Camarillo Health Care District Provides Quality Health and Wellness Services

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The Camarillo Health Care District ensures quality health and wellness services are available to all District residents. The District is an independent special district and public agency formed in 1969 to provide community-based healthcare services, under the statutes of the State of California Health & Safety Code.

The award-winning District is on the leading edge of community health and wellness by offering innovative programs and services, including:

The District in partnership with Food Share of Ventura County hosts a Free Produce Day on the 2nd Thursday of each month from 11am to 1pm. Open to the general public! Stop by and receive several varieties of seasonal produce each month at this event.

For more information, visit www.camhealth.com, stop by the campus at 3639 E. Las Posas Road, Suite 117, Camarillo, or call (805) 388-1952 ext. 100.

How to Protect You and Your Children From the Spread of Enterovirus D68

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Enterovirus D68 (EV-D68) is one of more than 100 non-polio enteroviruses. This virus was first identified in California in 1962. EV-D68 can cause mild to severe respiratory illness. Mild symptoms may include fever, runny nose, sneezing, cough, and body and muscle aches. Severe symptoms may include wheezing and difficulty breathing.

The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) confirmed 4 enterovirus D68 (EV-D68) cases in patients in San Diego (3) and Ventura (1) counties a few weeks ago.

Parents should seek medical attention immediately for children who are having any breathing difficulty (wheezing, difficulty speaking or eating, belly pulling in with breaths, blueness around the lips), particularly if the child suffers from asthma. There is no specific treatment for persons with EV-D68, nor is there a vaccine to prevent it. However, everyone six months of age and older should receive influenza vaccine every year to protect themselves against that important cause of respiratory disease. 

Healthcare providers should consider EV-D68 as a possible cause of acute, unexplained severe respiratory illness, even if the patient does not have fever, and consider laboratory testing of respiratory specimens for enteroviruses when the cause of respiratory illness in severely ill patients is unclear.

The best way to prevent transmission of enteroviruses is to:
 
• Wash hands often with soap and water for 20 seconds, especially after changing diapers.
• Avoid touching eyes, nose and mouth with unwashed hands.
• Avoid kissing, hugging, and sharing cups or eating utensils with people who are sick.
• Disinfect frequently touched surfaces, such as toys and doorknobs, especially if someone is sick.

More information at www.cdc.gov/non-polio-enterovirus/about/ev-d68.html.

Help Your Kids Swim Safely This Summer: Drowning Prevention Tips

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Every day, about ten people die from unintentional drowning. Of these, two are children aged 14 or younger. Drowning ranks fifth among the leading causes of unintentional injury death in the United States. Let's put a stop to this, courtesy of these reminders from the CDC.

Tips to help you stay safe in the water

  • Supervise When in or Around Water. Designate a responsible adult to watch young children while in the bath and all children swimming or playing in or around water. Supervisors of preschool children should provide “touch supervision”, be close enough to reach the child at all times. Because drowning occurs quickly and quietly, adults should not be involved in any other distracting activity (such as reading, playing cards, talking on the phone, or mowing the lawn) while supervising children, even if lifeguards are present.
  • Use the Buddy System. Always swim with a buddy. Select swimming sites that have lifeguards when possible.
  • Seizure Disorder Safety. If you or a family member has a seizure disorder, provide one-on-one supervision around water, including swimming pools. Consider taking showers rather than using a bath tub for bathing. Wear life jackets when boating.

  • Learn to Swim. Formal swimming lessons can protect young children from drowning. However, even when children have had formal swimming lessons, constant, careful supervision when children are in the water, and barriers, such as pool fencing to prevent unsupervised access, are still important.
  • Learn Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR). In the time it takes for paramedics to arrive, your CPR skills could save someone’s life. HANDS-ONLY CPR INSTRUCTION VIDEO
  • Air-Filled or Foam Toys are not safety devices. Don’t use air-filled or foam toys, such as "water wings", "noodles", or inner-tubes, instead of life jackets. These toys are not life jackets and are not designed to keep swimmers safe.
  • Avoid Alcohol. Avoid drinking alcohol before or during swimming, boating, or water skiing. Do not drink alcohol while supervising children.
  • Don’t let swimmers hyperventilate before swimming underwater or try to hold their breath for long periods of time. This can cause them to pass out (sometimes called “shallow water blackout”) and drown.

