The National Association of Local Boards of Health (NALBOH) will be celebrating its 20th annual conference at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Atlanta from August 8-10.  This national conference will provide board of health members, health department officials and other public health leaders with information about past public health achievements, current public health priorities and the role of governance in shaping the future of public health. In addition to three keynote addresses, the conference will feature workshops and sessions that address governance and leadership, board development, public health policy and public health priorities.

Other conference highlights include tours of the Atlanta Beltline redevelopment project, CDC Emergency Operations Center and CDC Museum. Also, continuing education credits will be available for physicians, nurses and health educators. Veterinarian credits are pending.

 

  

We all need immunizations to help protect us from serious diseases. The Georgia Department of Public Health (DPH) is taking the month of August, National Immunization

Awareness Month, to remind all Georgians the importance of being up-to-date with their immunizations.  
Immunization is one of modern medicine's most significant public health achievements, and with parents enrolling children in school, college students heading back to the dorms and everyone preparing for the upcoming flu season, August is the perfect time to shine light on the value of immunizations.  

 

  

One of the biggest misconceptions about breastfeeding is "it is just a natural thing to do," according to  Barbara Stahnke, MEd, RD, LD, nutrition services director for Cobb & Douglas Public Health.

"Whether it is or isn't doesn't mean that a mom might not need help," Stahnke says. "Whether it is help with latch or with knowing about medications and breastfeeding, or just with support during the 'I'm so tired I can hardly move' phase that all new mothers will experience, breastfeeding mothers need to get that help."

World Breastfeeding Week is Aug. 1-7 and passionate advocates like Stahnke want to spread the message of its importance and assist new and experienced mothers.

"Breast milk is the most appropriate food for almost all infants in the first six months of life," Stahnke said.
 

Erin Croom first recognized the disconnect between the school age children in her kindergarten class and the food on their cafeteria plates while living in Birmingham, Ala. nine years ago. Croom also worked on a farm at the time. "I found that the children in my classroom didn't make any connection between the food on their plates and the farm down the road," she said. "They believed the food they ate each day came from the supermarket, the cafeteria line. It was an eye-opening experience."

After this discovery, Croom went on to the University of Vermont on a scholarship to study Farm to School efforts. Several years later, she joined Georgia Organics, a member-supported not-for-profit organization devoted to promoting sustainable foods and local farms in the state, where she first volunteered for a year and a half. Five years later, Croom is the Farm to School Coordinator for Georgia Organics, encouraging and teaching students how to choose and eat fresh, local sustainably grown food, both in the school cafeteria and at home. In addition to her work with the students, Croom and Georgia Organics have trained hundreds of teachers, parents, farmers and cafeteria staff to launch Farm to School Programs around the state.

The Partner Up! for Public Health campaign and the Georgia Department of Public Health have named the next Public Health Hero, Georgia Organics Farm to School Coordinator Erin Croom, who played a pivotal role in jumpstarting and advancing Farm to School efforts in Georgia. Croom closely aided in the launch of the Farm to School Alliance, a coalition of key stakeholders, to foster the development of Farm to School in Georgia. Croom also organized the Farm to School Summit, a successful effort to create and connect a network of key leaders and advocates.
 

 

Yesenia Merino used Twitter and Facebook to connect people interested in DeKalb's "Weight of the Nation" community event and health information, held on July 9.

Yesenia Merino arrived at the DeKalb County Board of Health's Health Assessment & Promotion Division as an intern with an arsenal of social media strategies.

She hit the ground running, as plans were underway to host a July 9 screening of "The Weight of the Nation," an HBO documentary about the nation's obesity epidemic. Merino helped promote the DeKalb Board of Health event to raise awareness at the community level.

"I essentially used Twitter and Facebook to spread the word to the community and organize information to share with attendees about BOH and the Live Healthy DeKalb Coalition," said Merino. "Most things I've done in public health both at DPH and elsewhere have boiled down to those essential things. I organize (and analyze) information and share it as far as I can. I did all of the posts and almost all of them linked back to the coalition's current work plan."

Merino is one of the 100 or more students enrolled in the Rollins School of Public Health certificate program in the socio-contextual determinants of health, led by behavioral scientist Dr. Hannah Cooper.  Merino is learning how policies affect public health and how to intervene to affect change
 
 

Six metro Atlanta hospitals and an Augusta facility will join a national initiative to improve breastfeeding rates in states, including Georgia, where those figures are low.

They will be among 90 U.S. hospitals participating in the Best Fed Beginnings program, which aims to improve maternity care and increase the number of hospitals with a "Baby-Friendly'' designation.

The National Initiative for Children's Healthcare Quality, with support from the CDC, is leading the effort to encourage hospitals to provide a full range of support that mothers need to be able to breastfeed their infants.

The CDC reported last year that only 14 percent of hospitals have a model breastfeeding policy, and less than 4 percent follow at least nine of 10 recommended practices, the report said.

And in Georgia, as in several Southern states, the percentage of births at ''Baby-Friendly'' hospitals that promote breastfeeding was zero, according to the 2011 CDC report.

Although breastfeeding is one of the most effective preventive health measures for infants and mothers, half of U.S.-born babies are given formula within the first week, and by nine months of age, only 31 percent of babies are being breastfed.