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You’re healthy now,
right? You don’t
have a fever, sore
throat or a cough.
No muscle or body
aches, nor a runny
or stuffy nose. In
fact, you feel
great. So does the
rest of your family.
The flu is the last
thing on your mind.
So why get a flu
shot? Because the
flu season is here,
and getting
vaccinated is the
best way to protect
your family—by
keeping them
healthy.
With just a few
exceptions, everyone
over the age of 6
months, especially
children younger
than 5, but
especially children
younger than 2 years
old, adults 65 years
of age and older and
pregnant women,
should get an annual
seasonal flu
vaccination. Those
with
chronic medical
conditions also
are at high risk for
the flu. The
exceptions are:
those with a severe
allergy to chicken
eggs, have had a
severe reaction to
an influenza
vaccination,
children younger
than 6 months of age
and those who have a
moderate-to-severe
illness with a fever
(they should wait
until they recover
to get vaccinated.)
People with a
history of
Guillain–Barré
Syndrome should
consult with their
doctor to decide
whether the vaccine
is recommended for
them.
This year’s vaccine
is geared toward
three different
influenza viruses
and, no, you can’t
get the flu from the
flu shot. Over
decades of use by
hundreds of millions
of people just like
you, the vaccines
have proven to be
safe and effective.
You can choose to
receive your
vaccination in one
of two ways. The
“flu shot” — is an
inactivated vaccine
(containing killed
virus) that is given
with a needle,
usually in the arm.
The flu shot is
approved for use in
people older than 6
months, including
pregnant women and
people with chronic
medical conditions.
A high-dose flu shot
has been approved
for people 65 and
older. If you’re the
kind of person who
doesn’t like
“shots,” the
nasal-spray flu
vaccine is made with
live, weakened flu
viruses given as a
nasal spray
(sometimes called
LAIV for “Live
Attenuated Influenza
Vaccine”). Again,
the viruses in the
nasal spray vaccine
do not cause the
flu. LAIV is
approved for use in
healthy people 2
through 49 years of
age who are not
pregnant.
Of course there are
other ways to help
stop the spread of
the flu. You’ve
heard of the Three
C’s? They really
work. Cover your
cough, Clean your
hands and Contain
the disease by
staying home if
you’re sick.
Ensuring you stick
to a healthy diet
and get plenty of
exercise will only
help maintain your
immunity.
Do you have more
questions about the
flu? Both the Kane
County Health
Department’s
Web site and the
Centers for Disease
Control and
Prevention have
a wealth of
information
available a just a
click away. |
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By
Paul Kuehnert, Executive
Director
As the local governmental
public health agency, the
Kane County Health
Department is charged with
the responsibility to act as
a catalyst to improve and
first and last line of
defense to protect, the
health of the community and
all of its residents. The
Department works to develop
policy, systems and
programmatic initiatives
that bring local
policymakers, community
members and health partners
--- hospitals, community
health centers, social
service agencies,
municipalities, school
districts and
others --- together to
achieve community health
goals. Facing an executive
leadership transition in
2007, the Kane County’s
Board of Health and Health
Advisory Committee convened
a joint meeting with Health
Department senior management
and community stakeholders
to establish a long term
vision and overall strategic
direction. That
vision---“Kane residents are
the healthiest people in
Illinois!”--- drove the work
of the new Executive
Director and the
Department’s leadership and
staff to clearly articulate
organizational values and
establish strategic goals
and themes.
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In 2007 we developed Health
Department-specific
strategic themes that
identified what was critical
for our organization to
focus on in order to improve
the health of our community.
Our three strategic themes
were:
• Excelling at public health
• Through effective communication, and
• Mobilizing community partnerships.
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We implemented seven (7)
cross-cutting initiatives
within the organization from
2007-09 and made progress in
moving the organization
forward along the lines of
these focus areas. We did
this work in the context of
the five community health
priorities that were adopted
by the Kane County
Board/Board of Health in the
2006 Community Health Action
Plan for Kane County:
1. Improve access to health care for those without insurance.
2. Eliminate the disparity in African American infant mortality.
3. Reduce the level of chronic disease.
4. Improve availability of community mental health services
5. Maintain core public health protection services.
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In 2009, facing the
challenges of addressing the
public health mission in a
worsening fiscal
environment, the Board of
Health and Health Advisory
Committee reconvened in
joint session to review and
update our strategic plan.
We boldly charted a course
forward, affirming that we
did not want simply a ‘good’
health department but that
the times demanded a ‘great’
health department: one that
was truly mission driven,
efficient and effective in
improving, protecting and
promoting the health of Kane
residents. To communicate
our strategic direction, we
developed the “3 Keys to
Greatness” strategy that
includes:
• Key 1: Attracting and retaining
educated, committed leaders
and staff who excel and
public
health;
• Key 2: Expertly transform data into
actionable health
information and communicate
it effectively
to diverse audiences; and
• Key 3: Convene and support active
community partnerships that
get population health
results.