If you have a swimming pool at home:

  • Install Four-Sided Fencing. Install a four-sided pool fence that completely separates the pool area from the house and yard. The fence should be at least 4 feet high. Use self-closing and self-latching gates that open outward with latches that are out of reach of children. Also, consider additional barriers such as automatic door locks and alarms to prevent access or alert you if someone enters the pool area.
  • Clear the Pool and Deck of Toys. Remove floats, balls and other toys from the pool and surrounding area immediately after use so children are not tempted to enter the pool area unsupervised.

Information courtesy of the CDC at www.cdc.gov/safechild.

COMPILATION OF LOCAL VENTURA COUNTY AREA SUMMER SWIMMING OPTIONS

The Free Clinic of Simi Valley Has Provided Services to Local Residents Since 1971

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The Free Clinic of Simi Valley has provided continuous service to local residents since its establishment in 1971 as a non-profit, volunteer-based community service organization. It's mission is to provide medical care, counseling, dental and legal assistance to individuals and families, regardless of their ability to pay. This includes those of all ages, ethnicities, religions and socioeconomic backgrounds, who are unable to use traditional sources within the community.

These services are provided through the generosity of volunteer professional. Through the efforts of over 160 volunteers, the Free Clinic had over 17,000 client contacts with 7,600+ people in 2013.

The Clinic further serves the community by assisting in the training of the next generation of professionals.

The Family Counseling Program provides those interested in becoming Marriage and Family Therapists, the necessary training and supervision, as part of the requirements for licensing in California. To date, 48 Clinic interns have become licensed Marriage and Family Therapists.

Since 2006, the Free Clinic of Simi Valley and Kaiser Permanente have partnered to provide the Family Practice Residency Program. doctors in their third year of residency provide primary care to the Clinic's clients.



The Clinic's Ambulatory Care Pharmacy Program serves as a training ground for pharmacy residents. To date, there have been 13 Ambulatory Pharmacists certified through the training program.

The Free Clinic is supported by the generous contributions of numerous individuals, businesses, service clubs and private foundations. No government funds are solicited for patient care.

The Clinic offers serves on an appointment only basis at its facility at 2060 Tapo Street. The main clinic is open Monday through Thursday and the dental clinic is open Monday through Friday. Hours vary.

Support the Free Clinic of Simi Valley with a donation and learn more at www.freeclinicsv.com or by calling 805.522.3733. Or visit the Free Clinic's Facebook page at www.facebook.com/freeclinicsv.

LEARN ABOUT THE CONEJO FREE CLINIC AT THIS LINK

The Ventura County Food Protection Program Publishes Online Inspection Reports of Over 4,000 Retail Food Facilities

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The Ventura County Environmental Health Division Food Protection Program (FPP) performs periodic inspections of over 4,000 retail food facilities* in Ventura County that serve or sell food to the public. Inspectors look for things like:

  • Proper training of food handlers
  • Proper maintenance of equipment
  • Food is free of contamination and properly labeled and stored
  • Conditions are safe, clean and sanitary
  • Proper food temperatures

* Retail food facilities include restaurants, markets that serve food, bakeries, mobile food, donut shops, retail stores like Target that serve food, coffee shops, gas stations, produce stands, bars, etc.

The FPP maintains an online, searchable database of food facility inspection reports since January 2004! CLICK HERE to explore. You can find out about all sorts of violations the facility has had in the past, be it vermin infestation, improper equipment sanitation, no soap or paper towels in the restroom, inoperable equipment, improper storage, you name it! All the restaurants I frequent are on the list and all of them have had violations. The good thing is that these inspections keep them on their toes, so I keep eating.

The FPP also publishes an online Food Facilities Closure Report of places where violations are significant enough to shut down the place until they are resolved. Usually the resolution takes place same day or up to 1 or 2 days, though at times as much as weeks depending on the issue. This is even more fun to look at! Some of the noted issues in recent closures have been

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Ventura County Public Health Launches "Health Matters in Ventura County" Website

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Ventura County Public Health (VCPH) recently launched Health Matters in Ventura County (www.healthmattersinvc.org), a website for accurate and timely health-related data for Ventura County. The website’s database, developed in partnership with Healthy Communities Institute (HCI), tracks more than 75 health and quality-of-life indicators in Ventura County using local, state and federal data.

In the same way that a car’s dashboard displays if a car is running well or not, www.healthmattersinvc.org’s dashboard displays health information in the form of a gauge – with green indicators showing better-than-average performance and red indicators highlighting areas needing improvement.

