Richland Public Health

2017 Annual Report

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Since 1910

Dedicated to making Richland County a safer & healthier place to live and work for all ages.

Solid Dependable Proven

What is Public Health?

Public Health is the science of protecting and improving the health of people and their communities. This work is achieved by promoting healthy lifestyles, researching disease and injury prevention, and detecting, preventing and responding to infectious diseases.

Public health professionals try to prevent problems from happening or recurring through implementing educational programs, recommending policies, administering services and conducting research—in contrast to clinical professionals like doctors and nurses, who focus primarily on treating individuals after they become sick or injured. Public health also works to limit health disparities. A large part of public health is promoting healthcare equity, quality and accessibility.

Overall, public health is concerned with protecting the health of entire populations. These populations can be as small as a local neighborhood, or as big as an entire country or region of the world.

Martin Tremmel

Health Commissioner

Kevin Van Meter

Fiscal Operations

Rick Grega

HR, Legal, & IT

Dr. Daniel Burwell

Medical Director

Board of Health

The Board of Health plans or authorizes activities beneﬁting the department’s purpose. Terms are for ﬁve years; there is no term limit. Board meetings are normally the third Monday of the month at 6 p.m. at 555 Lexington Avenue. January and February’s board meeting is held on the fourth Monday of the month. Meetings are open to the public and the agenda includes an opportunity for public comment.

Barbara Cinadr, RN

Board Member

City

Thelda Dillon

Board Member

County

Robert Exten, MD

Board Member

City

Michael Keith

Board Member

County

John Leech, DDS

Board Member

City

Matthew Maiyer, RPh

Board Member

City

Della Phelps

Vice-President

City

Steven Phillips, DVM

Board Member

County

Dave Remy

Board Member

City

Jean Swartz

Board Member

County

Ary van Harlingen

President

City

Violet Wetzel

Board Member

County

District Advisory Council

The District Advisory Council meets annually in March to bring health concerns and recommendations to the Board of Health and to appoint new members from the county. Members include the chair of each township’s Board of Trustees, Village Mayor, mayors of Mansﬁeld and Ontario, and the Chair of the Richland County Commissioners.

2018 Members

Townships: Bloominggrove: Kenneth Burrer • Butler: Chuck Tackett • Cass: George L. Shepherd • Franklin: Jeffrey L. Kuhn • Jackson: Greg Vogt • Jefferson: Mark Gatton • Madison: Daniel Fletcher • Mifﬂin: John Jaholnycyk • Monroe: Michael L. Switzer • Perry Township: Walter Berg • Plymouth: Charles L. Miller • Sandusky: Thomas E. Glauer • Sharon: Edward A. Schumacher • Springﬁeld: Robert W. Currens • Troy: Tom McCready • Washington: Bob Entenmann • Weller: Terry Rhoades • Worthington: Keith D. Carr • Mayors: Bellville: Teri Brenkus • Butler: Kenneth L. Kinley • Lexington: Eugene R. Parkinson • Lucas: Todd R. Hall • Mansﬁeld: Timothy L. Theaker • Ontario: Randy Hutchinson • Plymouth: Timothy W. Redden • Shelby: Steven L. Schag • Shiloh: Marilyn Hall • Chair, County Commissioners: Darrell Banks.

How We Are Organized to

Prevent, Promote, and Protect

Environmental Health

Often working behind the scenes, Environmental Health employees protect the health of Richland County citizens by ensuring safe water, inspecting food services, and protecting against environmental hazards.

Public Health Nursing

In our Clinic and out in the ﬁeld, Public Health Nurses are the face of Richland Public Health. Multiple wellness programs have our Nurses in Schools and in communities throughout the County.

Administration

Health Commissioner, Human Resources, Legal, and IT, and Fiscal Operations.

Community Health & Prevention Sciences

Community outreach with services focused on fact-based programs to promote and improve health of individuals and communities. Also the communication and publicity arm of Richland Public Health.

WIC Services

One of the best ideas the “Fed” has ever had and a proven champion of health. Women, Infants, and Children promotes breastfeeding and healthy food options for prenatal and postpartum women & children to age ﬁve.

