Five Happy & Healthy Thanksgiving Tips!

The holidays are a wonderful time of year, filled with friends and family celebrations. Ensure your loved ones stay healthy throughout the holidays with these food safety guidelines:

Keep your hands, cooking area, and dishes clean.

Wash your hands before and after handling food.

Keep your kitchen, dishes, and utensils clean.

Always serve food on clean plates. Bacteria from plates that held raw meat and poultry can cross-contaminate cooked food items and cause illness.

Use a thermometer to check temperatures.

Undercooked foods can cause illness.

Cook turkey or chicken to a minimum internal temperature of 165°F. Check the internal temperature in the thigh and wing’s innermost part and the breast’s thickest part.

Pork and egg dishes should be cooked to 160°F.

Remember the two-hour rule.

Foods should not sit at room temperature for more than two hours. Keep track of how long foods have been sitting on the buffet table and discard anything there for two hours or more.

Keep hot foods HOT and cold foods COLD.

Hot foods should be held at 140°F or warmer. Keep hot foods hot with chafing dishes, slow cookers, and warming trays.

Cold foods should be held at 40°F or colder. Keep foods cold by nesting dishes in bowls of ice. Otherwise, use small serving trays and replace them.

Store and reheat leftovers properly.

Cut the turkey into small pieces; refrigerate stuffing and turkey separately in shallow containers within 2 hours of cooking.

Use leftover turkey and stuffing within 3-4 days or freeze.

Reheat thoroughly to a temperature of 165°F or until hot and steaming.

GNR Pubic Health keeps Gwinnett, Newton, and Rockdale healthy, protected, and prepared. Do you have questions about this article? We are here to help. Call 770-339-4260. Ask for the Epi on Call.

Source: United States Department of Agriculture

Download Five Happy & Healthy Thanksgiving Tips!

GNR Public Health’s offices and health centers will be closed on Monday, October 10th for the observance of the national holiday. We will resume regular business hours on Tuesday, October 12th.

GNR Public Health offices and health centers are closed Friday, September 23 for off-site training. We will resume regular business hours on Monday, September 26.

The Georgia Department of Public Health has launched an online, centralized scheduling tool and helpline to locate and make appointments for Mpox (monkeypox) vaccine. By visiting this portal, you can search for Mpox vaccine availability across the state, including our locations.

Schedule a Mpox vaccine appointment

*Please note, GNR Public Health does not operate this scheduling system. If you need support regarding an appointment, please call 888-457-0186.

Mpox Exposure

If you are concerned about being exposed to Mpox or concerned you may have Mpox, please call us for more help at 770-339-4260 and ask to speak with an epidemiologist.

Mpox Testing

If you believe you may have Mpox and want to be tested, first isolate at home away from others, and call your medical provider or call us for testing options. Call before visiting your provider and let them know you have signs and symptoms of Mpox.

Other Mpox Resources:

Mpox Facts — Signs/Symptoms/How it spreads (PDF) — Spanish

CDC: Mpox Vaccine Information Statement

CDC: Mpox Signs and Symptoms

CDC: How Mpox Spreads

CDC: Mpox Prevention

CDC: Information for Healthcare Providers

Surge GNR: Learn more about HIV and other STI prevention!

Information contributed by National Immunization Awareness Month Toolkit:

August is National Immunization Awareness Month (NIAM). This annual observance highlights the importance of getting recommended vaccines throughout your life. You have the power to protect yourself and your family against serious diseases (like whooping cough, cancers caused by HPV, and pneumonia) through on-time vaccination.

During NIAM, GNR Public Health encourages you to talk to your doctor, nurse, or other healthcare professional to ensure you, your child, and your family are up to date on recommended vaccines.

We also encourage you to visit CDC’s Interactive Vaccine Guide, which provides information on the vaccines recommended during pregnancy and throughout your child’s life.

As your children head back to school this fall, make sure vaccination is at the top of your checklist. August is also a key time to make sure you are up to date on all the vaccines you need to stay healthy. Use CDC’s adult vaccine assessment tool to see which vaccines might be right for you.

During NIAM, GNR Public Health will be sharing information and resources on social media to highlight the importance of vaccines. Help us spread the word! Follow the conversation on Twitter and Facebook, and use #ivax2protect to share why you choose to vaccinate.

GNR Public Health is now the official name for the three-county public health district covering Gwinnett, Newton and Rockdale counties. The rebrand comes after two years of leading the charge against the COVID-19 pandemic in these communities.

