Protecting kids from adverse experiences can boost lifelong health

November 29, 2019November 27, 2019 / Malheur County / Leave a comment

Childhood experiences, both positive and negative, have a tremendous impact on future violence victimization and perpetration, and lifelong health and opportunity. As such, adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are an important public health issue. Learn how everyone can help prevent ACEs by using strategies to create safe, stable, nurturing relationships and environments for all children.

Preventing adverse experiences in childhood can help people stay healthy throughout their lives, new research from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows.

Protecting kids from adverse childhood experiences — such as violence, abuse or growing up around people with mental health or substance use problems — can help reduce chronic diseases, risky health behaviors and socio-economic challenges later in life, according to a Nov. 8 study in CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Nearly 16% of U.S. adults have experienced four or more ACEs their lifetimes, the study said, with women, blacks and American Indian and Alaska Natives at highest risk.

ACEs can change brain development and affect how the body responds to stress. This can lead to chronic health problems, mental illness, substance misuse and reduced educational and occupational achievement in adulthood. At least five of the top 10 leading causes of death are associated with adverse childhood experiences.

Creating “safe, stable, nurturing relationships and environments” can help prevent ACEs and help children and adults thrive, according to the study, which was published as a CDC Vital Signs Report. Preventing ACES can reduce risky behaviors like smoking and heavy drinking, improve education and employment potential and stop ACEs from being passed from one generation to the next.

To address ACEs, the report recommended that:

• health care providers refer patients affected by ACEs for services and support and link adults at risk to parenting interventions and substance abuse treatment;
• employers support family-friendly policies, such as paid family leave and flexible work schedules;
• states and communities improve access to high-quality child care, address financial hardships and foster skills that manage emotion and conflicts; and that
• everyone “support community programs and policies that provide safe and healthy conditions for all children and families.”

For more insights on ACEs, read this recent column from APHA past-president Pam Aaltonen in The Nation’s Health.

Article by Louise Dettman on Public Health Newswire

Create safe Thanksgiving meals!

November 27, 2019 / Malheur County / Leave a comment

The holidays are here, which means you’re probably getting ready to share meals and merriment with families and friends.

This can be a fantastic and yummy time of the year. But if you don’t take care while preparing all that delicious holiday food, you can put people at risk for food poisoning.

Anyone can get sick from food poisoning, but some folks are at higher risk. Kids under age 5, seniors and women who are pregnant are all more likely to get sick from food and have a serious illness.

Luckily, preventing food poisoning can be easy. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has these tips to help home chefs create safe Thanksgiving meals:

• Wash your hands often while cooking. Use soap and water and scrub for at least 20 seconds. Dry your hands on a clean paper towel, not a dirty apron or towel.
• Prevent cross-contamination. Clean surfaces as you go, including sinks and counters. Use separate cutting boards and utensils for meat and other food. That way, you won’t end up with raw turkey juice in your salad. (Blech!)
• Cook the turkey to 165 degrees. Use a food thermometer to check it’s done, and never rely on those cheap pop-up ones that come with the turkey.
• Follow the two-hour rule. If all your food hasn’t been gobbled up two hours after you’ve set it out on the table, it’s time to wrap it up and stick it in the fridge. Any leftovers that are perishable should be eaten or frozen within three to four days.

For more seasonal food prep tips, check out FoodSafety.gov.

If you have questions while cooking your turkey, call the USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline at 1-888-MPHotline.
Have a happy, healthy holiday!

By USDA FoodSafety.gov

Many Hispanic immigrants forgoing care due to fear, language barriers

November 14, 2019November 18, 2019 / Malheur County / Leave a comment

Immigrant woman sitting in an exam room with a provider taking her pulse

Important note: Malheur County Health Department proudly serves Spanish speaking clients and offers interpreting services for any language available on the interpreting assistance line. Immigrant status should not be a barrier to care and all are welcome. Services are available at reduced cost or free for many programs. Call 541-889-7279 to schedule a confidential appointment.

To get a better handle on the health care access barriers Hispanic immigrants in the U.S. often face, researchers from the University of Kansas Medical Center surveyed Hispanic immigrants about their experiences with the health care system.

