TCHD Public Health

News for Schools

2018
Fall Newsletter
Flu Season Has Arrived!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the worldwide flu epidemic of 1918, which killed an estimated 50 million people worldwide. More recently, last year's 2017-2018 flu season was record-breaking statewide with 4,650 Coloradans hospitalized with flu, including 1,085 residents from Adams, Arapahoe, and Douglas Counties. As flu season gets underway this fall, Tri-County Health Department (TCHD) encourages all residents aged six months and older to get a flu vaccine as early as possible, ideally during October. TCHD offers routine immunizations, including flu vaccines, for children and adults at five clinics across Adams, Arapahoe, and Douglas counties, with a variety of walk-in and appointment options. We even have a Saturday clinic! Visit our website or call us at (303) 451-0123 to schedule an appointment or to get more information.

________________________________________________________
 

Prepare to Stay Safe and Healthy This Winter

Winter is just around the corner in Colorado, so take time now to ensure you have performed the necessary maintenance on your vehicle, including having tires with good tread, checking the breaks as well as wiring, hoses and belts. Create or update your vehicle's emergency kit  and review how to stay safe at home to avoid hypothermia, frost bite, carbon monoxide poisoning and heart attacks from over exertion.
 
________________________________________________________
 

Pertussis Cases Continue to Sicken Our Communities

Although pertussis cases are on a continuous decline over the last 5 years as shown in the graph below, pertussis is still a significant burden of illness in our communities. Encourage patients to receive their DTaP or Tdap vaccines as recommended in the 2018 CDC Immunization Schedule  for both children and adults.
 


 

________________________________________________________
 

Report Your School's Immunization Rates

Colorado Board of Health rule 6 CCR 1009-2  requires most schools and licensed child cares to report aggregate immunization and exemption data to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment annually.
The 2018-2019 school year marks the third year of this reporting requirement. The deadline for data submission is December 1.
 
*Who must report: Public, private and parochial schools with grades 
  K -12, as well as child care centers, preschools and Head Start
  programs with 10 or more children.
*Who does not need to report: School-age child care centers, family
  child care homes, drop-in centers, day treatment centers, foster care
  homes, day camps and resident camps - though these facilities are still
  required to collect immunization or exemption forms for their students.
 
You can find a link to the reporting site here. Need help reporting? Nurses at Tri-County Health Department are available to help! Please contact Meredith Brown at (303) 363-3007 or mbrown@tchd.org or call the Tri-County Immunization Hotline at (303) 451-0123 and ask to speak to a nurse.
________________________________________________________
 

Healthy Kids Colorado Survey & Smart Source: Results Are In!

Following the 2017-18 administration, state- and regional-level results from Healthy Kids Colorado Survey (HKCS) and Smart Source are now available.
 
Used throughout Colorado, HKCS is a student-level survey of health behaviors whereas Smart Source is school-level assessment of best practice implementation. Data from these complementary surveys can be used together to inform health efforts in your community.
 
As of September 2018, HKCS and Smart Source are housed together at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and administered by the Colorado School of Public Health (CSPH). If your school or district participated in HKCS and/or Smart Source and you would like support in understanding or presenting the results, CSPH is happy to provide assistance (free of charge).
 
The next administration of both surveys will be in the fall of 2019, but it's not too early to connect with CSPH to start conversations with your school or district about participation!
 
To learn more, please visit www.healthykidscolo.org or send an email to HKCS@ucdenver.edu  or smartsource@ucdenver.edu .

________________________________________________________
 

Let's Talk Mental Health
 
 
School has started, and you have prepared your children with new clothes, notebooks, and a fresh batch of #2 pencils, but have you asked them how they are feeling?
 
Anytime during the school year is an ideal time to talk openly with your child about their mental health. Take the time to ask them about relationships with their friends, if they are stressed about upcoming academics or activities, or whatever else is on their minds. Then listen.
 
Conversations can happen at any time, they can be prompted by billboards, smells, media stories or a song on the radio.
 
Research shows youth and young adults beliefs about themselves and their abilities are influenced by the adults in their lives who care about them. They will learn they can come to you when they need support, and you just may learn a thing or two about them.  
 
________________________________________________________
 

Birth Certificate Offices in Adams, Arapahoe and Douglas Counties

Birth certificates help establish identity, parentage, age and citizenship and are useful for a number of purposes throughout a person's life.
 
