Dallas County Health and Human Services Safe families, healthy lives.

PREPAREDNESS UPDATEPUBLIC HEALTH

August-September 2016Volume 12, Issue 8

Zachary Thompson, Director

P A G E 2

Back to School Immunizations Complete

Flu Season Is Here: Vaccine Available

West Dallas Senior Center 43rd Anniversary

Marshall Rendon and Esmeralda Garcia Retire

P A G E 3 P A G E 4West Nile and Zika Virus Case Update

“Don’t Wait, Communicate. Make Your Emergency Plan Today”Each September, Dallas

County Health and Human Services (DCHHS) celebrates National Preparedness Month to build national and local awareness for emergency preparedness.

Key goals of this year’s emergency preparedness plan focus on understanding which disasters could happen in the community, knowing what steps to take to minimize damage, taking action to increase preparedness and participating in community resilience planning.

According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) a survey found that nearly 60 percent of drill respondents have not practiced what to do in a disaster.

“DCHHS partners with national, state, regional and local agencies to respond to emergencies and disasters that are a threat to public health,” said Zachary Thompson, DCHHS director.

“The lessons we learned from past events have us better equipped to effectively meet the needs of the public during a natural man-made disaster”.

This year, DCHHS is promoting National Preparedness Month each week of September. Preparedness awareness will cover guidelines regarding family and community planning with floods, wildfire, hurricanes and power outages.

DCHHS encourages each family to initiate a preparedness plan to ensure each person knows what to do in an emergency.

Families should also discuss where each person will stay if the family is separated as well as posting emergency telephone numbers, delegating family members for certain tasks such as disconnecting utility services and learning first aid or CPR.

In addition, it is important to also com-municate with neighbors and plan how to work together in the event of a disaster.

Outside of family planning, DCHHS en-

courages residents to support and engage in community preparedness.

FEMA has tips on how to get involved with the community and how to highlight emergency preparedness efforts.

Community organizations such as Citizen Corps, American Red Cross and Dallas County Homeland Security & Emergency Management are all resources for communities to use during a disaster.

http://www.dallascounty.org/hhs

Marisa Gonzalez, educating the public on National Preparedness Month.

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Back to School Immunizations Complete: Avoid Next Years Line

Flu Season Is Here: Vaccine Available for Adults and ChildrenDCHHS is now offer-

ing the seasonal flu vac-cine for adults and chil-dren at all six clinics. The cost is $20. If the adult is covered by Medicare, the vaccine is free.

“Now is the time for everyone to get their flu shot while it is early in the season,” said DCHHS Director Zachary Thomp-son.

“In addition to get-ting the flu shot, we are encouraging everyone to practice flu preven-tion recommendations as well.” Those recommen-dations include cough and sneeze etiquette along with proper hand-wash-ing.

DCHHS has flu pre-vention materials on its web site available for the public to download. CDC recommends the flu vac-cine as the best means of

flu prevention for almost everyone except children younger than 6 months of age.

The flu vaccine DCHHS provides is an all-in-one shot that pro-tects against multiple flu strains including the H1N1 virus.

DCHHS Medical Di-rector/Health Authority Dr. Christopher Perkins encourages parents to get their children vaccinated as soon as possible.

“It takes about two weeks for the body to de-velop the antibodies need-ed to provide protection against the flu virus,” Dr. Perkins said. “That’s why we are encouraging ev-eryone to get the flu vac-cine as soon as possible, so they’re protected early in the flu season.”

For more information call 214-819- 2162.

The vast majority of Dallas County students have completed the 2016 school immunization requirement. On Aug.13th, students and parents waited nearly up to three hours to have their immunizations completed.

DCHHS encourages parents to have their children vaccinated before the school deadline approaches. “Preparing to go back to

school is a great time to catch up on vaccinations,” said Dr. Chris-topher Perkins, DCHHS medical director/health authority.

