"Contagion" and Sept. 20th!

If you haven't seen the movie, go! Especially if your a public geek like myself and I am assuming you are some level of public health scale if you are reading this blog. I just went to the Cinema to watch the movie and it was very good at highlighting how public health would take a role in such a disease outbreak or in any type of emergency preparedness situation.

I have been interested in Emergency Management/Preparedness since I did an internship at Rock Island County Health Department, where I went to Augustana College in Rock Island, IL ('05 graduate). I would suggest if you are an undergrad or simply interested in learning more about public health to visit your local county health department to see the variety of services they provide to your community. In addition, ask how they connect with state and federal agencies in emergency preparedness situations.

As was noted in the movie, it takes health communication specialists, epidemiologists, administrators, homeland security, bio-staticians, and many more to coordinate efforts for public health and to consistently prepare and drill for all types of public health situations.

'The Nation's Health" by APHA put out a story to highlight the public health implications of the movie and to remind readers that September is Emergency Preparedness month and September 20th is 'Get Ready' day, so if you haven't already, GET READY! BE PREPARED! and learn more about PUBLIC HEALTH!

~ Ryan

Exclusive: Behind the scenes of ‘Contagion’ with The Nation's Health:

http://thenationshealth.aphapublications.org/content/41/7/1.4.full

Emergency Management and Debt

So as you all know there are a lot of issues on in the U.S.A. right now, everything from weather to debt debates in Washington. All too real are the issues that hit close to home, and one of those that myself has been dealing with and I hope to make a future career out of, is Emergency Preparedness or Management.

As you might have read before, there are a lot of branches that stem from the base of Emergency Management (EM). EM is very vital when it comes to weather related events, which occur almost every week and can affect a location in a matter of minutes, leaving destruction, displacement and a team of professionals hard at work to deal with immediate response issues and long-term recovery. Some issues, are not always weather related. For example, working at the VA here in Iowa City I have learned very quickly how construction projects can cause unanticipated internal flooding and how the temperature alone can affect an entire hospital's ability to cool itself. Many hospitals rely on "chillers" to cool their facilities by running cold water through pipes and having ventilation to circulate the air. The factor of heat and humidity together puts enormous stress on these systems which had forced the VA to conserve energy, by shutting off lights, equipment and heat producing devices that were not needed or limiting their use in non-clinical areas. This not only releases strain on the cooling system, because it spends less energy having to cool a space, it also saves money and can produce a calming effect in the work environment, which are great benefits I realized and others did I work with.

All in all, I hope you have pushed the boundaries a little during times of high stress and could realize the benefit of doing things differently or chipping in when it's needed. You can take what you want from this and apply it to the national debate on the debt occurring in Washington. I leave you to interpret what you want and make your own choice, but remember to stay vigilant and always stay open to new ideas and to listen to both cases for any argument, whether it be how to deal with the heat of a debate or the literal heat outside.

Ryan

Snow Snow and yes SNOW!

So if you haven't heard already, there is snow covering a majority of the country, including right here in Iowa City! It has been a blizzard to remember. Even though, yes it was a lot of snow and classes were cancelled and airports came to a stand still, how come every seems to be so hyper about weather? Is it the news, fear of loss of control, etc.?

I always figure, if you live in the Midwest, you need to expect tornados, thunderstorms, ice, snow, rain and sleet....basically all types! The local and state government definitely have a handle to a certain degree on how to manage such an event, but the community also knows it will need to pitch in and cannot rely on somebody else to do everything for them. Emergency Preparedness is just one of the focus areas in Public Health and happens to be a passion of mine. In any event, most people have enough groceries to last them at least a week, board games and communications to keep busy and as a personal note, enough reading to catch up on to last for a Snow Day! ;)

I hope you all are safe, warm and survived this epic snow storm because one only knows there will always be more weather ahead and another day tomorrow :)

Ryan

PS - I thought the picture on the Iowa Homepage (www.uiowa.edu) was interesting because transportation is a major part of public health and was certainly shut down for the day, including the person's bike pictured.