“We felt now was an excellent time to create a more visually appealing and recognizable brand,” said Dr. Audrey Arona, district health director of GNR Public Health. “Most importantly, we wanted to change our name to include ‘public health’ because our focus is indeed on our public. We’ve had an opportunity to educate our communities about what public health does, which goes beyond just the health department clinical services that are typically more visible.”

Examples of those often less visible–but just as important–services cover disease monitoring and mitigation; regulatory food, pool, and hotel inspections; emergency preparedness and planning; and chronic disease and community health education. These types of services that protect and improve the health of Gwinnett, Newton and Rockdale communities happen outside of the health centers that provide clinical services in the community.

“While we remain the health department for our communities, we felt like having health department in our name locally connotated the idea of a location–a place you go–rather than being illustrative of the full scope of work of our agency,” said Chad Wasdin, communications director at GNR Public Health. “Our purpose as an organization is to develop our communities to be healthy, protected, and prepared. We hope that with our name change and new look, we can more effectively show our counties how we can engage in projects to protect and improve the health of our communities.”

The organization plans to phase in the new brand through the remainder of 2022. This will also include work toward a new website that will make information about all public health services more accessible. Accent Creative Group designed the new logo and has been retained by GNR Public Health to redesign the organization’s website.

Gwinnett, Newton and Rockdale County Health Departments’ district office, health centers, COVID-19 testing sites and COVID-19 vaccination sites will all be closed in observance of the holiday on Monday, June 20.

If you are in need of COVID-19 testing, please check these resources:

• http://COVIDCareGa.com
• https://dph.georgia.gov/castlight-location-finder

We will resume normal business hours on Tuesday, June 21.

The opioid pandemic claims many lives throughout our communities. Between 1999 and 2013, overdose deaths in Georgia more than tripled. While there is a safe and effective medication that can reverse the effects of opioids, Narcan, this emergency treatment often does not make it to the overdose scene in time to save a life. In an effort to encourage overdose witnesses to call for help, the Georgia 9-1-1 Medical Amnesty Law was created.

The Georgia 9-1-1 Medical Amnesty Law provides limited immunity from arrest, charge, and prosecution for possession of certain drugs and drug paraphernalia for individuals who experience a drug overdose and are in need of medical care and for those who seek medical care in good faith for a person experiencing an overdose. (Network for Public Health Law) This legal action was taken in hopes of empowering those present during an overdose to call for help and reduce overdose deaths.

If a loved one or friend overdoses, please call 911 (and administer Narcan if you have it). Your call can be lifesaving.

Free Narcan training and kits are available throughout our community. For more information, visit https://www.gnrhealth.com/services/community-health/opioids/.

For more information about Georgia’s 9-1-1 Medical Amnesty Law:

• https://guideinc.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Georgias-911-Medical-Amnesty-Law-Fact-Sheet.pdf
• https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/legislation/document/20132014/144369
• https://dbhdd.georgia.gov/document/publication/georgia-medical-amnesty-and-expanded-naloxone-access/download

Gwinnett, Newton & Rockdale County Health Departments’ mass vaccination site located at the former Sears at Gwinnett Place Mall will cease operating on weekdays after Friday, Feb. 25. The site will continue operating on Saturdays from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. for several more weeks. However, this location will be closed Saturday, Feb. 26 so health department staff can support the Healthy, Vibrant, and Vaxxed event in partnership with Gwinnett County.

The mass vaccination site first opened one year ago, Feb. 5, 2021, to handle the large initial demand for vaccines. Since then, over 167,000 vaccines have been administered at this location.

“This joint effort between our health department and Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners and county government truly helped us bring immunity to the community,” said Dr. Audrey Arona, district health director of Gwinnett, Newton & Rockdale County Health Departments. “We were able to vaccinate so many more individuals because of the flow and layout of this space rather than dealing with high demand at our health centers. We can’t thank the county enough for their support to make this happen.”

Gwinnett County was integral in acquiring and revitalizing the site, which had been vacant. The location also provided the opportunity for the Health Department to set up drive-through testing in the former automotive wing of the building, truly making this a hub to address COVID-19 needs in the community.

“It’s rare that a partnership between two organizations is strong enough to make something this big and important happen so quickly,” said Gwinnett County Chairwoman Nicole Hendrickson. “I am beyond proud and grateful for the Gwinnett County Government and GNR staff that made this site operational in only two weeks.”

Vaccinating the community remains a priority for the Health Department. All COVID-19 vaccines are available at Health Department locations during weekdays. No appointments are required; patients can walk in to receive their vaccine at no cost. The site operation changes will only affect vaccine administration. Drive-through COVID testing operations at the former Sears automotive wing will continue Monday through Saturday with current hours.