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Public Health reports avian flu guidance, launches adult vaccine access and seeks overdose-prevention partners
Summary
Black Hawk County Public Health updated supervisors on avian influenza guidance, an adult vaccines program for uninsured adults, an overdose-prevention grant seeking two champions, and outreach and audit results for child and community health programs.
Caitlin Emmerich, public health director, briefed the Board of Supervisors on public-health work during the Feb. 18 meeting, focusing on animal-borne influenza guidance, newly available adult vaccine services, overdose-prevention planning and local child-health efforts.
From communicable-disease surveillance, Emmerich said the state reported renewed avian influenza updates and cautioned that migratory-bird activity could increase risks again in spring. She reminded the public not to handle dead birds and said the department will provide guidance as needed.
The health department has launched a new vaccines-for-adults campaign, supported by the state of Iowa, to provide vaccines to uninsured and underinsured adults age 19 and older. Emmerich said eligibility details and a list of covered vaccines are posted at bhtpublichealth.org.
Emmerich also said the department is implementing an overdose-prevention "data to action" grant and is seeking two leadership partners to serve as champions for a public-health/public-safety partnership: one representing health and one representing public safety. She asked supervisors and partners to forward nominations to the disease-surveillance manager.
On community health, Emmerich reported strong participation in a community-health-improvement meeting that included 73 partners, and she said the department's First 5 peer-coordination program scored well on a recent HHS audit. The department reached roughly 50% of newly Medicaid-eligible families this month through a child-health outreach program, above the state average.
The director also noted ongoing radon outreach and that kits remain available from the health department for $12. She said the department is tracking federal funding prospects but had received no new pass-through notices affecting county programs as of the meeting.
