Public Health Department Has Its Fingers in Many Pies

Americans live about 30 years longer today than they did 100 years ago, mostly due to the nation’s governmental public health efforts, a Los Angeles County health educator said on Monday.

Public health’s top accomplishments during the 20th century include the development of vaccinations, ensuring safer workplaces, decreasing deaths from heart disease, ensuing safer and healthier foods and adding fluoride to drinking water.

Dental hygiene is key to securing the highest quality of life, along with exercise, healthy eating and disease prevention, all issues getting wider attention in Los Angeles communities.

“Oral health is the gateway to overall health,” said Olga A. Vigdorchik of  the Los Angeles County Public Health Department.

Vigdorchik spoke to about 30 people at the monthly Chatsworth Community Coordinating Council luncheon held in the Rockpointe Clubhouse on Devonshire Street.

She said her department is responsible for preventing diseases and injuries, promoting good health and providing a safe and healthy environment for all residents.

Much of the public health information is distributed through hospital, clinics, schools and public service announcements, such as “Clean hands; Germs are everywhere.”

Informational fliers are posted in libraries and the inside of trains and buses, perfect places to spread prevention education.

“Hand washing is the first step in preventing a variety of diseases,” Vigdorchik said.

Among some of the responsibilities of the county’s public health system is to oversee immunizations, disseminate information about diseases and by controlling infectious diseases such as West Nile virus.

Targeted individuals are mostly underserved minority communities and new immigrants to America.

And while public health officials have concentrated on tobacco use, drug and alcohol abuse, tuberculosis and sexually transmitted diseases, their 4,000 employees have also now turned their attention to getting the message out about preventative measures to ward off obesity, diabetes, asthma and heart disease, while continuing to focus on improving health for mothers and their babies.

“We are in the business of selling health,” Vigdorchik said.

Public health deals with a myriad of topics, such as letter grades in food establishment windows, which will soon target mobile food trucks and carts.

It also deals with monitoring immunization trends, works in schools and clinics to spread new recommendations in preventing the outbreak of diseases.

Vigdorchik plotted out a day in the life of many individuals and illustrated how public health plays a role.

By the time one leaves for work or school they have used safe, clean water to brush their teeth, probably enjoyed milk that was pasteurized, possibly ate at a coffee shop that has been inspected for cleanliness and drove in cars with required seat belts and air bags.

During the day, let’s say, if one wants to take a trip to the beach, they swim in water-tested oceans. Or go shopping at a mall; they are protected from second-hand smoke. Perhaps, they need to have a chest X-ray; it is done with machines that have been inspected by the public health department for too much radiation exposure.

Back at home in the evening, hopefully people are eating a healthy, dietary recommended dinner, or wearing a safety helmet during a bike ride afterward. And if they are visiting a grandparent in a nursing home, they can feel comfortable knowing the department of public health inspected its operations and it is licensed by the state.

Vigdorchik also touched upon public health’s responses to bioterrorism and natural disasters and said emergency preparedness kits should consist of seven days of necessary supplies versus the previous push for three days.

She said her department newest challenges include drug-resistive germs, the aging population, the uninsured and global health, all issues it is dealing with on a daily basis.

For more information on public health, visit publichealth.lacounty.gov.