Don’t forget to drive by and arm yourself against the flu quickly and conveniently at Cherokee County Health Department’s Drive-by
Flu Shot Clinic. The clinic will be held on Tuesday, October 7th from 7:30 A.M. to 6 P.M. at the Woodstock Health Center at 7545 North Main Street.

This year, the Drive-by Flu Shot Clinic will protect you with the 4-in-1 quadrivalent flu vaccine that guards against four strains of flu in one shot.

Also, the Fluzone High-Dose Flu shot will be offered to people ages 65 and older.

Cost of the 4-in-1flu shot is $25 and the high-dose shot is $50. Cash, checks, credit cards, Medicare and Medicaid plus Aetna and BlueCross BlueShield Health Insurance will be accepted.

The best way to arm against the flu is with a flu shot -- the most convenient way to get that shot is at the Drive-by Flu Shot Clinic in Woodstock!

For more information, call (770) 928-0133 / (770) 345-7371 or log onto www.nghd.org.

Public Health reminds pet owners to vaccinate pets against rabies

Baits laced with an oral rabies vaccine designed to help stem the spread of a raccoon strain of the deadly disease through Georgia and into other states will be dropped from the air and scattered by hand in six north/northwest Georgia counties -- Catoosa, Chattooga, Dade, Murray, Walker and Whitfield -- beginning in early October. Ground baiting by hand in urban/suburban areas will begin October 6. Aerial baiting in rural areas by specially equipped fixed-wing aircraft is scheduled to begin October 7.

Humans and pets cannot get rabies from contact with the baits, but area residents are asked to leave them undisturbed should they encounter them. Dogs that consume large numbers of baits may experience an upset stomach, but there are no long-term health risks. If contact with baits occurs, immediately rinse the contact area with warm water and soap.

Most of the 626,000 baits to be distributed will be gone from the environment within 10 to 14 days after being dropped. A toll-free number is imprinted on each bait allowing anyone who comes in contact with the bait to call for advice, assistance or with any questions.

Jasper, GA – Don’t forget to drive by and arm yourself against the flu quickly and conveniently at Pickens County Health Department’s Drive-by Flu Shot Clinic!

The clinic will be held on Tuesday, September 30th from 8 A.M. to 4 P.M. at Mt. Zion Baptist Church, located at 1036 North Main Street in Jasper.

This year, the Drive-by Flu Shot Clinic will protect you with the 4-in-1 quadrivalent flu vaccine that guards against four strains of flu in one shot. Also, the Fluzone High-Dose Flu shot will be offered to people ages 65 and older. Cost of the 4-in-1 flu shot is $25 and the high-dose shot is $50. Cash, checks, Medicare and Medicaid plus Aetna and BlueCross BlueShield Health Insurance will be accepted.

The best way to arm against the flu is with a flu shot -- the most convenient way to get that shot is at the Drive-by Flu Shot Clinic in Jasper!

For more information, call (706) 253-2821 or click here.

Local World Breastfeeding Week Celebration, October 3rd

Dalton (GA) – World Breastfeeding Week will be celebrated worldwide October 1-7, 2014. The 2014 World Breastfeeding Week theme Breastfeeding: A Winning Goal for Life! acknowledges that when mothers and babies succeed in their breastfeeding plans, they can enjoy a lifetime of benefits.

North Georgia Health District Women, Infants and Children (WIC) invites everyone who is willing to support breastfeeding families to a World Breastfeeding Week Celebration on Friday, October 3 from 4 P.M. to 7 P.M. Come with the whole family to the Mack Gaston Community Center at 214 Fredrick Street in Dalton to enjoy a walk, exhibitors and free goodies. Celebratory breastfeeding support bags will also be provided. For more details, please call Kerry Smith at (706) 934-4128.

Gilmer County Events Raise Awareness for

World Rabies Day

Ellijay (GA) – Rabies is 100% preventable. Yet rabies remains a major concern worldwide, killing more than 55,000 people every year. In the United States, one to two people die annually and there were more than 6,000 reported cases of animal rabies in the U.S. in 2012.

World Rabies Day is on September 28. Officially launched in 2007, this day aims to raise awareness about the public health impact of human and animal rabies.

Andrea Martin, Gilmer County Environmental Health Manager, stated, “World Rabies Day is another great opportunity to educate residents on rabies prevention. As part of this focus, I will be providing rabies information to over eighty kids attending afterschool care at the Gilmer County Boys and Girls Club on September 29th. Additionally, a local low-cost rabies vaccine clinic will be held on September 27th and I encourage residents to call my office for more details at (706) 635-6050. Also, our office will be represented at this year’s Senior Health Fair at Gilmer County High School on September 27th from 7:30 to 11 A.M. We’ll place a special emphasis on rabies there.”

What can YOU do to prevent rabies?

Vaccinate your animals and keep them away from wildlife that can spread the disease.

For more information on rabies and rabies prevention, log onto the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website at www.cdc.gov/worldrabiesday.

Dalton (GA) – People 65 and older will be the focus of the Whitfield County Drive-by Flu shot Clinic in Dalton.