Tri-County Health Department offers birth certificates in the following locations:
  • Adams County: 4201 E. 72nd Avenue, Unit D, Commerce City, CO 80022 (72nd Avenue and Colorado Blvd.)
  • Arapahoe County: 6162 S. Willow Drive, Suite 100, Greenwood Village, CO 80111 (I-25 and Orchard Road)
  • Douglas County: 410 S. Wilcox Street, Castle Rock, CO 80104 (one block south of Plum Creek Parkway on Wilcox Street).
Open Monday through Friday from 8:30am to 4:30pm. Castle Rock and Commerce City offices close for lunch from 12pm-1pm.
 
Phone number is (720) 200-1401, se habla espaƱol. For more information, click here.
________________________________________________________
 

Requesting an Appointment for WIC Is One Click Away
 

 

See if you qualify for WIC and request an appointment at: www.tchd.org/WIC
________________________________________________________
 

$255,000 Still Available for School Drinking Water Lead Testing Grant Program

The Water Quality Control Division (WQCD) of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) still has $255,000 available for 51 applicants. Applications for these remaining funds are currently being accepted from schools by CDPHE on a rolling basis, even though a full round of applications is not currently invited. Funds will be issued on a first come, first serve basis.
 
If a school is awarded a grant, testing for this project needs to be completed no later than June 30, 2019.
 
The application process is simple and technical assistance is available.
 
Contact:
Kristen Hughes (303) 692-3313 or
 
 
________________________________________________________
 

Water for Students Toolkit

Schools play a vital role in the health of youth as they spend over 6 hours a day during the week at school. Access to safe, free drinking water, can give them a healthy alternative to sugary drinks such as juice drinks, flavored milks, sports drinks, and sodas that lead to cavities and weight gain. Did you know?
 
* Youth with toothaches are 4X more likely to have a lower Grade Point 
   Average.
* For every 100 low-income youth, 58 hours of school are missed due to
  dental disease.
* Sugary drinks are the leading cause of obesity and the serious health
  problems that can come with it in youth.
 
Improving water access will in turn help students grow-up healthy through the reduction of dental cavities and other chronic disease. Improved access will also set students up to be better able to learn due to improved brain function from hydration and less missed school days due to dental disease.
 
If you would like more information about how to improve water access at your school, please leave your contact information with Joanne Holden, jholden@tchd.org , or (303) 783-7160.
________________________________________________________
 

Resources for Teachers

CDC has partnered with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and 4-H to develop "The Junior Disease Detectives: Operation Outbreak," a graphic novel intended to educate youth audiences about variant flu and the real disease detective work conducted by public and animal health experts when outbreaks of infectious diseases occur.
 
This graphic novel follows a group of teenage 4-H members who participate in a state agricultural fair and later attend CDC's Disease Detective Camp in Atlanta. When one of the boys becomes sick following the fair, the rest of the group use their newly-acquired disease detective knowledge to help a team of public and animal health experts solve the mystery of how their friend became ill. For more information, follow the link below.

________________________________________________________
 

Points of Dispensing (POD) Operations

Tri-County Health Department (TCHD) oversees the planning of Points of Dispensing (POD) operations to include receipt, staging, distribution and dispensing of life saving medical countermeasures for a population of over 1.5 million individuals in the TCHD jurisdiction of Adams, Arapahoe, and Douglas Counties. School partnerships are vital to the Medical Countermeasure program and our school partners play a key role during response to a public health emergency. Kyle Lopez, Emergency Preparedness and Response Planner, will be contacting school districts over the coming months to review existing agreements between your districts and discuss establishing new ones to include Closed POD agreements and utilizing school district personnel for Open POD staffing. These partnerships will strengthen the resiliency of our communities to respond to and recover from public health emergencies. By engaging in these types of partnerships, your school district can help prepare the whole community during a public health emergency.
 
For any questions, comments, or to learn more information about the Closed POD program with TCHD, please contact Kyle Lopez at klopez@tchd.org  or (720) 200-1494.  

________________________________________________________
 

Ideas for Halloween

Click on the links below to find fun and healthy ideas for Halloween.



________________________________________________________
 

Tri-County Health Department  | 303-220-9200  |  http://www.tchd.org/