As we enter the holiday season, a time where we go a little out of our way for others. A time that we give generously to the poor. A time that we try to spread a little holiday cheer to almost perfect strangers. Stop a second and think back to the time when you really, really, really needed people to be kind; and they were. What would the world be like if we did that all the time? If it was just a part of who we were? Pretty nice, right? So, why don’t we? Why don’t you?

As a way of kicking off this year’s campaign for the City of Canton employees, a few folks have gotten together to make this short video. If you have not seen it, I invite you to do so now.

United Way has served our community for a many years by providing a way to allocate your generous gift to support many of the programs that our clients use every day. You have recognized this value over the years. Because of you, the Canton City Health District is one of the most consistent supporters of United Way in city government. Thank you for your past support.

This week you will receive pledge cards for the 2011 campaign. I ask you to carefully consider your pledge for the new year. If you have not given before to United Way, I ask that you pledge at least $1 a month. If you currently give, then please increase your pledge by $1 a month. One dollar a month, less than a cup of coffee. Less than the Sunday paper. Yet that little pledge can, and will, be used in our community to do so much.

Consider this. The need to participate in charitable giving comes not from our excess, but from our heart. There is a fundamental need in all of us, as people of this community, to give back for the many gifts that have been given to us. Each one of us has been blessed with many gifts from our community. A job, friends, a chance for cultural exchange, a place to call home, a smile, a helping hand when needed. We all have been gifted in some small, or not so small, way. In response to these gifts, we are compelled by the spirit in each of us to give back in thankfulness. Not as a duty, but as a way to acknowledge our thankfulness for gifts we have received.

And so I ask you. Please take this opportunity to say thank you. Give from your heart. Give “a buck a month”.

Seasonal Flu

Folks at the health department have been very busy hosting a variety of community based flu clinics. I know that you can get a flu shot at MANY places, but our response has been, well, underwhelming. Past clinics have seen hundreds of people taking advantage of the clinics to protect themselves and their families against seasonal flu. Not so this year. Dozens of folks show up, but nowhere near the numbers that could, or should, be getting a flu shot.

Each year the seasonal flu sickens and kills thousands of Americans. Many more become seriously ill, miss work, miss school, and rush to the doctor and emergency room. All this illness and expense can be avoided with just a few simple steps. Stay home when you are sick. Wash your hands. And, most important, get a flu shot.

For more information about seasonal flu, check out our website at http://www.cantonhealth.org for flu clinic schedules. You can also get a lot of in depth information at the Centers for Disease Control at www.cdc.gov/flu.

Stark County Public Health System Assessment Project

The first meeting of the steering committee for this important project was held at the health department this Friday. Many thanks go out to the folks to took time out of their busy schedules to help organize and supervise this assessment project. More information can be found at the health department website by following this link.

This year has been a disappointing one for our flu clinics. After the hectic, and frankly, exciting H1N1 clinics, this has been quite a let down. Our hope is that people are still getting flu shots from one of the many providers in our community. We do not have a very good perspective on vaccine coverage at this time. But, we encourage all healthy adults to get a flu shot.

In reference to our clinic at the Fairgrounds, we did not vaccinate our usual large crowd, but we did accomplish a few of our goals for the clinic:

• We used non medical personnel to organize and plan for the clinic. This allowed our nurses to spend their time staffing the many smaller clinics that were being held in the community. We still used our nurses and doctors to administer vaccine at this clinic.
• We set up and took down a large clinic that would have been able to handle thousands of vaccinations in one day. This is valuable practice and training so that we can effectively respond to the next pandemic or disease outbreak.
• We continued to build strong staff relationships with each other, and our key public health partners.

Many thanks to our staff who planned and participated in this clinic effort. I will not name individuals (I invariably miss someone important, and you are all very important people). Through your work, team spirit, and self sacrifice, we know that we can serve and help the community in which we live and work.

Again, we have to thank our very good friends at the Massillon City Health Department for coming and helping out. You are always there when we need you and you are key to the success of many of our clinic operations.

Thanks also to the City of Canton for lending materials and time for set up and cart back tables, chairs, cones, and many other little details that are needed at a clinic of this size. Thanks also to Heartland Behavioral Health for radios and the Stark County Sheriffs Department and Canton PD for security support.

Public health is bigger than the health department. I am proud of the work that you all do to make this a better, and healthier, place to live. Public health, everywhere, everyone, all the time.

All too often we are unfamiliar with our public health professionals who devote their careers to keeping us healthy. These unsung heroes keep our air, food, and water clean and our families safe and healthy through research, services, and public policy actions.

Public health workers make our health and safety top priorities every day. They are the quick responders to health threats like the H1N1 flu, disease outbreaks, and natural disasters. Whether they are developing vaccines or checking water quality, these heroes keep major disasters from becoming catastrophic.

The Canton City Health Department has been blessed with a staff of hard working individuals who come together as a formidable team for the Canton community. They give freely of their time to fight disease, keep our air and water clean, assure safe food and living conditions, and advocate on your behalf.

I hope that you will join Research!America and the Canton City Health Department in thanking our public health heroes for the important work they do.

For more information, please visit www.publichealththankyouday.org.

