Targeted Prevention, CHEE work annual Pride Festival

The Lexington-Fayette County Health Department had a successful day last Saturday at Lexington’s annual Pride Festival.

The Targeted Prevention team, in partnership with AIDS Volunteers of Lexington (AVOL) tested 36 people for HIV, passed out 2,220 condoms and provided 17 bleach kits. John Moses, Aaron Mosley, Theresa Lakin, Julie Moon and Sierra Dantzler worked the event for Targeted Prevention.

Our CHEE team also held about 40 diabetes risk tests, which identified 22 people as being at risk for diabetes. From there, they identified two people with pre-diabetes and two who were in the diabetes range. The team will follow up with those people in the next few weeks to see if they contacted a health care provider. If not, our employees will try to direct them to one. Carol Hisle, Tara Mason, Ruben Perez, Nancy Hiner, Melissa Smith, Drew Ritzel (student) and Melissa Dickey (Passport) worked the event for CHEE.

Basanta named Outstanding Public Health Nurse by KPHA

A Lexington nurse recently received the Outstanding Public Health Nurse Award given each year by the Kentucky Public Health Association. It is given annually to honor an outstanding nurse in Kentucky, and the nominations should reflect extraordinary work.

Carla Basanta, who has been with the Lexington-Fayette County Health Department for 22 years, was singled out by her peers for her involvement with the public health clinic, immunizations, well child exams, family planning and direct nursing care. The nominations also highlighted her more recent work developing and maintaining a Quality Assurance program for the health department, as well as organizing annual community flu shot events at senior residential centers.

Here are some of the words about Carla, taken from the nomination from her LFCHD co-workers:

• “Carla’s strength is her ability to research and develop clear, concise protocols and policies that relate to public health practices.”

• “When I think of an outstanding Public Health Nurse, I think of someone who displays not only exceptional nursing skills, but also someone who can help to educate their non-clinical peers and co-workers on how we can impact the community’s health in a positive way. Although Carla does not fancy herself as an educator or public speaker, she has a distinct method of explaining things so that others understand the nursing perspective.”

• “She engaged other staff in collecting and submitting information to document the department’s compliance with the PHAB requirements. Her individual effort was important but her ability to engage others to understand the process, engage in the work and communicate with other staff was critical.”

• “Carla is always pleasant to work with and eager to help anyone who needs it. She believes in the mission of public health and has a passion for making the community a better place to live.”

PBS show highlights Ebola outbreak, response

One of the questions submitted to the officers for today’s all-staff meeting was about the possibility of viewing a PBS Frontline segment about the Ebola virus.

“It was an hour about Ebola,” the employee wrote. “It gave the history, how other countries handled it and why they handled it that way. It was very educational and informative. From a public health standpoint, we think that everyone would benefit watching this documentary.”

The officers decided watching a segment of this length would eat up too much of the time in the staff meeting, but we wanted to make sure it was available for anyone interested in viewing it. You can check it out here: Ebola Outbreak.

Get involved with “wet” recycling at LFCHD

LFCHD has two different recycling streams: “dry” paper/cardboard and “wet” beverage/food containers. This helps to keep the “dry” things clean and dry, and helps reduce the chances of bugs and odors throughout our buildings.

Smaller blue recycling bins are in most break areas.

Ways you can help:
• Empty, rinse and recap plastic bottles before placing in blue recycling bins. “Err” on the side of cleanliness.
• Empty and rinse aluminum or steel cans and glass containers before placing in blue recycling bins.
• Only bottles and cans in blue bins
• Only office paper products, newspaper, magazines and cardboard in grey bins or big blue office “Rosie” containers.

Note: These guidelines may be different from home recycling.

If you have any questions about recycling, please contact Tara Mason or Doraine Bailey.

Welcome new employees!

Please take a moment to welcome the newest employees of the Lexington-Fayette County Health Department.

Kelly R. Swanner
Communicable Disease/PH Nurse Specialist

Welcome new employees!

Please take a moment to welcome the newest employees of the Lexington-Fayette County Health Department.

Daniel L. Satterfield
Environmental Health/Coordinator Emergency Preparedness