Don’t Flush Your MEDS!

Have you ever cleaned your medicine cabinet just to find everything has expired? You might be thinking to yourself “what am I going to do with all these medications?” Well we have a solution for you. TAKEAWAY, this is an Environmental Return System Envelope for your unused prescribed and over-the-counter medications. We purchased this product at Walgreens for $3.99 which includes pre-paid return postage; we placed our sticker on the actual envelope. This location was perfect because many people use Walgreens as their neighboring pharmacy and most of them have no clue on how to dispose of their medication properly. Now, they can obtain their disposal envelope while they go pick up medications and have no worries. We believe this is a major public health issue because people are prone to disposing old medications inadequately, and they don’t know if the drugs are going to end up in the wrong hands or even on the wrong paws. It is extremely important to STOP Flushing expired medications, for the reason that by doing so, it enters our local sewer system damaging our water supply. A contaminated water supply affects our ecosystem as well as our health, and it can also harm all the animals and plants and their habitation. In the past it was customary to flush old medications, given that there wouldn’t be ramifications from an insanitary water supply. However, today a contaminated water supply can cause adverse outcomes on many individual’s health and the environment we all live in.

This Blog is brought to you by : Yaisiel Montanez, Kristina Aldana, Brittany Judd, Sergimar Henriquez, Jovonna Harris

School Zones are Public Health

Our group noticed how effective School Zones are as a public health to our communities. There is a flashing light high above the speed limit sign to indicate that during the designated hours all vehicles must reduce their speed around the school. This provides safety for those children and other pedestrians to commute around the school area. There are also ticketed fines of an increased amount to prevent motor vehicle drivers from ignoring the signs and proceeding at the normal speed limit.

Being that prevention is such an enormous part of public health; we felt that a school zone sign was a perfect way to promote the safety needed around children. The flashing lights draw attention to the drivers, letting them know they need to be careful while driving through a school zone. School zones themselves, and therefore school zone signs, are a great way to promote safe and defensive driving- leading to less accidents and deaths. 

As experienced drivers, we are all too aware of how tricky it can be when we're trying to estimate exactly how fast on coming vehicles are traveling. Reduced speeds increases the chances of a child surviving an unfortunate car accident and it also gives the driver more time to react in the event that there is a child in the road.

The decreased speed limits surrounding schools help to decrease the amount of traffic accidents that occur. More specifically, they are in place to protect the school children from traffic while they are walking home or to school.

Overall, we think that the signs and lights indicating a decreased speed help to prevent accidents in school zones. Not only do they signal that you will receive a higher fine for speeding, they indicate to drivers that children may be crossing the street in the area and will be more attentive. Another example that relates to these signs is the flashing lights and stop signs on school buses. All of these are public health preventive measures to avoid accidents and injuries.

Not Your Typical Doggie Bag

We placed our sticker on a plastic bag dispenser that can be used to pick up animal fecal waste creating a primary prevention tool. This dispenser is located along the sidewalk in the parking lot of an apartment complex and can be found throughout many public recreational areas. The bags found in public recreational areas are provided by the Pinellas County Solid Waste Management, but ours was provided by the property management personnel as an easy and convenient way for pet owners to behave responsibly and keep the general public’s environment sanitary and free of possible zoonotic agents. The constant accessibility to the proper tools greatly reduces health hazards that arise out of fecal matter contamination of both ground cover and water runoff. Failure to pick up after one’s pet creates the risks of contamination of the neighborhood’s water bodies or supplies which in turn will affect the whole neighborhood’s health and safety. Furthermore, fecal matter will attract flies which further increase the risk of zoonotic diseases’
communicability. In a worst case scenario if one of the residents were to pick up a highly communicable infection such as Cryptosporosis because of the infected fecal material being in the environment. He or she can then possibly transfer the infection to his/her colleagues in school or the workplace through improper hygiene, creating the possibility of causing an endemic within the community. But on a more likely scale the animal’s fecal matter could contain hookworms a common infection in animals and if a child were to step on the fecal material with an open lesion the child could become very sick possibly needing hospitalization. The presence of this simple tool can then greatly influence public health in that it promotes the prevention of disease and aims to maintain the good health of everyone in the community by keeping one source of infectious diseases under control.

