Tag: updates

Over either the weekend of 12/9-11 or 12/16-18, the Public Health Library’s web portal will migrate to a new server. This change should be invisible to you, but in order to do this, we will take down the web portal on the Friday before at around 3pm. It should be back up the following Monday in the morning. We will let you know the dates for this the week before it happens. Please plan ahead if you think you will have any weekend needs.

If you need to make article or other requests during this period, please use the website or you may call the Public health Library at 510-642-2510.

CDPH in the News

LA residents affected by pollution from shuttered battery plant say slow cleanup adds insult to injury

from Free Speech Radio News

ttorneys with the NAACP filed a federal class action lawsuit last week on behalf of residents of Flint, Michigan affected by lead contaminated water. While national attention has been focused on the Flint crisis since late last year, another environmental disaster in Los Angeles has been unfolding for much longer – nine decades in fact – and most Americans aren’t aware of it. For years, a battery recycling plant most recently managed by Exide Technologies leached lead and other carcinogens into the soil, air and water in surrounding residential neighborhoods. Residents say the company’s shutdown took too long and that cleanup efforts are also sluggish.
The interim director of public health for LA County has said that lead contamination could affect up to 10,000 homes within a 1.75-mile radius of the shuttered Exide plant. And a recent analysis by the California Department of Public Health found slightly elevated levels of lead in children living within two miles of Exide, but it didn’t determine what the source was. It was confirmation of what many residents feared: that they’re not safe, and the government still doesn’t know how unsafe they are.

Researchers slowly homing in on risk of Zika birth defect

from Washington Post

As the international epidemic of Zika virus disease has unfolded and led to devastating birth defects for at least 1,300 children in eight countries, an agonizing question has persisted: What is the chance that an infected pregnant woman will have a baby with these defects?
Researchers don’t yet have a complete answer, but they are slowly homing in on one. The largest study to ever look at the question says the risk of one especially severe type of birth defect is “substantial” – in the range of 1 percent to 14 percent. It also reinforces the understanding that women infected in the early stages of pregnancy face the greatest risk. “These numbers are probably only the tip of the iceberg,” said Dr. Neil Silverman, a UCLA professor of obstetrics who has been advising the California Department of Public Health on Zika issues.

Napa LGBTQ program gets state grant to expand services Upvalley

from Napa Valley Register

Napa’s LGBTQ Connection has been awarded grants totaling $1 million from the California Department of Public Health to expand mental health-related services to Upvalley, Fairfield and Sonoma Valley over the next five years. “It’s very exciting,” said Ian Stanley, LGBTQ Connection program director. “What was once a little program in Napa is now going to be a model for other communities in the state and beyond.” This grant is “an amazing gift to the valley,” said Greg Miraglia, a dean at Napa Valley College and the national program manager for Stop the Hate, an educational initiative that provides training on how to create programs to support LGBTQ students.
In total, the California Department of Public Health will award $60 million to 41 contractors and grantees throughout the state. The goal is to reduce mental health disparities across African-American, Asian and Pacific Islander, Latino, LGBTQ and Native American communities.

State employees offered bikes to rent as option for downtown trips

from Sacramento Bee

State employees needing transportation for business purposes within the city of Sacramento can now request a car or a bicycle. Several departments have their own bike-sharing programs for employees, most funded through grants, said Brian Ferguson, a spokesman for the California Department of General Services. Based on the positive response to those programs, he said, General Services decided to make bicycles available to employees of any department through the State Garage on 10th Street in downtown Sacramento. The State Employee BikeShare Program launched Tuesday.
Ferguson said the state purchased 12 bicycles, costing less than $200 each, which employees may rent for business purposes. “It’s an opportunity to get people out of their cars and get them on bikes,” Ferguson said. Employees can reserve bicycles online just as they do state cars, and the bicycles will be maintained by staff members at the state garage. The California Department of Public Health recently celebrated the two-year anniversary of its BikeShare program. The bicycles are available to department employees to travel to downtown meetings, run errands or exercise during lunch breaks.

State Investigators Fault Sutter Hospice In Overmedication Of Prominent Calif. Health Care Leader

from California Healthline

The California Department of Public Health has issued a report that found Sutter VNA & Hospice provided Jerome Lackner’s caregivers with excessive amounts of morphine that may have contributed to his death. A state investigation into the death of Jerome Lackner, an iconoclastic California health care leader who served as a physician for Cesar Chavez and Martin Luther King Jr., has found that Sutter VNA & Hospice provided his caregivers with excessive amounts of morphine that, if administered, may have contributed to his death or killed him. The report by California Department of Public Health investigators faults the Sutter hospice for continuing to provide morphine to Lackner’s lay caregivers, despite nurses’ concerns that he was being overmedicated. It notes that during one nine-hour period, he was given morphine at almost double the maximum dosage prescribed.

Are you looking for tools to support program evaluation? Then this free webinar might be of interest to you.

Kyle Ferguson and Melissa Jennings of the Ontario Centre of Excellence for Child and Youth Mental Health will talk about the Program evaluation toolkit developed by their Centre.

The Program evaluation toolkit utilizes a three-phase process to apply to program evaluation. This toolkit contains lists, steps, and templaates for developing a logic model and final report. It was designed to be used by anyone involved in planning and conducting program evaluation, accessing data sources and analysing data on an ongoing basis.

Date: Wednesday, May 11, 2016
Time: 10:00 – 11:30 am PDT
Register: online here

EndNote released X7.5, its latest update for Windows, on April 5, 2016 . This update enables EndNote’s Cite While You Write to work with Microsoft® Word 2016. Other enhancements and optimizations included are for the find full text feature, syncing libraries with large file attachments, and Windows devices with higher screen resolutions.

