|
Featured Videos
Healthy Lake County
Summer is here so be respectful of the heat and take precautions. Take a few minutes and watch this "Healthy Lake County" video to learn what you can do to protect yourself and your pet from heat-related illness, as well as where you can find some great summer nutrition ideas on our Web site. An added bonus is information about how you can avoid recreational water illness the next time you take a dip in a public pool or lake.
Fueling Up or Filling Up?
When you start counting the sugar and calories found in a 16-ounce energy drink consumed each day, it can result in a gain of 24 pounds of weight. In this video segment, Registered Dietitian Toby Smithson reminds you how those extra calories and the cost you pay for those energy drinks may not really be what you are after. She also differentiates between energy drinks and sports drinks.
Tick Prevention
Wood ticks and deer ticks are plentiful this summer. Senior Biologist Mike Adam takes a minute to share some ideas about how to avoid them and how to remove them if they dig in to your skin. For starters, wearing long-sleeved shirts and trousers and staying on a trail will help protect you from ticks. Anyone who spends time in tall, grassy areas should be checked for ticks, especially around the neck, behind the ears and around the groin.
| |
________
___________
|
|
| |
There are no low-cost pet vaccination clinics scheduled in July, but mark your calendars for August 4 or August 11.
 On August 4, a clinic is being held in collaboration with the Zion Police Department at the Zion Park District, Bethel Blvd. and 27th St., in Zion. On August 11, a clinic is being held with the Fox Lake Police Department at Lakefront Park, 71 Nippersink Blvd., in Fox Lake.
See You at the County Fair
The Lake County Citizen Corps is sponsoring a booth at the Lake County Fair, July 25-29, and it will be staffed with several volunteer groups active in emergency preparedness. Those groups include the Lake County Health Department's Medical Reserve Corps, Community Emergency Response Teams and Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service.
 From 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, stop by the booth and participate in a demonstration by the Medical Reserve Corps of how a local dispensing site will operate during a county-wide medical emergency.Other activities include the Lake County Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service demonstrating weather-related functions, and local Community Emergency Response Teams demonstrating fire extinguisher trainings, search and rescue, and first aid.
Thanks to a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency grant, work is underway at North Point Marina Beach to grow more native plants and inhibit sea gull interest.
|
|
|
Greetings!
 | |
Irene T. Pierce Executive Director
|
Illinois, as you are probably aware, is making some tough decisions to address its substantial budget deficit. One of the decisions was to cut back the state Medicaid program, which has a direct impact on some of our patients. On July 1, Medicaid no longer covered dental routine exams, fillings, dentures, root canals, crowns or cleanings for adult patients at our community health centers. However, extractions for adult dental emergencies, such as acute infections and trauma, continue to be covered. Dental services for children remain covered by Medicaid. Read more
|
|
Beat the Heat - Avoid Hot Weather Illness |
The heat can takes its toll on people of all ages during the summer so we offer some tips for staying healthy while enjoying the summer. If you are experiencing nausea, heavy perspiration, clammy skin, headache, cramps or fainting, you may be experiencing heat exhaustion. |
|
Kids 1st Health Fair Marks 20 Years |
 For 20 years, the Kids 1st Health Fair has assisted in preparing children to enter the new school year by providing free services valued at $1.6 million. Over the two decades of work, approximately 30,000 children have received services ranging from immunizations to dental care. Sponsored by the Lake County Health Department in collaboration with Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science and United Way of Lake County this year's fair will again be from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. on August 1 at Miguel Juarez Middle School, 201 N. Butrick St., in Waukegan. For more information about the fair, contact Deb at 847.377.8870.
|
|
|
 With four drownings in Lake County already recorded this year, the Health Department is offering ways to take precautions while enjoying the county's many lakes.
|
|
|
 | |
From left to right, back row, Waukegan Park District Commissioner Pat Foley; Lake County Health Department staff member Emily Zadikoff; REALITY Illinois teens Selena Sedano, Danielle Grazier, and Joannah Rivera; Waukegan Park District President Bill Sarocka; Waukegan Park District Commissioners Wayne Motley and Terry Duffy; and Lake County Health Department staff member Barbara de Nekker. Left to right, front row, REALITY Illinois teens Cesar Cardenas, Dalia Anguiano, Jennifer Takamura and Araceli Mena. |
Following presentations about the value of tobacco free parks by REALITY Illinois teens, Waukegan Park District commissioners in June approved an ordinance
prohibiting use of tobacco on park property, except for golf courses at this time. REALITY Illinois teens are sponsored by the Health Department's Tobacco Free Lake County program. Waukegan, Gurnee, Grandwood Park and Round Lake park systems all have passed tobacco-free policies. |
|
North Shore Health Center Residents Plant a Community Garden
|
 | | Kenia Ruiz plants her area. |
Patients from the North Shore Health Center in Highland Park are testing their green thumbs for the second consecutive year at the Moraine Township Garden.
The township started the garden to provide fresh produce for the township food pantry, but the garden is also giving primary care patients at the North Shore Health Center an opportunity to grow and eat fresh produce, said Olga Aguilar, outreach worker at the North Shore Health Center's Health and Wellness Program. More than 60 turned out for a planting event this year. The Health and Wellness Program is funded with a grant from the Health Care Foundation of Highland Park and the support of Friends For Health. Read more about the garden in HIghland Park as well as the North Chicago Health Center garden.
|
|
"Step Up, Get Tested" Event A Success |
 Community Health Specialist Feliece Carabello and Volunteer Reginald Diming, at left, provided information to the public about the Health Department's STI program during the "Stand Up, Get Tested" event held at the Belvidere Medical Building in Waukegan. The free event allowed the public to check their status through rapid tests for HIV and hepatitis C with results in 20 minutes. There were 146 HIV tests and 48 hepatitis tests given. A food tent, children's activities and a tent with groups offering public health information were also part of the event.
|
|
|
