RECENT NEWS & ANNOUNCEMENTS
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.
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 8 A.M. to 6 P.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-1quadrivalent 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.
Public Health officials urge: Maintain rabies vaccinations in pets!
Chatsworth (GA) – Two Murray County dogs were exposed to a rabies-infected skunk and one of the dogs was put down because it was not vaccinated against rabies.
Murray County Environmental Health Manager Jason Osgatharp reported that on Tuesday, August 19, the skunk was found in a pen with the dogs at a residence located on Crandall Ellijay Road, about four miles northeast of Chatsworth.
The skunk was sent to the Georgia Public Health Laboratory for rabies testing and on Wednesday, August 20, the lab confirmed the positive results for rabies.
Though the one dog that was unvaccinated was put to sleep, the other dog was current on its rabies vaccination; so it only required a booster shot and will be observed under quarantine for sixty days.
There was no human exposure in this incident.
Osgatharp urges residents to maintain rabies vaccinations in their pets to protect their pets, their loved ones and themselves from rabies. He stated that a local opportunity to get pets vaccinated will be at the Discount Vaccine Clinic being held this Saturday, August 23 in Chatsworth (please click on photo at top right for details).
Murray County residents can get more information about rabies and its prevention by calling their county environmental health office at (706) 695-0266, or by logging on to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) website at hwww.cdc.gov/features/rabiessafefamily.
Public Health Drive-by Flu Shot Clinics offer 4-in-1 Flu Shot & High-Dose!
Drive by and arm against four strains of flu this fall at a Drive-by Flu Shot Clinic in north Georgia.
Fast, safe, and convenient, the Drive-by Flu Shot Clinics are conducted annually in the North Georgia Health District by public health departments in Cherokee, Fannin, Gilmer, Murray, Pickens and *Whitfield Counties. These clinics are designed to serve people quickly and efficiently as they remain in their vehicles.
This year, the Drive-by Flu Shot Clinics will offer the 4-in-1 quadrivalent flu vaccine.
Quadrivalent flu vaccine is similar to the more commonly used trivalent flu vaccine; but, instead of protecting against just three strains of influenza, quadrivalent flu vaccine is designed to protect against four different strains of flu, including two influenza A viruses and two influenza B viruses.
Also, *Fluzone High-Dose influenza vaccine will be available to people ages 65 and older. Fluzone High-Dose influenza vaccine contains four times the amount of antigen (the part of the vaccine that prompts the body to make antibodies) contained in regular flu vaccine to provide extra protection for people whose immune systems have become weaker with age.
- *Update, 9/16:The Whitfield County Health Department's Drive-by Flu Shot Clinic will only serve people ages 65+ with the Fluzone High-Dose vaccine. Click here for more details.
The cost of the quadrivalent flu shot will be $25 and the Fluzone High-Dose flu shot will cost $50. Cash, checks, Medicare and Medicaid plus Aetna and BlueCross BlueShield Health Insurance will be accepted. The Cherokee County Health Department will also accept credit cards.
Georgia Department of Public Health Reminds Georgians of National Immunization Awareness Month
August is a busy month: planning the last family vacation, back-to-school shopping, registering for classes, moving off to college and school enrollment. Recognizing August as National Immunization Awareness Month (NIAM), Georgia Department of Public Health (DPH) reminds Georgians to stay up-to-date and get a head start on vaccinations required for school.
“August is a great time of year to engage the community regarding vaccinations”, said Steven Mitchell, director of the Immunization Office of the Georgia Department of Public Health. “Parents are refocusing on preparing their kids for school and it is our goal to make vaccinations a priority for both parents and students.”
August serves as a reminder that people of all ages require timely immunizations to protect their health. New this year, students born on or after January 1, 2002 and entering the seventh-grade need proof of an adolescent pertussis (whooping cough) booster and adolescent meningococcal vaccinations. Every child in a Georgia school system (Kindergarten -12th grade), attending a child care facility, or a new student of any age entering a Georgia school for the first time is required by law to have a Georgia Immunization Certificate, Form 3231. Below are the immunizations required for child care and school attendance:
- Diphtheria - Mumps
- Tetanus - Rubella
- Pertussis - Hepatitis A and B
- Polio - Hib disease (up to age 5 years)
- Measles - Varicella
- PCV13 (up to age 5 years) - Meningococcal Conjugate
The Georgia Breastfeeding Coalition has recognized Shaw Industries and its facilities in Calhoun, Georgia with the 2014 Georgia Breastfeeding Business Award for Lactation Support. This award acknowledges breastfeeding-friendly employers who establish and maintain comprehensive, high-quality lactation support in the workplace.
Shaw’s manufacturing plants in Calhoun were nominated for the award by community members statewide, and the plants received more community member votes from the Dalton-Calhoun area than from any other part of the state.
Human resources managers, nurses, and supervisors understand the need to comply with the guidelines for breastfeeding mothers returning to work under the 2010 revisions of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)*. Shaw plant managers exceeded guideline expectations by setting up lactation rooms in several plants very quickly and efficiently, often utilizing creative solutions.
Manufacturing corporations use many creative solutions to support nursing mothers while addressing unique workplace challenges related to space and time limitations. Their solutions deal with environmental hazards, inflexible breaks, and limited space for milk expression. Space options include setting aside small storage areas or office space, or constructing small spaces in quieter areas of the plant. Partitions and other barriers can be used to create private single-user or multi-user spaces.
“Balancing work and family is both important and challenging,” said Paul Richard, vice president of human resources for Shaw Industries. “Shaw is pleased to support our associates who are also nursing moms. They tell us it really helps in the transition back to the workplace, which can be critical to our efforts to support the talented women in our workforce.”
Morganton (GA) – A fox that has tested positive for rabies bit a resident of Morganton in Fannin County, Georgia.
According to Fannin County Environmental Health officials, the incident took place early in the morning on Thursday, July 3 at a home on the north side of Dry Branch Road in Morganton. The resident was in the yard tending to chickens when the fox bit the resident’s leg and upper arm. The resident’s spouse shot the fox and brought it to the environmental health office later that morning.
A health official prepared the fox for rabies testing and delivered the specimen to the Georgia Public Health Laboratory on Thursday. The test results came back as positive later that day.
On Thursday afternoon, county environmental staff, Shannon Bradburn and Monica Hodskins, canvassed the neighborhood with flyers regarding the incident and with rabies information.
The resident will soon begin post rabies exposure treatment, which includes an initial shot of rabies immune globulin and four shots of rabies vaccine administered over a two-week period.
Rabies that goes untreated is fatal almost 100 percent of the time; therefore, if a person or domestic animal is bitten by an animal in Fannin County, residents should report it immediately to Fannin County Environmental Health at (706) 632-3024.
Health officials also continue to urge residents to maintain rabies vaccinations in pets.
For more information about rabies and rabies protection, log onto the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website at http://www.cdc.gov/features/rabiessafefamily/.