Richland Public Health

Office of Vital Statistics

The Vital Statistics Division at Richland Public Health maintains records of all births and deaths in Richland County since 1909 (excluding Shelby). Richland Public Health can provide certiﬁed birth certiﬁcates for anyone born in Ohio. This division maintains statistics on births, deaths and causes of death to assist in planning health programs and services that meet the needs of our community.

Online Birth Certificates

Beginning in 2016, Richland Public Health started offering the purchase of birth certiﬁcates online for anyone who was born in Ohio

Birth Certificates

Death Certificates

Burial Permits

Births in Richland County, 2017

Births in Richland County include live births in the City of Shelby as well as non-hospital deliveries. Of the 1,171 births, 190 were at OhioHealth-Shelby and 86 were non-hospital deliveries. 745 births (64%) were “repeat” births (2nd or more births). 575 births (49%) were to unmarried mothers. Births to unmarried mothers were the second highest percentage since records began in 1993. However, that ﬁgure does not take into account births to couples within cohabitation unions.* * Data indicates that more than half (58 percent) of all non-marital births in 2006-2010 occurred within cohabiting unions. (National Health Statistics Report, April 12, 2012, CDC/U.S. Department of Health and Human Services).

Teen Births

There were 108 total teen births. That is the second lowest percentage (9%) since records began in 1993. 19% of teen births were to minority race mothers. Four of the teen mothers were married.

14 Years Old (3) 3% 3%
15 Years Old (2) 2% 2%
16 Years Old (7) 6% 6%
17 Years Old (12) 11% 11%
18 Years Old (32) 30% 30%
19 Years Old (52) 48% 48%

Office of Vital Statistics

Cause of Death, Richland County 2017

%

#

Heart Disease

Hypertension was listed as an underlying cause in 30% of all heart disease deaths. High blood pressure can also lead to kidney failure and strokes, the 6th and 7th leading causes of death in Richland County

%

Strokes

37

%

Kidney Disease

51

%

#

Cancer

All Types. Cancer is the cause of 22% of Richland County deaths. 26% of those cancer deaths are from breast, ovarian, cervical, prostate, and colon cancer. Accidents

%

!

All other Causes

Including natural, Homicides (6), Infant Mortality (6), and pending = 1%

%

!

Lung Diseases

(95)

%

!

Alzheimer’s/ Dementia

(89)

%

!

Accidents

(68) 80% of accidental deaths were due to accidental drug overdose (49, mostly opioids). Falls, trafﬁc crashes, and “other” accounted for the rest.

Now the 4th leading cause of death, the astronomical rise in Alzheimer’s cases is a major concern as Richland County’s aging population continues to rise.

80% of accidental deaths were due to accidental drug overdose (mostly opioids). Falls, trafﬁc crashes, and “other” accounted for the rest.

%

!

Suicides

(15)

%

!

Flu & Pnuemonia

(36)

Richland Public Health

Community Health & Prevention Sciences

Community Health and Preventive Sciences (CHPS) is the art and science of studying and assessing community health needs. This involves organizing and provisioning comprehensive community health services and doing the work of educating and developing health care programs. The objective of that work is promoting health and preventing diseases. We are committed to reducing the leading preventable causes of illness, disability, and death – and to promoting community health – in Richland County.

PROGRAMS

AARP Senior Driver Class
Advertising & Public Relations
Bike Loan Program at Libraries
Bike Loop in Mansﬁeld
Bike to Work Week
Blood Pressure Kits at Libraries
Child Car Seat Program (OBB)
Communities Preventing Chronic Disease
Community Fairs and Resources
Creating Healthy Communities
Diabetes & Heart Health Education
Just Walk Richland
Monthly Health Report Newsletter
Public Information Ofﬁcers
Social Media/Website
Walking Maps
Weather Safety Information

Community Collaboration: Our staﬀ worked with Richland Academy of the Arts to bring singer/songwriter Crystal Bowersox (2nd from right) to Mansﬁeld for a special concert for children living with diabetes (see next page). Left to Right: Greg Carter (RAA), Marianne Cooper (RAA), Shannon Nelson (CHPS), Emily Leedy (CHPS), Julie Chaya (CHPS), Crystal Bowersox, Sydney Lange (CHPS).

