Recent confirmed cases of E. coli in Georgia serve as a necessary reminder about the importance of properly storing and preparing food at home and elsewhere to minimize risk.

"Paying close attention when selecting fruits and vegetables, as well as when preparing meals, can help keep foodborne illnesses at bay," said Brenda Fitzgerald, M.D., commissioner of the Georgia Department of Public Health.
 

 

Debra Adams, R.N., A.P.R.N., district clinical & nursing director, and William Grow, M.D., F.A.C.P., district health director, South Health District

Debra Adams, R.N., A.P.R.N., district nursing and clinical director with South Health District, won the Public Health Nursing Practice Excellence Award during National Nurses Week? This award is given by the Georgia Department of Public Health's office of nursing to recognize nurses at the state, district and local levels for their contributions and commitment to public health nursing.
 

Adams has worked with public health for more than 32 years. Throughout her career she has organized many new programs. In 1982, she and a local physician began a low-cost maternal health program to provide care to indigent pregnant women in Lowndes County. In conjunction with this program, she taught the first Prepared Childbirth Class in public health to women who may never have had the opportunity to participate otherwise.

 

In 1992, she worked with school administrators and public health staff to establish a comprehensive school health program for all Lowndes County and Valdosta City schools. Adams was responsible for writing several grants to secure funding, along with writing the policies and procedures and training the school nurses. In 2002, Lowndes County Health Department received the Glaxo SmithKline Child Health Recognition Award for the school health programs.

 

Julie Straw (left) developed a weekly after-school program to encourage healthy relationships for teens who live near Good Samaritan Health Center in West Atlanta.

Every day, students and alumni of Emory's Rollins School of Public Health (RSPH) are building public health capacity in Atlanta and across Georgia.

 

CDC, Emory's next-door neighbor, employs more than 400 alumni, many of whom give generously of their time to mentor students. Less than five miles from Emory are other major partners - CARE USA, the American Cancer Society, the Arthritis Foundation, the Carter Center, the Task Force for Global Health, the Georgia Department of Public Health, and local health departments - where students and alumni work together in this public health capital of Atlanta.

 

Emory students' engagement in the public workforce keeps growing. A few samples:

 

Grooming teen ambassadors for health

Julie Straw, who graduated this year with a master's of pubic health, has sought to reduce health disparities for most of her life. During her formative years in Michigan, she went on mission trips to Bolivia and Uganda and worked with inner-city youth in Detroit. In college, she taught HIV modules to orphaned teens in South Africa.

  

 

 

Shown (l-r):  Dr. Jim Santoro, Harbin Radiation Oncology; Kaylan Albritton; Dr.  J.C. Abdou, Harbin Radiation Oncology and Sandra Bethune, tobacco project manager for Northwest Georgia Cancer Coalition.  Dr. Mark Fisher of Rome also conducted screenings.

A recent Northwest Georgia Public Health promotion with the Northwest Georgia Cancer Coalition and the Rome Braves, as well as the lure of summertime Class A baseball, drew thousands of folks to a tobacco-cessation and cancer-screening event at a recent Rome Braves game.

Nearly 150 kids received tobacco-cessation education and signed pledge cards not to use tobacco products.  Of all the attendees screened by local physicians for oral-neck-and-throat cancer, none were found to need referral for subsequent treatment. 
  
 

 

Voices of Meningitis

The current public health recommendations call for "booster" dose of vaccine to help keep teens protected during years of greatest risk, following dose at 11 or 12 years of age. Georgia parents are advised to make sure their preteens and teens receive the meningitis vaccine before attending summer camps, or before school starts this fall."

On June 11, the Georgia Department of Public Health (DPH) joined the Georgia Association of School Nurses (GASN) to launch in Georgia the Voices of Meningitis Boost Our Rates! initiative, designed to bring together the many voices of meningitis-school nurses, parents whose children have been affected by the disease, survivors and public health professionals-to raise awareness about the dangers and the importance of vaccination for preteens and teens.

Meningococcal disease is a serious infection that includes meningitis (swelling of the brain or spinal cord) and meningococcemia (blood infection). Activities common among adolescents, such as sharing drinking glasses, living in close quarters like dormitories or overnight summer camps, and kissing, can increase their risk for contracting the disease.  Meningococcal disease can be hard to recognize, especially in its early stages, because symptoms are similar to those of common viral illnesses. Unlike more common illnesses, the disease can progress quickly and may cause death or disability in just a single day.