Are you ready to take care of yourself and your family in an emergency situation?  Whether an ice storm that has been forecast days in advance or a tornado that occurs suddenly – the need to be prepared is the same.

In this interview, Greg Swanson, Gwinnett County Emergency Management, and Mark Reiswig, Health Department Emergency Preparedness, talk about being ready for any event.

For more emergency preparedness information – including how to start building your emergency supply kit – check out what our Health Department Office of Emergency Preparedness staff have to say about being prepared.

The Gwinnett, Newton and Rockdale County Health Departments will be offering flu shots at six area Walmart stores.  Days and times vary by location.

Buford/Mall of Georgia:   3795 Buford Drive, Buford

September 7 – October 5

Saturdays:              11 am – 5 pm                    Mondays:                 noon – 6 pm
Sundays:                11 am – 5 pm                    Thursdays:               noon – 6 pm

Collins Hill:  630 Collins Hill Road, Lawrenceville

September 6 – October 5

Fridays:                1 pm – 7 pm                     Sunday: 11 am – 5 pm
Saturdays:            11 am – 5 pm

*Health Department Nurses will not be providing flu shots at Collins Hill on Friday, September 20

Conyers:  1436 Dogwood Drive, Conyers

September 7 – October 5

Saturdays:             11 am – 5 pm            Tuesdays:                noon – 6 pm
Sundays:                11 am – 5 pm            Thursdays:              noon – 6 pm

Covington:  10300 Industrial Blvd., Covington

September 7 – October 5

Saturdays:             11 am – 5 pm            Mondays:                noon – 6 pm
Sundays:                11 am – 5 pm            Thursdays:              noon – 6 pm

Hamilton Mill:  3250 Sardis Church Road, Buford

September 6 – October 5

Fridays:                1 pm – 7 pm                     Sunday: 11 am – 5 pm
Saturdays:            11 am – 5 pm

*Health Department Nurses will not be providing flu shots at Hamilton Mill on Friday, September 20

Lawrenceville/Sugarloaf:  1400 Lawrenceville Highway, Lawrenceville

September 7 – October 5

Saturdays:             11 am – 5 pm                    Tuesdays:            noon – 6 pm
Sundays:                11 am – 5 pm                    Wednesdays:      noon – 6 pm

Flu shots are also available at all Health Department Centers – check here for locations.

Payment types accepted:

cash, credit & debit cards

Insurance accepted:

Aetna

Blue Cross Blue Shield

Medicare (part B)

Medicaid (age 19 and above)

Cigna State Health Benefit Plan

United Healthcare State Health Benefit Plan

Make sure your child is ready for school! The Gwinnett, Newton and Rockdale County Health
Departments can provide the immunizations and screenings your child needs.

Hearing, Dental and Vision Screenings are available for $40.00, and Immunizations will be provided for School-age Children.

For immunizations we accept cash, credit cards (except American Express), Medicaid, Peachcare, Aetna, Cigna State Health Plan, United Healthcare State Plan and Blue Cross Blue Shield.

Click here for more information.

Services are available at the following Health Department locations:

In Gwinnett County:  Buford, Lawrenceville and Norcross

In Newton County: Covington

In Rockdale County:  Conyers

Hours vary by location.  Please arrive one hour prior to closing in order to allow our providers enough time to complete all services.  

More than 1.1 million people in the U.S. are living with HIV, but one out of every five of them doesn’t know it.  Thursday, June 27, is National HIV Testing Day. On this day, the Gwinnett County Health Department is offering free HIV testing at the Lawrenceville location. Click here for hours and directions.

HIV testing is a critical part of stopping the spread of the virus and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says testing should be a part of routine health care. A panel of doctors and scientists recently recommended that all Americans between age 15 and 65 get tested for HIV, regardless of their risk of infection. HIV testing would help increase detection and decrease the stigma associated with HIV and being tested, according to the panel. HIV testing during pregnancy also is important because antiviral therapy can improve the mother’s health and greatly lower the chance that an HIV-infected pregnant woman will pass HIV to her infant before, during or after birth.

Proper medical care and treatment help people with HIV live longer, healthier lives and can reduce the chances of passing HIV to others.  People who test negative for HIV can take steps to stay negative by not having unprotected sex or engaging in other risky behavior like needle sharing.

