CLINTON—Flu season is here, with seasonal influenza cases now reported across Tennessee.
The Anderson County Health Department is working to protect the entire community by providing free flu vaccinations to area residents until vaccine supplies are depleted, a press release said. Appointments must be made to receive flu vaccine, and they are now being scheduled at the clinic. [Read more…]
Kelli Kent, Emma Berry, Reagan Wolfe, Noah Carter, Jake Wade, Sarah Thomas, Hope Hicks, and Courtney Sharp dance as Snow White helps the seven side effects to #ChooseNotToUse tobacco products. (Submitted photo)
The Anderson County Health Department and community partners Allies for Substance Abuse Prevention (ASAP) of Anderson County, Anderson County Schools, Clinton City Schools, and Oak Ridge City Schools have made great strides in tobacco prevention since nearly $65,000 was awarded to Anderson County earlier this year.
At the Tobacco Initiative Reception held on Wednesday, October 22, those strides were recognized. Art Miller, director of the Anderson County Health Department, said “this is the first time tobacco settlement funds are being used to fund tobacco prevention.”
More than 40 attendees watched as the ASAP Youth Coalition demonstrated why they “Choose Not To Use” tobacco through a special presentation of a skit they wrote and produced titled “Snow White and the Seven Side Effects.” During the skit, the dangers of tobacco use—such as cigarettes being the leading cause of house fires with more than 7,600 each year in the U.S. and losing teeth after the use of chewing tobacco—were highlighted. [Read more…]
Art Miller, left, director of the Anderson County Health Department, talks with County Mayor Terry Frank about local preventive measures concerning the Ebola virus. (Photo courtesy of Anderson County government)
CLINTON—Anderson County officials are aware of the few cases of the Ebola virus in the United States and are taking early preventive measures in the unlikely event that the virus occurs here, the Anderson County Mayor’s Office said Wednesday.
Preventive measures being taken by local Health Department and emergency officials include conferencing, protocol reviews, and in-service training. This will help ensure that they “know what to do in the unlikely event that a case of the Ebola virus occurs here,” a press release said.
The release said staff members at the Anderson County Health Department recently completed a “table-top exercise” aimed at allowing the employees to plan ahead and be prepared. They used a hypothetical case and followed already-established protocol to deal with the hypothetical case. The procedures involved isolation of the hypothetical Ebola patient upon presentation to the Health Department, protection measures for other Health Department patients and staff members, and immediate communication between the local Health Department, Anderson County Emergency Medical Service, Methodist Medical Center of Oak Ridge, and the Health Department’s regional office in Knox County, as well as the Tennessee Department of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“Similar exercises have been conducted in every health department office across Tennessee,” said Art Miller, director of the Anderson County Health Department. [Read more…]
Anderson County has received almost $65,000 in funds to support initiatives that reduce tobacco use. Local officials recently received the check from Tennessee Health Commissioner John Dreyzehner. (Photo Courtesy of Anderson County Health Department)
CLINTON—Tennessee Health Commissioner John Dreyzehner visited the Anderson County Health Department on Friday to present $64,600 in funding as part of the Tennessee Tobacco Settlement Program.
Dreyzehner was in East Tennessee last week to present tobacco settlement checks to the Roane County Health Department ($38,860) and the Loudon County Health Department ($38,103) as well as the check to Anderson County.
Each county in Tennessee will receive funding annually during the three-year program to reduce the burden of tobacco use in the state.
Locally, the Anderson County Health Department is using the funds to support a new “Baby and Me—Tobacco Free” program as well as a partnership with Allies for Substance Abuse Prevention (ASAP) of Anderson County and the Coordinated School Health programs in each of the three school systems in Anderson County. [Read more…]