Group Members (left to right): Nalvi Duro, Kyle Olle, Jason Drizd

The Bioweigher

Our group decided to adhere our “This is Public Health” sticker on a Bioweigher machine located within GNC, a wellness store, inside of University Mall. This machine is placed near the front window, and its services are easily accessible for people to determine their health status in regards to their body weight. More specifically, this machine is designed to measure one's weight and to tell them if he/she is at a healthy weight given his/her body type and age. In other words, the machine lets one know if they are overweight, underweight, or at an appropriate, healthy weight. It asks questions about lifestyle, age, height, and weight in order to more effectively provide the user with an accurate response. Moreover, the Bioweigher machine relates to public health because obesity is continuing to be a major health issue in the United States. Further, it is evident that many people in our society are oblivious to the fact that they are at risk of becoming obese. Therefore, by providing a machine that can be easily utilized by the general public, more people can attain self-realization in regards to whether or not they are leading a healthy lifestyle. Not only this, but also more people will be given the opportunity to make adjustments to their diets and to their lifestyles before it is too late. In short, our group placed our sticker on this Bioweigher machine in an effort to raise awareness about the issue of obesity and to show this machine’s clear relevance to public health in its entirety.

 

Group Members: Jordan Smith, Jacklyn Garibay & Lan Ton

Why Did the Pedestrian Cross the Road?

 

For our public health focus, we chose to illustrate the importance of crosswalks as an instrumental tool in saving lives. Crosswalks, which are instituted by law, are the primary focus of decreasing the amount of preventable injuries and fatalities that occur each year. According to state law, pedestrians have many options for safely crossing roads. The first, and most common, is at a marked cross-walk that also has a signal to let pedestrians know when it is appropriate to cross, at which pedestrians wait for the walk signal and cars yield to pedestrians that have this signal. The next is a marked cross-walk without a cross signal in which pedestrians are given the right-of-way in the state of Florida. Another crossing method outlined in Florida law is to cross without a cross-walk, a method in which pedestrians must yield to cars and cross in the most direct way possible. To avoid accidents, drivers need to remember to slow down once in residential areas, at intersections and that pedestrians have the right of way at crosswalks.

            Hitting someone with a car can be a night mare; however it happens many times per year. According to the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, between 2007 and 2008, the rates of pedestrians being killed in Florida have only decreased from 530 to 502 pedestrians. Specifically in Hillsborough County, as of 2004, pedestrians to have sustained injuries were 514 and the number of fatalities was recorded at 40 pedestrians. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) statistics, a pedestrian is killed every 101 minutes and another is injured every 8 minutes in the United States. In Florida, almost one out of every five fatalities involves a pedestrian. A recent Surface Transportation Policy Project report (2000) ranked the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater metropolitan area as the most dangerous place for people to walk. These statistics show us that there needs to be more strides taken to continue to decrease these numbers and save more lives in the community.

            Even though the initial introduction of crosswalks has saved many lives, improvements can continue to be made to increase pedestrian safety. Now, when people use crosswalks you don’t just notice the little guy that lights up letting you know it is safe to cross, you also hear a beep allowing those who are visually impaired to cross as well. Beeping crosswalks have been around for more than twenty years, but are just now becoming more and more popular. This is a great innovation to the crosswalk because it allows visually impaired people to become even more independent, not having to wait for someone to show up to the crosswalk and let them know it is ok to cross. Another thing that has been invented to further help the visually impaired cross the street with minimal assistance is a device created by a team of student from Worcester Polytechnic Institute called “Crosswalk Button Locator.” Those who use canes or guide dogs can never find the button on the crosswalk to cross. Therefore, they are often left standing at the crosswalk for a long time. These students created a device that can go on the end of the cane or on the guide dog’s collar and it has an antenna in it that communicates with the crosswalk pole. The device then beeps/buzzes and guides the person to the button. The estimated cost for this to be put in is about $100 per pole, so $400 per crosswalk. This money seems like a lot when you add it up, but when you are talking about saving lives it seems worth it. It is important for motorists and pedestrians to utilize crosswalks to minimize injuries and fatalities. Motorists can yield to pedestrians even if they are walking outside of the crosswalks, and use particular vigilance in residential areas, school zones, playgrounds and parks. Pedestrians can carefully watch oncoming traffic, make eye contact, if possible, with the driver of any motor vehicle that is approaching the crosswalk, and avoid cell phone use or any other form of distraction. With the proper use of crosswalks we can make the streets safer for both motorists and pedestrians. 

