Public Health

Carson City was among five cities selected Tuesday to receive federal assistance to help spruce up William Street. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will provide technical assistance to Carson City through the Greening America's Capitals program, which helps cities to develop environmentally-friendly infrastructure that will contribute to greener, more vibrant neighborhoods and increase resiliency from the impacts of climate change.

Gov. Brian Sandoval proclaimed September as National Preparedness Month in Nevada. The Nevada Division of Emergency Management/Homeland Security, and the Division of Public and Behavioral Health urges Nevadans to prepare for an emergency that would require self-reliance for three days without utilities and electricity, water service, access to a supermarket or local services, household medical needs, and possibly without response from police, fire or rescue.

The Nevada Medicaid Health Care Guidance Program, a new integrated physical and behavioral care management program serving thousands of eligible Nevada Fee-for-Service Medicaid enrollees, is pleased to announce its leadership team: Cheri Glockner, Executive Director; Erin Snell, Behavioral Health Program Director; and Dr. Amy J. Khan and Dr. Ryan M. Ley, Medical Directors.

The League to Save Lake Tahoe hosted a Stewards of Stormwater event Thursday, Aug. 7 in Incline Village in partnership with Tahoe Family Solutions’ Camp Explore program, IVGID, the Nevada Tahoe Conservation District, and Washoe County, Nevada.

More than 50 kids from Tahoe Family Solutions along with other volunteers helped place 41 metal markers on storm drains that lead to Lake Tahoe and picked up 40 pounds of litter on the streets.

The Nevada Division of Public and Behavioral Health launched two new Nevada-specific websites Tuesday to help schools protect students from sexual assaults on college campuses.

The websites, www.preventsexualviolenceNV.org and www.stepupstopviolence.org, define sexual assault and consent and offer approaches for individuals, students, and community members to safely intervene when observing a potentially high-risk situation.

CARSON CITY - Eight Airmen from the Nevada Air National Guard joined 160 people from seven nations Monday to provide humanitarian assistance to the citizens of Tonga as part of Operation Pacific Angel-Tonga.

The mission will continue until July 26. Tonga is Nevada National Guard's partner in the National Guard's State Partnership Program, the Department of Defense program that links a state's National Guard with the armed forces or equivalent of a partner country in a cooperative, mutually beneficial relationship.

The Nevada Division of Public and Behavioral Health will offer a Safe Sleep awareness event Wednesday, July 16 from 10 to noon at the Smith’s Food & Drug Store at 750 South Meadows Parkway, Reno.

The event hopes to draw new mothers and help them in the prevention of No. 1 cause of infant death between the ages of one month and one year. A Safe Sleep bus provided by the Regional Transportation Commission will be on site, as well as Safe Sleep and injury prevention materials from DPBH and Cribs for Kids of Safe Kids Washoe County.

Northern Nevada Development Authority was recently awarded a $600,000 Brownfields Assessment Grant by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that will be used to identify underused redevelopment sites in Lyon and Churchill counties.

The assessment grant allows NNDA to evaluate and catalog areas that had been considered environmentally contaminated. The grant will be used as a future road map for redeveloping effected sites and is the first step in creating projects directly geared toward economic development.

Spencer Flanders, 15, of Carson City, has been named the West Region Youth Advocate of the Year by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids for his leadership in the fight against tobacco. Spencer will be honored at a gala in the nation’s capital on Thursday, May 15, 2014 along with a national winner, three other U.S. regional winners and a group winner.

Last year's callous, unnecessary killing of Rollie, the tiny pet dog, at the city animal shelter justifiably ignited community outrage. This one event resulted in a $41,000 settlement to Rollie's owner for the wrongful death of her dog, paid, of course, by Carson's residents and business owners. The terminated animal shelter manager, under whose watch Rollie died, is suing city taxpayers for wrongful discharge from her position.

Prescribed fires are planned around Lake Tahoe beginning Monday, according to the U.S. Forest Service. Recent rain and snow made conditions too wet for burning this week, but fire management staff expect conditions to be dry enough for burning next week.

Smoke from March 29 prescribed fires in the Stateline area did drift into Carson City and Lyon County.

Carson City Health and Human Services has received the following information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC):

He hardly looks menacing in his photo. In fact, he's quite cute, but public health officials say a boxer-mix pup may present a significant, in fact, a potentially deadly, health risk.

He and his litter mates were born about 12 weeks ago and sold through a Facebook ad. One of them later died of parvo, but also tested positive here at the state lab for a rabies strain found in a species of bats.

RENO, Nev. – University of Nevada Cooperative Extension and the Nevada Department of Agriculture will offer an Introduction to Food Safety in Horticultural Operations training, focusing on risk management and good agricultural practices March 11. The training will provide an introduction to on-farm food-safety practices related to fruit and vegetable production. Participants will learn principles of good agricultural and handling practices.