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Over the past two years we
implemented three (3)
cross-cutting initiatives
focused on the 3 Keys, as
well as two other
“running-the-business”
initiatives around financial
management and quality
improvement. As detailed in
the Progress Report, our
Health Department has made
significant strides in
improving community health
and increasing
organizational efficiency
and effectiveness during
this period. Over the past
two years significant
accomplishments include:
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• Improving our
County Health Rankings from
11th to 9th overall in
Illinois;
• Protecting our community from significant health threats by
effectively managing an
ongoing
outbreak of tuberculosis among the homeless, coordinating
response to the novel H1N1
influenza
A pandemic, and containing a number of foodborne illness
outbreaks;
• Mobilizing our community around the main threat to our children’s
health, the epidemic of
obesity
and overweight, through the public-private partnership of
Making Kane County ‘Fit for
Kids’; and
• Reorganizing our Department so that it is slimmer, flatter, and
entirely focused on the
essential
services of public health. The reorganization has been
accomplished in a manner
that assures
that we meet national public health accreditation standards
and that is economically
sustainable,
while assuring that personal health services that the
Department no longer
provides were
smoothly transferred to community health partners.
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At this time, our nation and
our Kane County community
are in the midst of the most
severe economic recession
since the Great Depression.
We face both new and
re-emerging threats to our
health ranging from the
epidemic of obesity and
diabetes to old killers like
tuberculosis and influenza.
 The
health and health care
policy environment is in a
state of rapid change and
uncertainty that is unlike
anything since the federal
initiatives of Medicaid,
Medicare and federally
qualified health centers
were all created in the
1960’s. These times demand a
clear strategic focus for
the Health Department and a
basic faith in the future of
our community based on the
resilience and strengths of
our community members. We
need to find ways to foster
healthy people, healthy
living and healthy
communities like never
before!
To access the full report
CLICK HERE
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 In
hopes that prevention and
preparedness messages can be
contagious, Kane County
Health Department staff and
Medical Reserve Corps
volunteers greeted excited
moviegoers and presented
them with flyers, hand
sanitizers and other
emergency preparedness
materials at the premieres
of “Contagion” in Elgin and
Batavia on Sept. 9. Billed
as a “bio-thriller,” or
medical thriller,
“Contagion” tells the story
of a virus that rapidly
spreads across the globe
with devastating effect.
The plot, fueled by a
big-name cast, highlights
the behind-the-scenes
investigators at the Centers
for Disease Control and
Prevention and World Health
Organization and they
scramble to first find the
cause of the virus and then
a vaccine. The volunteers
shared materials from the
Health Department’s “Stop
the Flu: It Starts With You”
campaign, first launched
during the 2009 H1N1
pandemic and available by
visiting the Department’s
Web site. Also,
half-sheet, palm card-sized
material promoting the KCHD
Web site and the two social
media sites, Facebook (
www.facebook.com/kanehealth
) and Twitter
(@KaneCoHealth), were well
received by the movie-going
public. And, with the month
being National Preparedness
Month, information detailing
the importance of keeping
and maintaining personal
emergency preparedness
stockpiles was shared . More
information on being
prepared is available
here. Although the
movie is a work of fiction,
the CDC and local health
departments are
investigating diseases and
disease outbreaks every day.
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The
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation chose
four health departments—Kane County,
San Diego County, Calif., the State
of Oklahoma, and Miami Dade County,
Fla.—that are pursuing accreditation
to highlight its importance for
public health. Health departments
around the country work every day to
combat new public health threats and
keep people healthy. National public
health accreditation provides
consistent standards so that people
in different states and towns have
access to the same range and quality
of services. It also helps make the
most of scarce resources by
encouraging strategic investments to
improve people’s health,
demonstrates accountability to
residents and elected officials, and
spurs innovation as departments work
to meet their communities’ needs.
Additionally, the accreditation
standards guide health departments
toward a focus on improvement of
services and processes, thus
leading to higher quality.
The
Public Health Advisory Board, in
partnership with the Robert Wood
Johnson Foundation, is developing a
set of videos to illustrate the
efforts that local and state Health
Departments are undergoing to
achieve accreditation. A video crew
hired by the RWJF spent a day in
August filming in Kane County Health
Department. In the video, Kane
County Health Department’s Executive
Director, Paul Kuehnert, discusses
the road map to accreditation, and
how a focus on these standards helps
health departments move from being
good to being great.
Click here to view a preview of
the four videos that will highlight
each department in more depth.
Production work on the full-length,
four- to five-minute video is being
completed by the Washington, D.C.,
firm of Home Front Communications
and is expected to ready for
distribution around soon after the
beginning of October.
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Protect your pet!
The Kane County Animal Control Department
will be holding a rabies vaccination clinic
from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.
Saturday, October 1, at the Kane
County Animal Control Facility, 4060
Keslinger Road in Geneva. The facility is
located at the southwest corner of Peck and
Keslinger Roads.
Fees are payable in cash or check:
• Rabies vaccine: $15
• County rabies tag: $10
• Senior Citizens 65 or over: County tag
is free
• Microchipping available: $15
The clinic is for dogs and cats only. Please
keep your pets on leashes or in carriers.
Please call 630-232-3555 to indicate your
arrival time.
Bring in your pets for a low-cost rabies
vaccination! |
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