“The Affordable Care Act has helped many Latinos, but it has systematically excluded the undocumented,” said Mariana Ramírez, a bilingual research counselor at the Kansas medical center who spoke on “Emerging Issues in Refugee and Immigrant Health” at the American Public Health Association 2019 Annual Meeting and Expo in Philadelphia.

Even those who have ACA plans sometimes struggle with high deductibles and premiums and limited coverage. Ramírez and her fellow researchers found that many times, people would change plans every year, which can make coverage inconsistent and confusing.

Researchers found that while a majority of people surveyed were employed, only 11% had employee-sponsored health insurance. In comparison, about two-thirds of adults in the region overall had insurance through their employer.

And it’s not a simple problem of access to insurance or paying for coverage. There’s a real fear in the Hispanic community that trying to get medical care could have negative consequences, Ramírez reported. For example, a vast majority of those surveyed — 86% — were worried that either they, a family member or a close friend could be deported. And about 60% said they were concerned that health care practitioners would share their information with immigration officials or were worried that using publicly funded health care services would negatively impact their immigration status.

The problems didn’t stop there. Even if an Hispanic immigrant is able to access needed health care, significant challenges such as language barriers can persist. And, unfortunately, translation services are often inconsistent and insufficient. Indeed, study participants reported lower quality of care because they were unable to effectively communicate with health care providers.

“(When) everything is in English, you just kind of have to hope that everything goes well and cross your fingers,” Ramírez said.

As a result, some Hispanic immigrants end up calling a doctor back in their home countries for consults or ask family or friends to bring them medications from abroad. They may even turn to self-medication, home remedies or unlicensed practitioners — such as someone who studied dentistry in another country and now operates in the U.S. without a license.

Article adapted from Public Health Newswire

Wash Your Hands in the Kitchen and the Bathroom

November 7, 2019March 11, 2020 / Malheur County / Leave a comment

The most dangerous antibiotic-resistant strains of E. coli are transmitted not through food but through contact with human feces.

While it’s important to wash your hands carefully after handling raw chicken, it may be even more important to wash them after going to the bathroom. The most dangerous antibiotic-resistant strains of E. coli, called ESBLs, are transmitted not through food, according to new research, but through contact of human feces with human mouths.

British researchers examined many strains of ESBL-E. coli in human blood and feces, sewage, farm slurry, live animals, and raw meat, fruits and vegetables.

They found that one multidrug-resistant strain, ST131, responsible for a mortality rate as high as 35 percent in humans, was found in more than 60 percent of human bloodstream infections, but was extremely rare in live animals and nonexistent in foods.

The study, in Lancet Infectious Diseases, concludes that many of the E. coli strains that make people seriously ill come from other humans, not food or animals (though foods can also contain dangerous strains).

The senior author, David M. Livermore, a professor of microbiology at the University of East Anglia, explained that there are some strains of are E. coli that are harmless and just live in your gut. Others cause mild food poisoning. And finally there are the E. coli that are antibiotic resistant and often lead to serious illness and death.

“Good kitchen hygiene remains important,” he said, “but with these antibiotic-resistant E. coli, toilet hygiene becomes vitally important.” For many of the strains that are causing major disease, “food is not the source. It’s humans.”

But how best to protect yourself from E coli? Wash your hands properly. “When you wash your hands with soap, what the soap does is to detach the microbes from your hands, but the microbes remain alive,” says Prof Sally Bloomfield of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. “The important part of washing your hands is rinsing them. That’s what takes the microbes off your hands.”

How to wash your hands properly

Use plenty of soap and be vigorous. “Rub them for at least 15 seconds, making sure that you rub them properly, from palm to palm, as well as rubbing the back of your hands. Interlace your fingers and rub them together. Rub around the backs of each of your fingers and thumbs,” Bloomfield says. “That’s the way to mechanically detach all of the organisms from your hands.”

After rinsing, dry your hands thoroughly to remove any microbes left lurking behind. (Be sure to change your hand towels regularly – every few days, or every day if you have children – on a hot wash of 60C or more to kill bacteria.)

If you’re not able to wash your hands using soap and running water, Bloomfield recommends using antibacterial hand gel to kill any microbes on your hands. Keep one in your bag and use it when you’re not able to get to a bathroom.

Article adapted from The New York Times and The Guardian.