Oak Ridge Today

Alexander to visit Oak Ridge, Knoxville, Johnson City this week

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U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander

Lamar Alexander

U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander will visit Oak Ridge, Knoxville, and Johnson City this week. The senator’s stops on Thursday include the Oak Ridge National Laboratory Manufacturing Demonstration Facility on Cherahala Boulevard in Knoxville and the Rotary Club of Oak Ridge.

The visits start at the Johnson City on Wednesday, where Alexander will deliver remarks at the Upper East Tennessee Chamber Luncheon and will be presented with the Spirit of Enterprise Award, which recognizes members of Congress who consistently cast votes that help businesses create jobs, a press release said.

Also Wednesday, the senator will visit Rocky Fork to commemorate the completion of efforts to protect the largest unprotected tract of land in the Southern Appalachians, the press release said. The Conservation Fund, the U.S. Forest Service, and the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation will host the event to celebrate the final transfer of land for inclusion into the Cherokee National Forest. [Read more…]

Emory Valley Early Learning Center receives ‘Gold Sneaker’ designation

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In front row, left to right, are Nina Vasquez, Kwan Davis, Brock Smith, and Tommy Meredith. In back, from left to right, are Patty Campbell, Anderson County Health Department nutritionist; Terry Frank, Anderson County mayor; Terry Peek, director of the Emory Valley Early Learning Center; and Jennifer Enderson, president of the Emory Valley Center. (Photo courtesy of Anderson County Health Department)

In front row, left to right, are Nina Vasquez, Kwan Davis, Brock Smith, and Tommy Meredith. In back, from left to right, are Patty Campbell, Anderson County Health Department nutritionist; Terry Frank, Anderson County mayor; Terry Peek, director of the Emory Valley Early Learning Center; and Jennifer Enderson, president of the Emory Valley Center. (Photo courtesy of Anderson County Health Department)

 

The Emory Valley Early Learning Center in Oak Ridge recently completed all requirements to be considered a “Gold Sneaker” facility by the State of Tennessee.

And on June 10, Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank and employees of the Anderson County Health Department presented Emory Valley Learning Center with its Gold Sneaker incentives. The Gold Sneaker Initiative designation, developed by the Tennessee Department of Health, is an enhanced certification for daycares in Tennessee and requires that these centers maintain rigorous standards of physical activity, nutrition, and a tobacco-free campus, a press release said.

“The team at Emory Valley Center was so proud of their recognition, as they should be,” Frank said in the press release. “A focus on health and wellness during the early years is assuredly an investment in a healthy adulthood. I congratulate their wonderful team’s hard work and commitment meeting the standards of the governor and the Department of Health.” [Read more…]

 Anderson County Health Department offers free flu vaccine

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Anderson County Health DepartmentCLINTON—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…]

Deemed ‘unlikely’ here, but county officials take preventive measures for Ebola virus

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Art Miller and Terry Frank

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…]

City, state work to reduce infant deaths through safe sleep program

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Oak Ridge Police Department partners with Tennessee Department of Health to reduce infant deaths

One of the top priorities of the Tennessee Department of Health is to reduce the state’s infant mortality rate (a measure of how many babies die before reaching their first birthday). TDH has discovered that 20 percent of all infant deaths in Tennessee are due to unsafe sleep practices. As part of this effort to save babies’ lives, Oak Ridge Police Department is partnering with the Tennessee Department of Health in the effort to reduce infant mortality by participating in the Direct On Scene Education, or DOSE, program.

DOSE is an innovative program using first responders to educate families about safe sleep for all infants. First responders at the Oak Ridge Police Department will be educating all households with pregnant women or infants after they respond to the immediate emergency. Our police officers will be equipped with safe sleep kits to provide to families. These kits contain educational materials to teach the caregivers about safe sleep environments for infants. [Read more…]

Anderson County receives $64,600 in funding to reduce tobacco use

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Tennessee Commissioner and Anti-Tobacco at Anderson County Health Department

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…]

Anderson County to be awarded $64K in tobacco settlement money

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John Dreyzehner

John Dreyzehner

Tennessee Health Commissioner John Dreyzehner will join other state and local officials on Friday, April 11, at the Anderson County Health Department in Clinton to present $64,600 in funding as part of the Tennessee Tobacco Settlement Program.

Each county in Tennessee will receive funding during this three-year program to reduce the burden of tobacco use in the state. All counties are challenged to set goals and select one or more projects that address three topics: eliminating smoking during pregnancy, reducing infants’ and children’s exposure to second-hand smoke, and preventing child and adolescent tobacco use. Anderson County will implement first-year projects targeting each of these three focus areas.

Funding from the Tobacco Settlement was provided to the Tennessee Department of Health for fiscal years 2014-16 to address the state’s high rate of tobacco use and prevent expensive related medical costs. The plan to distribute $15 million over three years has been generated with input from all 95 counties. This plan includes a variety of projects to target behaviors designed to protect the health of Tennessee’s most vulnerable populations: unborn babies, pregnant women, and children.

State asked to investigate DesJarlais’ relationship with patient

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The Tennessee Department of Health has been asked to investigate whether U.S. Rep. Scott DesJarlais, a doctor, had an inappropriate sexual relationship with a patient.

The nonprofit Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington asked for the investigation in a complaint filed Monday. Based in Washington, D.C., the organization said Tennessee law prohibits doctors from engaging in relationships with patients.

DesJarlais, who lives in South Pittsburg near Chattanooga, is a first-term Tennessee Republican whose district includes part of Roane County, including areas north and west of Oak Ridge.

In a letter to supporters on Friday, DesJarlais acknowledged that he was involved with an unnamed woman he had treated for a foot injury while he was legally separated from his wife during divorce proceedings 12 years ago.

“The relationship was completely mutual,” DesJarlais said.

But in its complaint, CREW said that doesn’t matter. Tennessee’s medical policy holds the physician responsible for maintaining “the boundaries of the professional relationship by avoiding and refraining from sexual contact with patients,” CREW Executive Director Melanie Sloan wrote.

[Read more…]