Group Members: Anabelle, Charlotte, Rosanna, Shannon & Jonathan

Photo Enforced

 

It is impossible to make people better drivers. Of course there are ways to try to teach the public and requirements to get a license, but the most effective way to improve street safety is by implementing more road signs and making sure that these signs are clearly visible and understandable. This will reduce the amount of accidents on any street. More signs must coincide with the enforcement of those rules. In order for a community to function, the rules that are put in place must be enforced. Raised awareness, hopefully, influences the driver’s decision to obey the traffic light. This reduces risk of traffic accidents that could potentially result in an injury or a fatality. As traffic safety is a major public health concern, we think that video enforcement of traffic lights is public health in action.

On the intersection of Bruce B. Downs Blvd. and Fletcher Ave. there are a series of

cameras that are designed to take the picture of a car’s license plate, should it cross the intersection illegally during a red light. This serves as a deterrent for people who like to speed across the intersection when they see a yellow traffic light. The yellow light is intended as a warning that the red light is coming, not as a sign to speed up. When the light turns red, other lanes are given a green light, which means that other cars will be coming into the intersection. If there are still cars passing from another lane the result will end in a collision and possibly injuries to people. FHP (Florida Highway Patrol) says, “more than 1,400 crashes in the state were caused by red light runners last year, killing 56 people and injuring more than 5,000.”  

 According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, “ASE, if used, is one technology available to law enforcement as a supplement and not a replacement for traditional enforcement operations.” Many advantages of the ASE program are the high rates of violation detection, physical safety of ASE operators and motorists, fairness of operation, and efficient use of resources. The results from myfox Tampa Bay are the first 12,629 citations resulted from cameras at only four intersections; second, violations have dropped so dramatically at one intersection that the revenue no longer covers the cost of the equipment at that intersection. 

In conclusion, these street cameras reduce and prevent the amount of crashes, fatalities and injuries to pedestrians, bike riders and other drivers; therefore the red light cameras are a form of primary prevention.

Photo Enforced Traffic Lights

It is impossible to make people better drivers. Of course there are ways to try to teach the public and enforce requirements to get a license, but the most effective way to improve street safety is by implementing more road signs and making sure that these signs are clearly visible and understandable. This will reduce the amount of accidents on any street. More signs must coincide with the enforcement of those rules. In order for a community to function, the rules that are put in place must be enforced. Raised awareness, hopefully, influences the driver’s decision to obey the traffic light.  This reduces risk of traffic accidents that could potentially result in an injury or a fatality.  As traffic safety is a major public health concern, we think that photo enforcement of traffic lights is public health in action.

On the intersection of Bruce B. Downs Blvd. and Fletcher Ave. there are a series of cameras that are designed to take the picture of a car’s license plate, should it cross the intersection illegally during a red light. This serves as a deterrent for people who like to speed across the intersection when they see a yellow traffic light. The yellow light is intended as a warning that the red light is coming, not as a sign to speed up. When the light turns red, other lanes are given a green light, which means that other cars will be coming into the intersection. If there are still cars passing from another lane the result will end in a collision and possibly injuries to people. FHP (Florida Highway Patrol) says, “more than 1,400 crashes in the state were caused by red light runners last year, killing 56 people and injuring more than 5,000.”

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, “Automated Speed Enforcement also known as ASE, if used, is one technology available to law enforcement as a supplement and not a replacement for traditional enforcement operations.” Many advantages of the ASE program are the high rates of violation detection, physical safety of ASE operators and motorists, fairness of operation, and efficient use of resources. The results from myfox Tampa Bay are the first 12,629 citations resulted from cameras at only four intersections; second, violations have dropped so dramatically at one intersection that the revenue no longer covers the cost of the equipment at that intersection. 

In conclusion, these street cameras reduce and prevent the amount of crashes, fatalities and injuries to pedestrians, bike riders and other drivers; therefore the red light cameras are a form of primary prevention.

Group members: Benjamin Rivera, Andrew Oustimov, Stephanie Martinez,  Suzanne Coviello, and Ambika Ellana

Sanitation is Key

I chose Planet Beach, the tanning salon. A lot of bacteria and viruses are caused by lack of sanitation. When individuals go to a tanning salon they risk exposure to whatever the customer before them has on their body. With all the sweating and person to person contact, an illness can easily be spread. This is why they are required to sanitize each bed after each use, and put this little sign on the bed to show that it has been done. The sign says "This has been sanitized". This is why I chose to place my sticker on the sign. It shows that it is public health because it protects the health of the customers who use it.