Julie Chaya

Director CH&PS

Hello, I’m Julie Chaya, Director of Community Health and Prevention Sciences at Richland Public Health. Our Division changed our name from Health Promotion/Education in January of 2018 to better reﬂect what we do here. Our staﬀ is dedicated to improving health and health care among diverse populations through research, learning, and community partnerships. We are engaged in research and community health activities across the lifespan from maternal-child health to long-term care. Call any of our Health Educators if you have questions about what we can do for you.

American Idol Runner-Up

Ohio Native, Singer/Songwriter Crystal Bowersox Concert

Singer/Songwriter Crystal Bowersox, an Ohio native, ﬁnished runner-up in 2010’s American Idol. But the story of her success while living with childhood Type 1 diabetes is the one she wanted to tell to kids with similar conditions. Her heartfelt story and inspiration was delivered between her songs in a mini-concert just for those kids and their teachers at Richland Academy of the Arts. The November 2 afternoon concert was sponsored by Richland Public Health.

Crystal Bowersox met Brenna Nelson, a sixth grader at the Spanish Immersion Program (Mansﬁeld City Schools). Brenna, who also has Type 1 diabetes, asked Crystal how she controls her diabetes. Crystal encouraged other kids in the room to support those with diabetes and told them to believe in themselves and they could do anything. Later that evening, Bowersox performed at a sold-out concert at Richland Academy of the Arts.

Community Health & Prevention Sciences

Child Passenger Safety

It’s hard to dispute the fact that children are safer in Child Passenger Seats than adult seat belts, but many of us can remember when the only safety device we had in the car was our mother’s forearm. Reed Richmond, Richland Public Health’s CPS Tech and a member of the CHPS staﬀ, can remember those days, too. As a new grandfather, he’s kind of passionate about getting kids in the right seat and the right place.

Last year, he assisted in 59 new seat installs through the Ohio Buckles Buckeyes program and assisted families with 42 other CPS checks.

For more information about the OBB Program or if you’d like to have your install checked, call Reed at 419-774-4726.

Community Health & Prevention Sciences

Biking Programs

When Mansﬁeld City Council approved the creation of a 5.7 mile Inner City Bike Loop, Richland Public Health’s Communities Preventing Chronic Disease grant stepped up to provide painting for the route. Our Health Educators didn’t stop there. During Bike Month in May, Richland Public Health sponsors a “Bike to Work” day. We have “getting to know” rides in rural and city environments. We sponsor advertising to get the word out about the health and environmental beneﬁts of riding a bike instead of using a car. In 2018, residents in Lexington and Butler will have a chance to borrow bikes from their Public Library. Get out and ride it, Richland!

Community Health & Prevention Sciences

Just Walk Richland

Just Walk Richland is a movement that encourages whole health walking in Richland County. These walking groups are open to all in Richland County and include walks on urban city streets, residential neighborhood streets, the Richland B&O trail, and rustic hiking trails.  Just Walk Richland opens the invitation to individuals to walk for their own interests, whether that is for physical, mental or social beneﬁts. Whatever your reason, Just Walk Richland! Connect with us on Meetup

Just Walk Richland Meetup

Community Health & Prevention Sciences

Hike for Health

Speaking of walking, for 18 years, Richland Public Health has promoted the Hike for Health as a healthy form of fun exercise in Ohio’s great outdoors. The science behind exercise and health is irrefutable. But lately there has been more research proving that reconnecting with nature is good for your health, too. Since its start at Malabar State Farm Park in February, the Hike has added an October date and a new location: Gorman Nature Center. For more information about the Hikes, call 419-774-4761