The Whitfield County Health Department will offer only Fluzone High-Dose influenza vaccine for people ages 65 plus at their Drive-by Flu Shot Clinic on Tuesday, September 23rd from 8 A.M. to 5:30 P.M. at the Northwest Georgia Trade and Convention Center on Dug Gap Battle Road. Fluzone High-Dose influenza vaccine is designed to provide extra protection for people whose immune systems weaken as they age. The cost of the high-dose flu shot is $50, and cash, checks, Medicare and Medicaid plus Aetna and BlueCross BlueShield Health Insurance will be accepted.

The 4-in-1 quadrivalent flu vaccine for residents younger than 65 will be available for $25 later this month at the Whitfield County Health Department located at 800 Professional Boulevard in Dalton.

Call the Whitfield County Health Department at (706) 226-2621 for more information.

Don’t forget to drive by and arm yourself against the flu quickly and  conveniently at Murray County Health Department’s Drive-by Flu Shot Clinic!

The clinic will be held on Tuesday, September 23rd from 8A.M. to 6P.M. at the Murray County Recreation Center located at 651 Hyden Tyler Road in Chatsworth.

This year, the Drive-by Flu Shot Clinic will offer the 4-in-1 quadrivalent flu vaccine that protects against four strains of flu in one shot!

Cost of the flu shot is $25, and cash, checks, Medicare and Medicaid plus Aetna and BlueCross BlueShield Health Insurance will be accepted.

The best way to arm against the flu is with a flu shot -- the most convenient way to get that shot is at the Drive-by Flu Shot Clinic in Chatsworth!

For more information, call (706) 695-4585 or log onto www.nghd.org.

Free and confidential Rapid HIV Testing is now available at the Fannin County Health Department.

Testing is conducted on the fourth Thursday of each month at the health department located at 95 Ouida Street in Blue Ridge. Testing times are from 10 AM to 3 PM. (closed from 12-12:30 pm for lunch).

Free prevention supplies are also available.

The CDC recommends that everyone between ages 13 and 64 be tested for HIV at least once in their lifetime, and those at increased risk – such as gay and bisexual men, injection drug users, or persons with multiple sexual partners – should be tested at least annually.

For more information, call the Fannin County Health Department at (706) 632-3023.

Are YOU Prepared for an Emergency?

DALTON (GA) - September is National Preparedness Month and it’s a good time to ask: Are you prepared for an emergency? Is your family prepared? How about your community?

The theme for this year is “Be Disaster Aware, Take Action to Prepare”.

The four building blocks of emergency preparedness are Be informed, Make a Plan, Build a Kit, and Get Involved.

Be Informed: Learn what protective measures to take before, during and after an emergency. It can mean the difference when seconds count. Basic steps include preparing for your physical safety, which may involve sheltering or evacuating; developing a family communications plan; making an emergency supply kit; signing up to receive emergency alerts and local emergency plans; and, considering plans for recovering from a disaster.

Make a Plan: Chances are you and your family will not be together when a disaster strikes. So, you need to plan ahead as to how you will get to a safe place; how you will contact one another; how you will get back together; and, what you will do in different situations. Read more about Family Communication during an emergency.

Build a Kit: A disaster supplies kit should simply contain basic household items that you and your family may need in the midst of an emergency. Assemble your kit well in advance of an emergency in case you have to evacuate immediately. You may have to survive on your own after an emergency, so you will need enough food, water and supplies to last up to 72 hours. It may take that long before relief is available.

Get Involved: After disaster strikes a community, many residents ask, “How can I help?” It’s best to get involved before a disaster occurs. One way to do this is by volunteering to support disaster response efforts in your community and get trained ahead of time to help. Find local opportunities for emergency response volunteering at SERVGA.GOV.

For more information about preparing for an emergency, log onto ready.ga.gov.

DYING FOR A TAN? 

Years ago an acquaintance in her early twenties made frequent use of indoor tanning booths. She noticed a dark, reddish, irregular mole on her left side which was diagnosed as melanoma. Unfortunately, this skin cancer had already spread to her lymph system. She died two years later after it reached her brain. Might she have died of melanoma if she had not used tanning booths? Perhaps; but mounting strong evidence indicates a direct correlation between several skin cancers and frequent use of indoor tanning. 

Ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun or indoor tanning damages DNA strands in a person’s skin cells, resulting in cancers. 

Now that summer is drawing to an end and many “tan fans” will tend to increase their use of alternative tanning methods, it is important to bear in mind that indoor tanning can be more dangerous than tanning in the sun even though tanning booths have less ultraviolet B (UVB) radiation. Tanning beds use fluorescent bulbs that emit mostly ultraviolet A (UVA) rays, with smaller doses of UVB rays. UVA radiation is up to three times more intense than the UVA rays in natural sunlight, and even the UVB radiation intensity may approach that of bright sunlight. 

Despite the clear evidence that it is unsafe, the use of tanning beds is on the rise. Nearly 30 million people in the United States tan in salons every year, and most of them are women between the ages of 16 and 49.