Georgians throughout the state can get free HIV tests at select locations on Thursday, June 27, and in some cases through the weekend. For more information about National HIV Testing Day and a list of free HIV testing locations, visit www.dph.ga.gov or http://greaterthan.org/

As we enter the summer months, many communities in Gwinnett County are holding Farmers Markets to make it easier for residents to purchase locally grown foods. These foods do not travel hundreds of miles to get to the markets – local farmers are growing these foods in Gwinnett or surrounding counties. We are also listing some Gwinnett county farms that allow residents to purchase directly from the farm. Check out this list for healthy eating.

All markets and farms listed were found on the Gwinnett County Convention and Visitors Bureau website. If you know of other markets that we can add to this list, please email us with information at healthpromotiongnr@gmail.com.

National Nurses Week is celebrated annually from May 6-12.  May 12 is the birthday of Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing.

Did you know that nursing is the nation’s most trusted profession?  In 2012, Americans again voted nurses the most trusted profession in America for the 13th time in 14 years in the annual Gallup poll that ranks professions for their honesty and ethical standards. Nurses’ honesty and ethics were rated “very high” or “high” by 85 percent of poll respondents.

To honor the many nurses that work in Public Health, we want to share with you what some of these nurses do every day.

For many of us, the first time we met a public health nurse was when we received a shot or health screening at our local health department.  And while immunizations are an important part of what they do – public health nurses do much more.

At the Gwinnett, Newton and Rockdale County Health Departments our public health nurses are involved in program areas from children’s health to emergency preparedness.

Clinic Managers

Everything that takes place in our clinics is managed by a public health nurse.  They provide leadership to their staff while overseeing the day-to-day operations of the clinic.  Our Nursing Director and Program Manager are also both nurses.  They work closely with the clinic and program personnel to ensure that patients visiting the Health Department receive the highest quality care.

Child School Screenings

Children entering Georgia Public Schools must receive hearing and vision examinations and be issued certificates of completion.  Our nurses provide age appropriate hearing, vision and dental screenings for children.

Children 1st

Children 1st is a family centered, community-based program that promotes early identification of children with conditions that place them at risk for poor health and/or developmental outcomes.

Our Children 1^st nurses assist families by linking them and their children to primary healthcare providers where they will receive periodic comprehensive health assessments and developmental monitoring.

Women’s Health

Nurses in our Women’s Health program provide a number of services to help women maintain health throughout their reproductive years.  These include:

•   Physicals, which include pap smears
•   Discussion of pregnancy spacing and birth control methods
•   Education on the importance of maintaining a healthy lifestyle
•   Breast and cervical cancer screenings (mammograms for women over 40, if eligible)
•   Pregnancy testing
•   Diabetes education, screening, and referrals

Disease Control and Prevention

Nurses in our Epidemiology Division work with schools, long-term care facilities and other community organizations to provide education preventing the spread of infectious disease.  If any infectious diseases are reported to the Health Department, they investigate the sources and provide the necessary services to prevent or stop the spread of disease.

Emergency Preparedness

Our Emergency Preparedness Program is dedicated to the planning and preparedness for, response to, and recovery from disasters.  Within Emergency Preparedness, we have a Health Care Liaison.  This nurse works within our community, creating alliances with health care organizations.  These alliances work together to coordinate preparedness, response, recovery and mitigation activities related to healthcare organization disaster operations.

What is Epidemiology?  The word is derived from the Greek epi which means “upon,” demos meaning “people,” and logos which means “science/study (of).”  Epidemiology is the part of the Health Department that studies the health in populations to understand the causes and patterns of health and illness in our community. The information gathered in these studies is then used to help prevent illnesses and improve the health of everyone in our communities.

If there is an outbreak of any disease, our Epidemiology and Environmental Health Departments work together to answer the questions: who? what? when? and why?  They work together to investigate the source of infection to identify the cause, calculate the extent of the outbreak, and recommend and/or implement control measures to stop the spread of disease.

One of the diseases our epidemiologists looked this year at is norovirus.  Norovirus is a gastrointestinal illness that generally causes vomiting and diarrhea. You may hear people refer to it as the “stomach flu,” but norovirus is not related to the influenza virus (flu), which is primarily a respiratory illness.