I am very encouraged with the number of young families including parents, children, grandparents (who provide that much-needed family support for the very young), pregnant women, and health care workers who are getting the H1N1 vaccine. You have clearly recognized that getting a flu shot can not only protect you from the flu, but can protect your family as well. Thank you for that.

It is very hard for me, and for all public health workers, to tell someone that they do not fit in one of the priority groups for vaccination at this time. I wish that we had enough vaccine to let everyone get a flu shot if they want one. The simple fact is that on any given week, we do not have enough flu vaccine to go around. I note that most people are very understanding with this situation. Thank you and know that we will try to provide vaccine for as many people as possible just as soon as we can.

Setting up and administering a clinic, especially a large clinic, at a remote location is a great challenge for everyone. There are logistical issues (Did you remember to bring the cotton balls? Who has the vaccine coolers?). We rely on the generosity of those who provide the location for the clinic use. It takes a lot of people to transport, set up, operate, take down, and clean up after a clinic like this one. Thank you Malone University for the use of the Johnson Center, especially the janitorial staff (sorry about the pretzels on the carpet). We know that the community appreciates the use of this fine facility. Thank you for all the volunteers who helped. You did not have to do this. Your good humor, skill, and sense of community service is greatly appreciated. Thank you to all the staff at the Canton City Health Department. Many may feel that we are “just doing our job”, but we know that you have, and will continue, to rise to this challenge with skill, energy, and professionalism that most of us just take for granted.

Lastly, thank you to all the people who waited in line for a flu shot. Waiting in line for well over an hour, entertaining your kids in a long hallway, dealing with anxiety about getting a flu shot, or being frustrated when thinks don’t seem to be going as smoothly as you would like is not how most you would like to spend the better part of a Saturday. Thank you for your patience and understanding as we tried to do the best job we can; protecting you and your families.

Next week it is off to the Canton City Schools. A new set of issues and problems to deal with. A new set of opportunities. As the flu epidemic continues, each week has a new and unique set of problems to solve. I am very proud of the work that has been accomplished already. I know that we will continue to address the needs and concerns of all as we move forward.

Local physicians and hospital emergency departments are bearing the initial brunt of questions from worried parents and patients. On the front line are the triage nurses and doctors that are answering the questions and addressing to concerns of worried parents and sick patients. I offer all of you my sincere thanks and recognize the critical work that you do in the community.

Fortunately we have several tools in our toolbox to combat the flu. The public health community, with local hospitals and medical providers, have been planning for a flu pandemic for several years. These plans are being implemented and are serving us well. We have provided information to educate, medication to treat, and vaccines to prevent.

By now we should all be very familiar with the message to cover our cough, wash our hands, and stay home if we are sick. While this may sound a little simplistic in this age of modern medicine, these simple actions are proven to help combat the spread of the flu virus. They form the core of the flu prevention message.

There were some challenges this past week in assuring that people who received prescriptions for the treatment of flu with anti-viral medication were able to obtain this medicine if they were unable to pay. Anti-viral medication is very expensive. While covered under most prescription plans, what is a family to do if they do not have health insurance or their plan does not cover prescriptions? We were able to work through those issues with these families. However, nobody should walk away with prescription for medication for anti-viral medication without the ability to fill that prescription.

This past week local public health departments, hospitals, and some private providers received the first shipments of H1N1 vaccine. This initial vaccine was delivered first to hospitals and public health with guidance from the Ohio Department of Health to target certain emergency medical services personnel and direct patient care providers in the health care setting. We will be giving these first shots next week. The quantity of this first shipment of vaccine is very small and is not enough to start our general population vaccination campaign. We expect regular shipments of vaccine throughout the flu season. While it is too soon to be able to predict when we will start vaccination of the general public, our goal; indeed our moral obligation, is to get this vaccine to people as quickly as possible. We are all working very hard to implement our vaccination plans using the vaccine that is available. We will experience temporary shortages of vaccine, especially early in this campaign. I ask for your patience and consideration.

It is very hard to predict what will happen for the remainder of the flu season. It is very likely that we will continue to see an increase in the number of people suffering from the flu in our community. Public health is pretty good at describing what has happened, but it is very hard to predict the future, especially with the flu. What I do know is that by working together as a community – by sharing information, working together, and supporting each other, we will be able to deal with what ever this flu season may bring. It if the past is any predictor of the future, I know that we will do very well indeed.

Posted via email from Jim’s posterous

Starting October 1, 2009 WIC will be implementing a sweeping change in the food package program by adding fresh fruits and vegetables to the approved foods that WIC participants can use. This has been described as the most significant change in the WIC program since its inception. What does that mean for our local program? Practically it means that our staff will be working very hard for the next few weeks implementing these changes. They have been engaged in training and preparation for this program change for the past few weeks. We ask that you be patient as we work through some of the details. You may have a little longer wait in the clinic or you may not get through on the phone right away. We will help you as soon as we can. For our community it means that better nutrition early in life will result in healthy children and healthy adults. It will be well worth the wait.

If you have any issues with the site or need to report a problem, please call the office at 330-489-3231 and let us know.

www.cantonhealth.org