Health Policies
- Take a look at your local news or listen to the news on the radio or TV over the next week and see if you can identify policies that will affect environmental quality. Can you see a direct or indirect relationship to human health?
- Do you know the name of your local elected officials - local, state, and national?
- Are there health policies that you typically track by yourself or through your professional nursing organization or nursing union? How might you get more involved in promoting environmental health policies
To answer question #1, the local news constantly covers the wildfires in California but there are no health policy issues mentioned in the news. However, I do see the negative health effects as a result of the poor air quality in the valley. There are numerous clinic visits with respiratory illnesses, such as, exacerbation of asthma and COPD, in addition, to new symptoms of allergies. These patients are needing more potent inhalers or short term steroid therapy for exacerbations.
Local elected officials for Fresno county for public health officer is Sara Goldgraben MD, MPH, MBA. Our state public health officer and director of the CDPH is Sonia Angell MD, MPH.
The disease I currently follow is Valley Fever (coccidioidomycosis) and recent health policies that have developed through the process of regulations and policies act. There is a Bill out S.3114- Combat Valley Fever Act. This Bill, which was put out in June 21, 2018 serves to track coccidioidomycosis cases in the national registry. Ms. Harris introduced this Bill. Valley Fever is my DNP project.
Hi Michelle,
ReplyDeleteCalifornia wild fore have been the biggest climate change in the recent times. The negative health effect including respiratory problem for the elderly population living in the rural areas where this wild fire are very prevalent.