“However, we urge all parents to make sure their children are up to date on vaccinations at all times. Back to school immuni-zations are available year round. DCHHS has six clinics open Monday-Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m..

3PREPAREDNESS UPDATESeptember 2016 | Dallas County Health and Human Services | www.dallascounty.org/hhs

West Dallas Senior Center Celebrates 43rd Anniversary

Each year, DCHHS participates in the cel-ebration of the West Dallas Senior Center Anniversary. This year, residents marked the 43rd An-niversary by celebrat-ing the center for its vital resources and relationship building initiatives. Services such as daily meal prepara-tion, dancing, exer-cise, arts and crafts

and field trips are offered through the Multipurpose Center for senior citizens. DCHHS recognizes the importance of honoring senior citizens and is proud to cel-ebrate the 43rd Anniversary of the West Dallas Senior Center.

Esmeralda Garcia has been a valued employee of Dallas County for over 21 years. Through her creative work, Esmer-alda began her career as a Ward Jail Clerk and worked her way to ending her career in the DCHHS Immunization Clinic. Although DCHHS is losing a tenure employee with vast knowledge, Esmeralda will continue to have a lasting impact throughout Dallas County. For this, DCHHS is honored to wish Esmeralda a farewell.

Congratulations to Marshall Rendon on Retirement

After 29 Years

Esmeralda Garcia Retires After 21 Years of

Dedicated Service This month, DCHHS gives a warm retirement farewell

to Marshall Rendon, who served the DCHHS Tuberculosis Division for 29 years. Marshall dedicated his life’s work to DCHHS and has achieved much success during his tenure with the organiza-tion.

While his career comes to an end, his influence carries on through the lives he has touched. Congratulations.

numbers grew to a total of 33 confirmed cases of the Zika Virus and 45 cases of the West Nile Virus. Although sexual transmission of Zika virus is possible, Zika is primarily transmitted to people by Aedes species mosquitoes. There are currently no reports of Zika virus being locally transmitted by mosquitoes in Dallas County. However, imported cases make local spread by mosquitoes possible because the mosquitoes that can transmit the virus are found locally. Mosquitoes are still a concern regarding West Nile and Zika. Although West Nile Season is ending, DCHHS advises all residents to continue to take precaution through September.

Remember the 4DsDeet: Whenever you’re outside, use insect repellents that contain DEET or other EPA approved repellents.Dress: Wear long, loose, and light-colored clothing outside. Drain: Drain or treat all standing water in and around your home or workplace. Dusk & Dawn: Limit outdoor activities during dusk and dawn.

DCHHSSafe families, healthy lives.

Dallas County Health and Human Services

Public Health Preparedness Division2377 North Stemmons FreewayDallas, TX 75207214-819-2000www.dallascounty.org/hhs

Zachary Thompson, Director Dr. Christopher Perkins, Medical Director/Health Authority

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About This Newsletter Public Health Preparedness Update is published monthly by Dallas County Health & Human Services. For information about this newsletter, contact DCHHS Public Information Officer Renae Crutchfield at 214-819-6329 or-renae.crutchfield@dallascounty.org

West Nile and Zika Updates

DCHHS is committed to public health preparedness efforts regarding Zika and West Nile Virus throughout Dallas County. Each day, DCHHS monitors new and potential Zika and West Nile case updates, positive mosquito pool watch lists, aerial spraying and reports a weekly arbovirus surveillance report. DCHHS will continue daily communi-

cation executed through GovDelivery, Facebook and Twitter, reaching over 10,000 subscribers with each post. Through these communication channels, updates may come in the form of a press release, social media post, community event, class room setting, the DCHHS web site and through direct phone contact with the public health preparedness group. As of September 22, West Nile and Zika

Follow DCHHS on social media or sign up for email or text updates.

Left to right: Spencer Lockwood, Vector Control Operations Supervisor; Rudy Phillips, Assistant Director Environmental Health; Medical Director/Health Authority Dr. Christopher Perkins, DCHHS Director Zachary Thompson.