Public Health Week

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.