Community Health & Prevention Sciences

Blood Pressure Cuffs

Through the Communities Preventing Chronic Disease (CPCD) grant, Richland Public Health (RPH) began a project to expand residents’ access and ability to self-monitor their blood pressure. RPH collaborated with the county’s library systems and the District 5 Area Agency on Aging to create a kit containing a blood pressure monitor/cuﬀ, instructions, educational material about blood pressure, and a blood pressure tracking card. At all libraries in the county, patrons are able to check out a kit for two weeks at a time and keep the resources that are supplied in the kits at no cost. There is also a kit at the District 5 Area Agency on Aging for onsite usage. The libraries and RPH continue to work collaboratively to maintain the kits. Saw

Saw it advertised… really nice to be able to check this out at the library! Very useful and I was able to give my healthcare provider a 2-week snapshot of my blood pressure! Anonymous, Survey Response

In Richland County, Ohio, the incidence of diagnosed high blood pressure has increased to aﬀect 40% of the adult population, thus surpassing both the statewide (34%) and nationwide (31%) incidence. In 2016, heart disease and stroke accounted for 28% of deaths in Richland County. The program allows for blood pressure monitors to be accessible to any resident in Richland County over the age of 18. Because it is a free resource, people who may be unable to purchase their own monitors or would otherwise rely on a single reading from their health care providers now have the opportunity to use a kit at home. Checking a kit out of the library creates opportunities for more frequent and consistent readings, thus allowing users to learn about blood pressure issues sooner than if they were to wait until a physician visit. This program also allows people to take their blood pressure in the comfort and privacy of their own homes, which is not the case with most of the other free public blood pressure monitors. This is the Prevention Science behind Community Health.

I had been feeling ill recently and wasn’t sure what it was, I just knew I felt “not right.” I thought it may be my BP, but wasn’t sure. I checked out the BP kit, and this actually saved my life… had I not been able to borrow it from the library, I may have not known until it was too late. Anonymous, Survey Response

The program launched in April 2016 and over a 21-month period, the blood pressure kits have been checked out a total of 292 times. Due to one library’s long wait lists and high demand, an additional kit was added nine months into the program, bringing the total number of available kits to 21 across 10 libraries.

This collaborative eﬀort was chosen by The Public Health National Center for Innovations as one of its Cross-Sector Partnership Innovations.

Read The Full Report

2017 Use Data

Finding Richland Public Health Online

Page Views

Original Visits

By Department

Environmental Health

Vital Statistics

WIC

Public Health Clinic

Public Health Nursing

CH&PS (HPE)

Most Visited Service

Food Services

Plumbing, Commercial

Immunizations

Sewage Treatment

Birth & Death Statistics

Just Walk Richland

Mosquito Spraying

WIC Car Seat Program

By Device

%

…of people reaching out to Richland Public Health online (richlandhealth.org) are doing so on desktop or laptop computers. Making searches easier for them means they can spend their time more productively.

%

…of people reaching out to Richland Public Health online (richlandhealth.org) are doing so on mobile devices. This means our website has to be responsive and items clients search for have to be easy to ﬁnd.

%

…of people reaching out to Richland Public Health online (richlandhealth.org) are doing so on tablets. That percentage may increase, so our website has to adapt to keep up with our clients.



Facebook

1,929 “likes”



Twitter

586 “followers”



Instagram

“richlandhealth”



YouTube

“Richland Public Health”



LinkedIn

“Richland Public Health”

Richland Public Health

Environmental Health Division

Environmental Health is the branch of public health that focuses on the relationships between people and their environment; promotes human health and well-being; and fosters healthy and safe communities. Environmental Health is a key part of any comprehensive public health system. The ﬁeld works to advance policies and programs to reduce chemical and other environmental exposures in air, water, soil, and food in order to protect people and provide communities with healthier environments.

American Public Health Association

Programs with most inspections, investigations, and consultations.

Food Services 29% 29%
Plumbing Commercial 23% 23%
All Other 22% 22%
All Other 12% 12%
Sewage Treatment 9% 9%
Vector Control 6% 6%

Environmental Health oversees a variety of programs that prevent, protect and educate our community about potentially harmful elements in our environment.