Several Washings a Day Keeps the Disease at Bay

Public Health in the community can be anything that enforces proper practices to ensure the physical well-being of human populations. These practices are meant to minimize preventable disease in order to keep people healthy. Our group chose to focus on hand washing to represent Public Health, as it plays an important role in the prevention and spread of disease. Proper hand washing is often overlooked as an important measure of disease control; however, our hands come across millions of disease-causing bacteria every day. According to the CDC frequent hand washing has the potential to save more lives than any single vaccine. :  Retrieved from:  http://www.cdc.gov/features/handwashing/

We found a sign at the local Panera that reads “WASH HANDS (Laves las manos) For Disease Control.” The sign we chose is a great example of how Public Health uses primary prevention to educate and promote health, and it’s bilingual. We chose Panera because people are increasingly eating out, and using public restrooms. More importantly employees are reminded to wash their hands to further reduce the risk of bacteria transferring to food during preparation. Frequent washing of one’s hands can prevent you from acquiring everything from the common cold to many food borne diseases like e. coli, and the norovirus (the stomach flu). To wash hands properly:  Retrieved from:  http://www.cdc.gov/features/handwashing/  

Wet your hands with clean running water (warm or cold) and apply soap.

Rub your hands together to make lather and scrub them well; be sure to scrub the backs of your hands, between your fingers, and under your nails.

Continue rubbing your hands for at least 20 seconds. Need a timer? Hum the "Happy Birthday" song from beginning to end twice.

Rinse your hands well under running water.

Dry your hands using a clean towel or air dry.

Group members: Brittany, Dorita, Haley, and Valerie 

A Public Park for the Health of the Public

We placed our sticker on the monument sign at the entrance to Lettuce Lake Park. Our group chose this location as the park is a perfect example of a local recreational facility that benefits the Tampa Bay area. The park offers the community an affordable and safe location in which to relax and exercise in a beautiful natural setting. For a nominal fee the public has access to the 240 acre park, complete with trails for walking, jogging, and biking. These trails also include an additional element to increase fitness with multiple locations for full body exercises. An amazing boardwalk meanders through the dense foliage providing an access to views and sights not available to those who exercise at home or in a gym. There are fields available for sport and games and playgrounds for children. Lettuce Lake provides access to the floodplain of the Hillsborough River via canoe or kayak which is a additional way to combine exercise with relaxation.

          A moderate diet combined with exercise is the only way to maintain a healthy body. A sedentary lifestyle contributes to  premature death due to cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease. Obesity in both children and adults is a problem that is only increasing in our country. To combat all of these problems, the park is an excellent location in which to exercise, at whatever level with which an individual may be comfortable, using any mode they wish. Stress is also a major contributing factor to susceptibility to disease. The natural environment combined with beautiful Florida sunshine can be used to facilitate stress management and reduction. By utilizing all of the amenities Lettuce Lake has to offer the public can improve their health. 

Group Members: Court, Tina, Lauren, Allie, and Cody

~Hart of Public Health!~

We chose to place our sticker at the Hart bus stop on Livingston because for majority of the people in that area, the main system of transportation is the Hart line. We chose this spot because it promotes a healthier alternative to driving cars and promotes a green environment. If people drove more buses and less cars, then it would reduce the amount of pollution. This would then decrease the effects of global warming. Pollution in the air is harmful to the health of individuals worldwide and this could result in noncommunicable diseases such as cancer, asthma, and cardiovascular diseases. Reduced pollution can also lead to safer air, water, animals, and plants. Now, how does this promote green? Well majority of busses are going green by reducing the amount of carbon monoxide and producing more hybrid busses. Now, an added bonus is that the price for busses is still the same and the times for busses coming and going is more frequent. This helps promote people to take busses more often than their cars to help promote go green. This issue is very important because not only is this a gateway to promote green but to also promote the underprivileged to get to where they need to go. Examples include a way to reach jobs for many who can’t afford a vehicle and a way to help kids get to school because high schoolers these days are not so lucky in getting their car on a show called “My Super Sweet 16”. We, as a group, encourage everyone to ride the public transportation option that our school offers free of cost!

Group members (left to right of first picture): Shelomo Solson, Allyson Sison, Shaina Joseph, and Thomas Mathew

Bench Rest

Our group chose to place our sticker on a Campus Lodge bench located on the corner of Livingston Ave and Bearss Ave because the bench highlights many issues in Public Health. For example, the bench promotes health through encouraging exercise. After a long walk or bike ride, the bench allows the individual to take a breather, lowering chances of passing out from exhaustion.  It makes a terrific place for morning joggers from the various apartment complexes in the area to rest if needed during their workout. In addition, many of those that have cars and decide to take the bus do not have to drive to campus. Since this intersection is very close to the USF campus it also encourages people to walk to campus or take the bus instead of driving gas guzzling cars. As a result, less harmful fumes are let into the air that we breathe. This is important because in the society we live today there are all sorts of health issues that are on the rise partly due to the lack of psychical activity including obesity and heart disease. Not to mention it promotes cleaner, healthier air by being conveniently located next to a bus stop.
Group Members: Nushaye Elliott, Jessica Smith, Guerdy St. Victor and Caprecia Wilson

