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Local Environmental Services

Hi! In this post I will be reviewing my county's health department's website and list the services that you would consider Environmental Health Services. 
The Sacramento County Department of Health Services (SCDHS) has a wide range of services available to its community. The programs include black infant health, child health and disability prevention, California children’s services, dental health, comprehensive perinatal services, tobacco education, Ryan White, and many other resources. I thought it was great to see a variety of programs available covering the lifespan of a person. There were some featured topics on the landing page that are perfect for the time of year.  SCDHS highlighted the flu season, mosquito season, traveler’s health, and childhood lead poisoning prevention. Many of the programs available also offer education classes on the topic. I thought that was extremely beneficial because with educations habits can be changed. As for environmental health services I identified under the SCDHS page some are communicable disease control and immunization assistance. I’m happy to read that my county is doing its job by providing information and services for the public.

Sacramento County has an Environmental Management Department (EMD). This department regulates water well construction and destruction, hazardous material, above ground petroleum storage tank, underground tanks, restaurant inspector, pool inspector, waste tires, hazardous waste incident response team, body art, solid waste and recycling facilities, and hand washing prevention illness. There are many other programs but there are a few that were highlighted in a banner on the website. I was not aware that Sacramento had an environmental department. Looking through all the programs there’s an abundant amount of services ranging from food, pool, and environmental health to solid waste.
I was surprised to find that EMD regulates body art. I didn’t think that it would be under this department, but it does fall under environmental health. Another program I was surprised to see was the waste tire program. I had never really given much thought to tires and their disposal. I know it has become popular to use the tires for children’s play area. They are broken down into small pieces and provide a softer area rather than asphalt or cement. I found the website to be user friendly and there were quick links throughout each page. Additionally, contact information for each program was easily identified. I find that not being able to locate the contact information can drive users away from using the services but the EMD website makes it simple.

Hope you enjoyed the post!

 -Iliana

Comments

  1. Navdeep BrarOctober 12, 2018 at 7:14 AM

    Hi Iliana,

    I enjoyed reading your post and learning more about the Sacramento county department of public health. It is great to see that the services include educational programs. As you mentioned, education can help with modifying habits practicied. I was also pleasantly surprised to learn that Sacramento has an environmental management department. With so many factors contributing and affecting environmental health, I think all counties need a designated management department. Like yourself, I was surprised that this department regulates body art. It’s interesting to know that there are things out there that we would never think to associate with environmental health but do have and impact on it. I think that it is great that the site is user friendly; websites likes these should be made with the communities needs and usability in mind. Again, enjoyed reading your post

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownOctober 12, 2018 at 7:40 PM

    Hi Iliana,

    I love that the SCDHS has an EMD department as well! What really caught my eye was that this department regulates body art?? Just like you said, that's interesting to me, and I'm sure there's quite the story and reason behind that one! I'm also glad that flu season is on the pain page of SCDHS right now, since that's a huge issue that we must address every year. I feel like people really underestimate the dangers of the flu, and then we end up with unnecessary deaths. I just got my shot and I'm hopeful that this season won't be as deadly as years past.

    Thanks for the info!

    Aveena

    ReplyDelete

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