Contacts	2017
Campgrounds	67
Food	3,158
Emergency Preparedness	10
Housing	7
Indoor Air Quality	48
Institutions	5
Lead	19
Environmental Health Nuisance	91
Environmental Health Other	63
Plumbing – Commercial	2,515
Plumbing – Residential	1,299
Private Water Systems	632
Public Swimming Pools/Spas	237
Rabies	640
Schools	126
Sewage Treatment Systems	943
Site Assessment	22
Solid Waste	309
Tattoo & Body Piercing Facilities	115
Vector Control	694
Totals All Contacts	11,000

*Inspections, investigations and consultations

Joe Harrod

Director Environmental Health

Hi, I’m Joe Harrod, Director of Environmental Health at Richland Public Health. In the Environmental Health Division we help protect the health and well-being of the residents of Richland County. We do this by providing education and enforcing public health-related laws during our routine inspections. This helps prevent diseases and make environments safe in restaurants, private water systems, schools, and businesses. The next few pages will give you some insight into what we do in Environmental Health.

Environmental Health

Food Safety

The Food Safety Division at Richland Public Health licenses and routinely inspects food service operations (FSO), retail food establishments (RFE), temporary and mobile FSO/RSE, and vending facilities to ensure public health and safety. When a violation is found, the violation is thoroughly explained, corrective measures are taken, and education is given to the operators. Thanks to an ongoing working relationship between the Health Department’s Sanitarians and the food facility operators in Richland County, our community is protected against food-borne illnesses that may result from unsanitary working conditions, improper food handling, preparation, or storage, unsafe sources and improper cooking, holding or cooling temperatures.

Rob Bowers, Registered Sanitarian, doing a mobile food service inspection at a summer fair.

Environmental Health

Rabies & Animal Control

Rabies protection is one of the oldest public health programs. Rabies is an infectious viral disease that aﬀects the nervous system of humans and other mammals. People get rabies from the bite of an animal with rabies (a rabid animal). Because rabies is a fatal disease, the goal of public health is to prevent and control the spread of rabies by conducting rabies investigations for every animal bite in the County. Working with several local veterinarians, Richland Public Health has helped sponsor a free rabies clinic in May for several years.

Dr. Henry Akers give a rabies shot at the Annual Free Rabies Clinic.

Environmental Health

Recreational Water

Richland Public Health licenses and inspects public swimming pools to minimize the risk of recreational water-borne illness and to reduce safety hazards resulting in accidents from improperly maintained pools. Public swimming pools include those located in apartments, hotels, motels, neighborhood associations, parks, health clubs, and other recreational establishments.

Environmental Health

Mosquito Control

Richland Public Health’s Mosquito Control program top priority is preventing the spread of mosquito-borne diseases like West Nile virus or Zika. Our Mosquito Control Program uses an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) model to eﬀectively and safely manage pests. The US EPA deﬁnes IPM as “an eﬀective and environmentally sensitive approach to pest management that relies on a combination of common-sense practices.” Richland Public Health trapped a total of 18,308 mosquitoes in 2017. 491 pooled mosquito samples were tested for West Nile Virus (WNV) and 49 samples tested positive for WNV. Richland Public Health provided 264.56 miles of treatment for adult mosquito control and a total of 55 gallons of adulticide was applied in Richland County.

Richland Public Health’s IPM components include (1) Upper Right: Surveillance/Inspection – Larvae dipper containing mosquito larvae; (2) Above Right: Monitoring – Setting mosquito traps; (3) Top Right: Treatment – Mosquito Spraying truck; (4) Lower Left: Evaluating – Taking samples to send to the Ohio Department of Health for testing.

Richland Public Health

Plumbing Division

Safe Water for All

Our State-Certiﬁed Plumbing Inspectors work with registered plumbers and homeowners to ensure all plumbing installations are in compliance with the Ohio Plumbing Code. Our Chief Plumbing Inspector teaches Plumbing Code CEU Classes for a six-county area.

Richland Public Health has residential and commercial jurisdiction in Richland County and Commercial Jurisdiction in Ashland, Crawford, Huron, Knox, and Morrow Counties.

Commercial

Residential

Private Water

Inspections & Consultations

Frank Brykalski

Chief Plumbing Inspector

…and an all-around good guy. Frank brags that he is a member of the Richland Public Health “Shirt of the Day” Club.