To update to this version of EndNote, follow the prompts when you next open EndNote. Not sure if you have the latest update? You can check to see by opening EndNote, clicking on Help in the menu bar at the top, and then clicking on Check for Updates.

CDPH now has an enterprise license for EndNote X7. Contact Debbie Jan at debbie.jan@cdph.ca.gov if you have any questions on this.

CDPH in the News

California health department warns against illegally made cheese

from KUTV

“Illegal Cheese Can Make You Sick!” warns a press release from The California Department of Public Health, cautioning consumers against eating illegally made soft cheeses. In the release, California Department of Public Health (CDPH) Director and State Public Health Officer Dr. Karen Smith, advised people against consuming “…illegally manufactured Mexican-style soft cheeses, often sold by street vendors.”

“These cheeses are often made with raw, unpasteurized milk and under unsanitary conditions,” Smith warned, describing how they have witnessed “…a dramatic increase in the number of reported Salmonella cases, particularly in the Hispanic community.”

Health alert issued over counterfeit pills

from Turlock Journal

Health officials and law enforcement are warning the public of a rash of overdose deaths from a counterfeit painkiller that is actually a powerful opiate. The overdoses have all been linked to pills sold on the street that are designed to look like hydrocodone, but are actually synthetic fentanyl, which is a narcotic more powerful than morphine.

In a two week time span there were 10 overdose deaths in Sacramento County from the narcotic. Other overdoses have been reported in other California counties as well, according to the California Department of Public Health.

Razor clam fishery closed

from Times Standard

The California Fish and Game Commission closed the razor clam fishery in Humboldt and Del Norte counties on Monday after an emergency meeting. Following the latest batch of test results last week, Lauren Zeise, acting director of the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, cited an “emergency situation” after toxicity levels of clams came in over five times the allowable limit.

According to the commission’s official emergency meeting report, “Ingesting razor clams with high levels of domoic acid is a matter upon which urgent action is necessary to avoid severely impairing public health and safety.” Concerns about razor clam toxicity levels have been present since last summer, but recent test results from the California Department of Public Health showed elevated levels. The current federal action level for domoic acid in clams is 20 parts per million. The CDPH test results show that all but one of the 18 samples were over this limit, with one-third of the samples topping out above 100 ppm.

Rodents carrying potentially fatal hantavirus found in Inland region

from Press Enterprise

Riverside County’s director of disease control on Tuesday urged caution around certain rodent species after 10 mice carrying the potentially deadly hantavirus were found in San Timoteo Canyon near Beaumont. The California Department of Public Health confirmed the animals, which lived in the Norton Younglove Preserve near Beaumont, tested positive for the disease after being live-trapped in March with 14 other rodents.

The virus was found in deer mice, harvest mice and the California or parasitic mouse. Hantavirus is common in the Inland region, said Dottie Merki, Riverside County’s environmental health program chief.

Big increase in suicides for middle-aged women

from San Diego Union Tribune

In the past 15 years, the national suicide rate has increased 24 percent, a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found. In 1999, the national age-adjusted suicide rate was 10.5 per 100,000 people, and in 2015, that number increased to 13 per 100,000. The report noted that increase picked up pace after 2006.

The trends are similar in California, although the data is kept differently. In 1999, there were 9.1 suicides per 100,000 people, and that population-based rate increased to 10.4 in 2013, the latest data kept by the California Department of Public Health.

Mass. firefighters seek ban on flame retardants

from Boston Globe

Amid growing concern that flame retardants are responsible for elevated cancer rates in firefighters, Massachusetts lawmakers are pushing legislation that would go further than any other state’s in banning the use of chemicals meant to slow the spread of fires.

Fire officials and environmental advocates, who have joined forces to support the restrictions, contend that at least 10 chemicals used in flame retardants endanger firefighters, while doing little to stop fires. They support two bills that would prohibit manufacturers and retailers from using the chemicals in children’s products and upholstered furniture and authorize state environmental officials to ban other retardants they designate as health risks. Saunders, director of Clean Water Action in Massachusetts, pointed to an ongoing study by the California Department of Public Health that has found that firefighters who have been on the job for more than a year have been exposed to substantially higher levels of chemicals in flame retardants than civilians.

Interested in hearing more details on the the Flint water crisis? Wondering about the regulation of drinking water quality as a health equity issue? Then you might be interested in this webinar. It’s part of a series by APHA called The Flint Water Crisis and Beyond.

This webinar, the second in the series, features Dr. Hanna-Attisha, the pediatrician who helped expose the Flint lead poisoning. She and a team of panelists will identify some potential ways public health practitioners can address the regulation of drinking water quality as a health equity issue. They will also describe the Flint water crisis and explain what role public health can help play in maintaining the quality of drinking water.

Date: Tuesday, April 5
Time: 10am – 11am Pacific Time
Hosts: The Partnership for Public Health Law, a collaboration of APHA, ASTHO, NACCHO, and NALBOH

The final webinar in the series is: Working Together to Address Lead Exposure in our Communities.

Date: April 26
Time: 10am Pacific Time
Hosts: The Partnership for Public Health Law, a collaboration of APHA, ASTHO, NACCHO, and NALBOH

Dr. Dave Jacobs, National Center for Healthy Housing, Ruth Ann Norton, Green and Healthy Homes Initiative, and Kristie Trousdale, Children’s Environmental Health Network are the presenters for this.

1 CPH continuing education credit is available for individuals who register and attend either live webinar. Find out more about CPH credentials.