The unveiling of the new website corresponds with National Public Health Week (NPHW), an annual celebration sponsored by the American Public Health Association to recognize the contributions Public Health departments make in the communities they serve. This year’s NPHW theme is Public Health: Start Here.

Much like how VCPH programs help educate residents about making the right choices to achieve and maintain good health, www.healthmattersinvc.org is designed to provide decision-makers with a starting point to use when looking for the information they need to identify key health problems and develop initiatives to combat those problems. VCPH hopes that the site serves as a valuable resource to government agencies, nonprofits, educational institutions, students and community members.

The site serves as a data depository for health indicators such as HIV/AIDs, diabetes, obesity, cancer, STDs, as well as other infectious diseases. In addition, there is data for quality-of-life indicators including rates of smoking, DUIs, fast food restaurant density, water quality, violent crime and more. 

In addition to health indicators, the site also houses VCPH’s newly released health status report entitled “Transforming Ventura Communities: Understanding the Health Status and Needs of Ventura County.”  This report, funded in part by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) Community Transformation Grant, looks closely at the socio-economic factors influencing five strategic directions: (1) Health Eating and Active Living, (2) Tobacco-Free Living, (3) High Impact Clinical Preventive Services, (4) Social and Emotional Wellbeing and (5) Healthy and Safe Physical Environments.

American Lung Association's 2014 Tobacco Control Report Shows More Progress Needed

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The American Lung Association has released its 12th Annual "State of Tobacco Control" report that reviews tobacco control policies and assigns grades to U.S. and state governments based on tobacco control laws in effect as of January 2, 2014. Tobacco control laws were reviewed to assess if they adequately protect citizens from impact of tobacco use.

2014 is the 50th anniversary of the 1964 Surgeon General's report linking smoking to lung cancer and other serious diseases. Since 1965, the percentage of Americans smoking has dropped from 42.4% (52.8 million Americans) to 18% (43.2 million) in 2012, according to CDC surveys.

Today, the Surgeon General notes that smoking is still the nation’s leading cause of preventable death and disease, responsible for the deaths of close to 480,000 Americans and up to $333 billion in annual healthcare and lost productivity costs attributed to smoking.

The American Lung Association calls for all levels of government to achieve three goals:

  • Reduce smoking rate to less than 10% within 10 years
  • Protect all Americans from secondhand smoke within 5 years
  • Eliminate the death and disease caused by tobacco

The U.S. Government received the following grades in 2013:

  • FDA Regulation: D (rule not issued to assert FDA authority over all tobacco products)
  • Cessation Coverage: C (only partially covered in federal healthcare programs)
  • Cigarette Tax: D (tax rate per pack of 20 is $1.01)
  • Tobacco Treaty: D (public health treaty not submitted to Senate for ratification)

 Here are highlights of California grades and rankings:

  • Tobacco Prevention Control and Spending: California received an F, though all but four states (Hawaii, North Dakata, Wyoming and Delaware), received D or F grades in terms of spending CDC recommended amounts.
  • Smokefree Air: California received an A for having laws in place that restrict smoking. 28 states and Washington DC have passed laws prohibiting smoking in almost all public places and workplaces, including restaurants and bars.
  • Cigarette Tax: D (Tax rate per pack of 20 is 87 cents) For each 10% price increase, consumption drops by about 7% for youth and 4% for adults. The average state excise tax is $1.53. An A grade was given for taxes of $3.06 and up and an F was given for taxes under 76.5 cents per pack. States with A grades (where you will pay the most in taxes) are New York, Massachusetts, Hawaii, Rhode Island and Connecticut. There are 15 states with F grades, mostly in the southeast.
  • Cessation Coverage: California received an F in terms of providing a "quitline" and ensuring coverage of cessation programs, though all but 7 states received D or F grades.

Read more about the State of Tobacco Control 2014 report at www.stateoftobaccocontrol.org.

Moving on, the American Lung Association in California released its own report on January 22nd covering cities and counties in California in the categories of Smokefree Outdoor Air, Smokefree Housing, Reducing Sales of Tobacco Products and Overall Tobacco Control.  Some highlights:

  • Out of 540 cities and counties in California, 18 scored an overall grade of A, including Albany, Baldwin Park, Berkeley, Calabasas, Contra Costa C
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