Conducting a residential plumbing inspection is Plumbing Inspector Aaron Streng.

Public Health

Nursing & Clinic

Public Health Nursing is deﬁned as the practice of promoting and protecting the health of populations using knowledge from nursing, social, and public health sciences. By working with whole communities, public health nurses are able to educate people about health issues, improve community health and safety and increase access to care.

“I assess, plan, implement and evaluate public health programs. I am skilled in creating a healthier community.”  Public Health Nurse “Elevator Speech”

Richland Public Health has two distinct areas of Public Health Nursing Services: the Public Health Clinic and Public Health Nursing. We are on the front lines: visiting parents of newborns and guiding them as they assume their role as a nurturing parent; working with families that have children with special health care needs; providing health care and health education in the school setting so our students are healthy and ready to learn; and implementing various public health programs that prevent, promote and protect.

Public Health Nurses discuss strategies to improve immunization rates in their communities to assure residents are protected against communicable diseases. They monitor disease trends and where needed, create a response plan.

Amy Schmidt

Director, Public Health Nursing

Hello. I’m Amy Schmidt, Director of Public Health Nursing at Richland Public Health. Public Health Nurses have the distinction of applying the values and philosophies of nursing and public health together in an eﬀort to impact a community. They work at all levels of intervention with individuals, families, clinics and communities to promote the health of the community and the entire population. Public Health Nurses make a diﬀerence in their communities. They provide leadership and ground their work in science. They are conveners, collaborators, and advocates for a healthier community. They are skilled at bringing people together to make change happen in our communities. Richland

Clerical Specialist Nikki Franklin and Clerk Chris Parks are the ﬁrst contacts for most clients at the Clinic intake window.

The Public Health Clinic provides non-emergency public health care services to people of all ages. Our clinic is led by registered nurses. These public health nurses provide child and adult immunizations, conduct TB testing, and provide consultation and immunizations to international travelers. The clinic staff will also provide testing for STD and HIV. The public health nurses also provide community based clinics for immunizations and community health screenings throughout the county.

Public Health Clinic	2017
General Health (new, revisit, sick)	1,492
Immunizations (includes TB)	2,977
Inﬂuenza Vaccine (Flu Shots)	873
Neighborhood Immunizations (visits)	429
International Travel (visits/consults)	240
Nurses Appointments	252
STD/HIV Testing	217
Total Visits	6,480

For Clinic Appointments for child, adult, travel, and shingles vaccine as well as ﬂu shots: call 419-774-4700. Walk-ins are welcome.

Public Health Nursing

BCMH

Richland Public Health’s Bureau for Children with Medical Handicaps (BCMH) is a program administered by the Ohio Department of Health that links families of children with special health care needs to a network of quality providers that help families pay for the medical services a child needs.  Public Health Nurses assist families to connect with BCMH providers. BCMH works with doctors and other healthcare providers to ensure that every child with a special health care need will have a medical home. Special health care needs may be caused by a condition a child is born with or develops later. The condition is chronic in nature and will last longer than a year. Call a Public Health Nurse to see if your child’s condition is eligible: 419-774-4540. Right: A BCMH child with her mother during a home visit.

Public Health Nursing

Newborn Home Visits

Free Nurse Home Visit for Richland County Moms . . . because your baby didn’t come with an instruction manual! Richland Public Health provides a registered nurse from Public Health Nursing to visit your newborn child (up to eight weeks old) in your home. Our nurse will do an assessment of your child and help answer questions you may have. The nurse can also provide a reference to other community agencies for further assistance if needed. Some families may also qualify for a free “Cribette” provided by a grant through “Cribs for Kids” and the Ohio Department of Health.  Newborn home visits are a free service in a collaborative effort funded by the Richland County Youth and Family Council. Call 419-774-4540 to schedule an appointment. Left: Kristen Grove, RN, packs a Cribette as she prepares for a home visit.

