikes.

One of the most inspiring moments in the awful aftermath of the tornado that struck Moore, Okla., came when a woman found her dog amid the rubble of her home during a television interview. There were other happy reunions after some Oklahoma City-area organizations set up a website to help reunite lost pets with their families. For other lost pets, shelters in the area opened their doors to take in displaced animals. These stories are reminders that natural disasters and emergencies affect our four-legged friends as much as ourselves.

Caring for pets during and after an emergency starts with making a plan before disaster strikes. But Danielle Tack, D.V.M., CDC preventive medicine fellow at the Georgia Department of Public Health and a veterinarian, said many people don't think about disaster plans for their pets until it's too late.

 "When people are planning for their families, they should include planning for their pets as part of that process as there are some additional considerations, just as there are for households with small children or people with medical conditions," Tack said.

Tack advises pet owners to take time to think about where they can seek shelter with their pet if staying at home becomes dangerous. Many hotels and shelters can't accommodate animals, so pet owners should spend time researching facilities that can or identify friends or family out of danger who can care for their pet. But if you plan to evacuate with Fluffy or Fido in tow, be sure to give yourself plenty of time.

MoGro's 33-foot refrigerated trailer.

Areas in northwestern New Mexico and in Kansas City have found an innovative means of addressing the public health problem of "food deserts" - areas with little or no access to fresh and affordable healthy foods.

 A 33-foot refrigerated trailer called "MoGro" pays weekly visits to five small Native American communities - called pueblos - all of which are at least 30 miles away from the closest supermarkets in Albuquerque and Santa Fe. And in Kansas City's low-income urban core, a bus named "Healthy Harvest Mobile Market" rolls on Tuesdays and Thursdays to several community centers and other stops.

The first-of-its-kind MoGro truck/trailer carries more than 200 items, including many types of fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grain foods, low-fat dairy products, fish, lean meats and nuts. What you won't find are sugary drinks, potato chips and white bleached flour. They've been banned, along with candy, except for dark chocolate.

MoGro is a comprehensive public health effort to address the extremely high rates of obesity, diabetes and heart disease in the pueblos it serves. In addition to healthy foods, the program offers a whole set of ancillary services, including nutrition classes, healthy cooking demonstrations, fitness programs, farmer workshops and technical assistance on school and community garden design. Future plans call for a second refrigerated trailer and service to additional pueblos.

In part, MoGro seeks to break Native Americans' reliance on bleached flour, refined sugar and fried foods - a dependence forced upon them more than a century ago. That's when the federal government gave American Indians rations of lard, sugar and flour while barring them from leaving reservations to hunt and gather.

MoGro was launched by Rick Schnieders and his wife, Beth, in partnership with the Johns Hopkins Center for American Indian Health (JHCAIH). Schnieders knows plenty about food storage and distribution - he's a former CEO of national food supplier Sysco. Others assisting with MoGro include the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the Notah Begay III Foundation, La Montanita Co-op and others.

"We believe this MoGro project can be a model project, not only for these native communities, but for the rest of America," says JHCAIH Director Mathu Santosham, MD, MPH. "That's why I'm so excited about this."