In the winter of 2012-2013, there was a rise in norovirus cases nationally.  Our epidemiologists worked to educate our community about how norovirus is spread and what organizations and individuals can do to help prevent it from spreading.

A list of all diseases/conditions that must be reported to the Health Department can be found here.

Have you ever visited your local Health Department?  Do you know what type of services we provide at our locations?  Each center in Gwinnett, Newton and Rockdale Counties provide a number of health care services for individuals in our community.  Here are just a few:

Shots (Immunizations):  All children in Georgia schools need to have a Certificate of Immunization.  The Health Department offers all the shots your child needs to enroll in school.  And keep them up-to-date by checking the Immunization Schedule here.

Shots (Immunizations) for Adults:  Staying up-to-date on shots is important for adults, too.  Through immunization adults can ward off illnesses that were once accepted as inevitable.  Check here to see the adult vaccines that are recommended based on your age and risk level.

Travel Immunizations and Consultation:  Planning a trip abroad?  Check with the Health Department for information on any immunizations you may need before leaving.  In addition to providing immunizations, we also offer counseling on the major health risks you may encounter while you travel abroad along with information on how to protect yourself. This includes up-to-date discussion of current health concerns plus, current U. S. Department of State advisories.

Child health checks/school screenings:  Children entering Georgia Public Schools must receive hearing and vision examinations and be issued certificates of completion.  We provide age appropriate hearing, vision and dental screenings for children at all of our Health Centers.   We also provide well child checkups and medical care at no charge for PeachCare members under 19 and Medicaid members under 21.

Women’s Health:  Our Women’s Health program provides eligible women (low income and uninsured) with cancer screenings, along with follow-up and referral if necessary.  Check our Cancer Screening page for additional information.

April 1 – 5 is National Public Health Week.  So what exactly is Public Health?

Public health is about protecting the health of entire populations. These populations can be as small as a local neighborhood, or as big as an entire country.  Your local Health Department covers Gwinnett, Newton and Rockdale counties.

Join us this week as we look at five specific areas where the Gwinnett, Newton and Rockdale County Health Departments protect and improve the health of our community:

• Regulating and inspecting restaurants, tourist accommodations and community pools
• Providing certain health care services, including women’s and children’s health and immunizations
• Promoting of healthy lifestyles, including healthy eating and providing health and wellness education
• Tracking and investigating infectious and chronic diseases
• Planning for and responding to various forms of disasters that affect the community’s health

We start today with Regulating and Inspecting.

Environmental Health

Protecting and Improving the Health of our Community through Regulation and Inspection

Did you eat out today?  On a typical day, 44% of adults in the U.S. eat at a restaurant.  More than 50% of school children eat a meal prepared at the school. So odds are you or someone in your family has eaten a meal prepared outside of your home today.

A large percentage of foodborne disease outbreaks reported to the CDC is attributed to food service establishments. A food service establishment may be a restaurant, school or institutional cafeteria, mobile food truck, or a catering service.

Through our Environmental Health Services Division, the Health Department inspects and regulates food service establishments. [Tweet this!] All inspections are unannounced and look at a number of items related to food safety, including:

• Employee hygiene practices – washing hands and wearing gloves as appropriate
• Protecting foods from contamination – maintaining clean food contact surfaces
• Food temperature control – ensuring foods are held at the proper temperatures
• Cooking and reheating food – heating and cooling foods to the correct temperature, within specific time frames
• Prevention of cross-contamination – keeping raw meat and eggs separate from “ready to eat” foods, like fresh vegetables that will not be cooked

In addition to restaurants, Environmental Health also inspects tourist accommodations such as hotels, motels, extended stay facilities, and trailer parks.  We check to ensure that linens are changed, glassware and other multi-use items are cleaned correctly, and facilities are free from vermin and insects.

It’s not quite bathing suit season, but our Environmental Health Services Division is already starting to inspect community pools. [Tweet this!] These include pools in neighborhoods, apartment complexes and parks.

Anyone can see the inspection reports for any of these areas here on our website. Check the Environmental Health page to find the link to each of the three inspection types.