Public Health Nursing

International Travel Services

Services for the international travelers are available at the Richland Public Health Clinic through our International Travel Services program. sA public health nurse can provide immunizations for travel disease, travel advise to avoid discomfort and disease, documentation of immunizations, and helpful answers to your questions. If you are going to places beyond North America, you need to know about serious health risks—especially where sanitation and medical conditions are poor. Diseases such as tetanus, diphtheria, polio, measles, meningitis, typhoid, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, yellow fever, malaria, inﬂuenza, Zika, and traveler’s diarrhea pose threats to the unprotected traveler. Appointments are needed. Please call 419-774-4700 and ask for the International Travel Services program. Clinic nurse Paula Musgrove talks with a client about her trip to China, where she will be living with a host family.

Public Health Nursing

Nurses in Schools

Healthy children are successful learners. The public health nurse in schools has a multi-faceted role within the school setting, one that supports the physical, mental, emotional, and social health of students and their success in the learning process. It is the breadth of nursing activities contained within the role of the public health nurse in the schools and the unique non-medical setting that differentiates school nursing from other nursing specialties. Richland Public Health provides public health nurses to 12 schools in Richland County. They also do hearing and vision screenings for additional schools. Hearing screenings are one of many duties that public health nurses perform in schools.

Public Health Nursing

Safe Sleep Education

Several Public Health Nurses participated in an October video promoting the ABCs of Safe Sleep: Alone, on their Back, in a Crib, to prevent infant deaths

Amanda Crawford, RN (also pictured above), and Beth Armstrong, RN, participate in an emergency preparedness drill.

Emergency Preparedness, Planning & Response

Public health nurses are in the emergency operations center, with the rest of the response community, ready to tackle a public health event or a county emergency of a chemical, biological, or radiological in nature, either through an infectious disease or terrorist threat. Emergency operation plans include mass medication plans to enable organized, prompt, and efﬁcient distribution/administration of medication in the event of a large-scale communicable disease outbreak, inﬂuenza pandemic, or bioterrorism event. Richland Public Health employees regularly practice emergency scenario drills.

Women, Infants, Children

WIC

SThe Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) is federally funded through the USDA. WIC’s mission is to provide supplemental foods, health care referrals, and nutritional information to income eligible pregnant, breastfeeding, postpartum women, and to infants and children up to age 5 who are at nutritional risk. WIC is the nation’s premier and most cost eﬀective public health nutrition program. Currently, WIC serves 53 percent of all infants born in the United States.

2017 WIC Services

Ashland & Richland

New Particpants 15% 15%
Recertiﬁcations 37% 37%
Other Contacts 48% 48%

Recertiﬁcations

New Participants

Other Contacts

Total Contacts

Tina Picman

Director Richland-Ashland WIC

Hello, I’m Tina Picman, Director for the Richland/Ashland County WIC Program. I want to welcome you to WIC and its wonderful services. WIC helps young families learn about good nutrition, ﬁnd health care, and purchase healthy foods available at local grocery stores. In June, 2017, WIC moved from the lower level of RPH to the upper level and is now co-located with the RPH clinic. You can come to your WIC appointment and get your children’s immunizations up-to-date all in one visit!

Santa Claus visits the Christmas Party for the children of WIC clients at Richland Public Health.

Ohio WIC Income Guidelines

Eligible Gross Income (before taxes

Family Size	Annual	Monthly	Weekly
1	$22,311	$1,860	$430
2	30,044	2,504	578
3	37,777	4149	876
4	45,510	3,793	876

WIC

Our WIC Program invites you to enjoy the WIC experience — from our friendly staﬀ to the healthy foods WIC provides. WIC has convenient midcertiﬁcation appointments for busy families, including completing nutrition education at home via the website www.wichealth.org. Just choose a topic that interests you and completes a quick quiz. Print out or take a screenshot of your completion certiﬁcate and bring it to your WIC appointment! WIC also oﬀers special classes just for kids. These classes include “Story Time” with the Library Lady, the ”Kids as Chefs“ cooking class, and Halloween and “Christmas with Santa” classes featuring nutritious snacks and crafts. Participating in WIC can be fun for the family! Another program helpful to WIC participants is the WIC Farmer’s Market Program. During the summer months, WIC provides a $20 coupon booklet that can be redeemed at approved farm markets for fresh, locally grown fruits, vegetables and herbs. It is a great way to support area farmers and serve your family fresh produce!