Karen Abowd on Tuesday announced her second run as Carson City Supervisor Ward I, citing her desire to see through many projects currently in process, as well as her commitment to the future of Nevada’s Capital City.

“Carson City has gone through some tough economic times and continues to,” Abowd said. “We have needed to be careful in our planning and how we spend available dollars in order to create sustainable, relevant opportunities that have immediate positive impacts, and build a future we can be proud to leave our children and grandchildren.”

Read the full text of Carson City Mayor Bob Crowell's State of the City speech, after the jump.

CVS announced Wednesday that it will stop selling cigarettes and other tobacco products at its more than 7,600 pharmacies across the U.S. by Oct. 1, 2014, making CVS the first national pharmacy chain to take this step in support of the health and well-being of its patients and customers. There are three CVS pharmacies in Carson City.

CARSON CITY – A team of about 20 Nevada public health professionals recently learned and practiced warehouse skills needed to unload, inventory and ship out massive amounts of medications or other items that could be needed in the event of a public health emergency.

It’s a subtle change, but one that will bring Douglas County a more localized service to its residents and an overall cost savings to the fiscal budget.

With the onset of the new year last week, public health inspections previously handled by the State of Nevada Department of Health and Human Services were transferred to Carson City Health and Human Services, Environmental Health Division.

Americans have a right to know what’s in their food. We expect to see labels identifying calories, fat and other content when we buy food. So why not identify genetically modified ingredients?

CARSON CITY – The official web site for a campaign that will revolutionize HIV/AIDS prevention and care in Nevada, betonthisnv.org launched Tuesday.

Carson City – A settlement reached with pharmaceutical GlaxoSmithKline and the Nevada Attorney General's Office will give the state's Division of Public and Behavioral Health more than $1 million as part of the agreement with the money going toward immunization initiatives.

The National Governors Association has picked Nevada to participate in the Learning Network on Improving Birth Outcomes designed to assist states with their policies and practices relevant to improving birth outcomes, defined and measured by incidence of preterm births and infant mortality.

“We are honored to be selected for the Learning Network on Improving Birth Outcomes,” said Tracey D. Green, M.D., Chief Medical Officer. “I am encouraged to see that NGA recognizes birth outcomes as a significant public health challenge.”

Agencies and schools throughout Carson City will participate in an earthquake drill Thursday morning. Along with millions of people worldwide, Nevadans are encouraged to “Drop, Cover and Hold On” at 10:17 a.m. on Oct. 17 for the 2013 Great Nevada ShakeOut.

State agencies throughout the Carson City area, as well as the Public Health Preparedness Program of the Nevada Division of Public and Behavioral Health, the Nevada Division of Emergency Management, and the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources plan to participate in the earthquake drill.

State agriculture officials are warning residents about a salmonella outbreak of Foster Farm chickens produced in California that have sickened eight people in Nevada.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service has issued a public health alert due to concerns that illness caused by strains of Salmonella Heidelberg are associated with raw chicken products produced by Foster Farms at three facilities in California.

Carson City Manager Larry Werner will retire effective Dec. 19, city officials announced Tuesday. Werner has served in the role of city manager since February 2008.

“For me, this has been a wonderful experience and I would not have traded it for anything,” said Werner in a letter to the Carson City Board of Supervisors. “Although I do feel some regret in making this decision at this time, I have no concerns about the management of the City because you have the best staff, department directors and elected officials that I’ve ever had the opportunity to work with.”

The Nevada Emergency Medical Systems Program of the Division of Public and Behavioral Health in Carson City recently received the Excellence in Action Award of Merit from the Nevada Association for Career and Technical Education. The award is given annually to an individual or organization for outstanding achievement in the field of career and technical training.

The Public Health Preparedness Program in Carson City is offering N95 breathing masks at no cost. They are available effective immediately in the lobby of 4150 Technology Way until 5 p.m. today (Friday, August 23, 2013), or until supplies run out.

Nevada Sen. Harry Reid met last week with Nevada youth in the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. Nevada’s youth advocates were Spencer Flanders of Carson City, Breanna Taylor of Minden, Catia Villanueva and Michelle Tostes of Las Vegas.

The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids is a nonprofit organization created in 1996 with the goal of reducing tobacco use.

Carson City Mayor Bob Crowell provides an update of the July 3 Carson City Board of Supervisors meeting in the latest video presentation of It's Your City, a weekly feature provided by Access Carson City Television.

Mayor Crowell takes some time in the video below to discuss regionalization and localization of services, especially in the areas of public health.

It's Your City is a weekly program aimed at keeping you informed about city government and other organizations/happenings around Carson City, Nev.