Are you expecting and thinking about breastfeeding? Are you a new breastfeeding mom? Congratulations! Breastfeeding is the natural and best way to feed your baby. WIC can help you with learning about the advantages of breastfeeding and, once your baby is born, WIC can provide support through trained health professionals to guide you through the ﬁrst weeks/months of breastfeeding. Helping you to have a successful, problem free breastfeeding experience is an important WIC service.

Ohio WIC introduced a new logo for the State program, seen above.

Financial Information

Good Stewards of Public Funds

The Board of Health and Administration of Richland Public Health appreciate the trust of the citizens of Richland County in approving our Levies. We are very conscious of making every ﬁnancial decision in the best interest of serving our citizens.

2017 Program Expenses

Public Health Nursing	$2,177,604.28
Environmental Health	1,586,319.09
CH&PS (Health Ed.)	1,060,435.90
WIC	921,184.13
Vital Statistics	327,574.85
TOTAL	$6,073,118.26

2018 Operating Budgets

Payroll/Fringes	$4,434,147.63
Operating Fees/Permits	1,613,415.98
Equipment/Building	262,950.00
Administrative	140,000.00
TOTAL	$6,073,118.26

Message from the Health Commissioner

Community Members,

In a word, the 2017 year-in-review would be regarded as PROGRESSIVE.

The WIC clinic staff settled into a new location area alongside our public health nursing clinic. The rationale for this move is to improve collaboration between the nutrition program, breastfeeding education, nursing services and immunizations as a one-stop for the convenience of our moms, dads, and babies.

The Division of Environmental Health was surveyed five times from various state regulatory agencies regarding the pool, food, water, and solid waste programs. The surveys are time-consuming; however, I am pleased to report our staff exceeded expectations. Each program remains in compliance with state regulations, and many areas are in the higher performance percentiles.

The wet spring and early summer weather produced many more mosquitoes than we can recall in recent years. The phone and email requests for trapping, surveillance, spraying and larvicide treatments kept our two college interns and our staff sanitarian busy all season. We appreciate everyone’s patience, especially when our staff drive by your home with a motorized fogging machine at 4:30 am. In short, we trapped 18,308 mosquitoes and became one of the first sites in Ohio to locate West Nile Virus positive mosquitoes.

Our vital statistics program utilizes a Google™ search engine, and more than half of our online birth certificate purchases are from out-of-state customers. It is an honor when our staff responds to a request from one of our citizens entering our armed forces, and we endeavor to complete such requests within one business day.

Public health nursing successfully vaccinated more than 4,000 of our residents for childhood, adolescent and adult immunizations, including our standard flu-clinics. It is unfortunate that this year’s influenza vaccine was not as effective as it has been in past years; however, it became clear to our disease surveillance staff that those having received the vaccine were much less ill than those who were not vaccinated. Sadly, four Ohio children died from complications due to influenza their children were not vaccinated. We cannot stress enough the importance of an annual flu shot early in the flu season (around late October) for ALL family members age 6-months and older without a history of adverse reaction.

The Community Health & Prevention Sciences (CHPS) division has taken its goals/objectives to another level. It would be difficult for a Richland County resident not to have seen/heard a billboard, poster, radio, newspaper, newsletter, or television advertisement where CHPS staff were actively promoting healthy diets, exercise/ walking/biking, cardiovascular health, diabetes prevention, local parks initiatives, community gardens, worksite wellness programs, and the like. It is with regular messaging that we encourage healthy choices and improve our overall health as a community. CHPS is continually working to make the healthy choice the easy choice. Please assist us in these efforts in any little way that you can – your heart will thank you for it!

It remains our privilege as public servants to exceed the expectations of our Richland County residents. Kindly let us know how we are doing – we welcome your feedback (our website has a satisfaction survey) and endeavor to remedy areas where we can improve.

In good health for 2018,

Martin J. Tremmel, RS, MPA, JD
Health Commisioner
Richland Public Health