Sanitizing while working out

Think about all the germy hands and sweaty bodies that have come in contact with each piece of gym equipment. Realizing this, we decided to place our sticker in the gym at the Campus Club Student Apartments on the corner of 56th St. and Fletcher Ave. Many people use this gym equipment everyday and some of them seldom use the sanitizing wipes located right next to gym rules. Honestly, how many people do you really think actually look at the gym rules sign?
This represents public health because sanitizing wipes in the gym will help reduce communicable infections since bacteria and viruses can spread in multiple ways. This particular gym is shared by hundreds of residents and you can’t control who uses it. You also can’t monitor every individual and require the residents to use the wipes even though it's a common courtesy to wipe the machine down after using it. There is usually no one there to enforce the use of the wipes either. Residents should know that wiping down the equipment before you use a machine will help protect themselves from the possible pathogens that have been left behind by the previous user. 
In addition, wiping down the machine after you use it is a good way of setting an example of what others should be doing. The more people who do it, the more it will become a common practice. If no one does it then other people may think it’s not a big deal. This is important because in times of an epidemic, such as the swine flu, it will help reduce the chance of people becoming infected. Many residents use this gym, but may not be following good sanitation practices! Hopefully this sticker will allow people to stop and think about the purpose of the sanitizing wipes and use one.

Group members: Ali DeBono, Sarah McPhee, Shelly Desale

Public Health Doesn't Just Apply to People

We placed our "This is Public Health" sticker on a public sign in the Temple Terrace community. The sign was placed by the area's Park and Recreation Department, under City Code #4.425.5. This location was chosen because its is both adjacent to the university and to local businesses - where students, faculties, and the general public can see the sign and be better informed about the local population's health interest, and the laws in place to protect them!  The area is also home to a number of dogs and dog owners. The sign, "Please pick up after your dog", reminds or obliges dog owners to properly dispose of their pet's organic waste by picking it up and throwing it away in proper waste receptacles. This public reminder promotes the area's cleanliness and orderliness. By picking up our pet's organic waste we are reducing water and soil pollution and as well as preserving the beauty of the community and preventing the spread of disease through animal wastes.  Without this precaution, fecal matter could serve as a contaminant, and perhaps be picked up by another animal or child living in the area, or perhaps end up in the river located a few hundred feet behind where the picture was taken.  Plus, the area gets a lot of traffic from pedestrians (kids on their way home from school), runners, bikers, and skateboarders, none of whom want to see, smell, or step in dog waste.  It is important to remind people that the community is everyone's property, and that everyone has the right to a clean and safe environment.

Employee Health: Help yourself before helping others

For this assignment, the group decided to go to the Employee Health Services at Florida Hospital. We decided to place the sticker on a bulletin board that is stationed in the waiting room. This bulletin board contains posters and fliers pertaining to getting the seasonal flu shot, asking your doctor the right questions, to Workers compensation in the rare case that one might get injured on the job.

We decided to visit Florida Hospital because of its convenient location across the street from USF. We also chose it because we thought that by placing the sticker in the Employee Health lounge, more hospital employees would become aware of and take advantage of the services offered by Employee Health.

Not only does hospital staff help in the secondary dimension of public health, but in the primary. This office is a major form of public health because it prevents health problems that are transmittable from nurses, doctors, and staff to be stopped before they can reach the patients. The employee health service offers free immunizations given by RNs, LPNs, and Phlebotomists to health care employees. Some health services provided are new hire-replacement physicals, along with annual TB screenings and N95 mask fittings.

Employee Health also informs each floor that each employee works on, of non-compliance by their specific employees. This helps hold people accountable. Employee health has convenient hours as well. Opening as early as 7 am to allow night shift employees to come in and utilize services.

Overall, by making employees stay constantly aware of all the health services that are available to them, it will not only benefit them, but also the patients. As long as the employees are maintaining their health then the more they can provide their services to the patients they deal with.

In Order from Left to Right:

Sue - Manager of the emplyee health department at Florida Hospital Tampa

Cree McIver

Ava Rogers

Ashley Rogers

Lili Yang

Anais Cardenas

Safety Crosswalks

We chose to pick a crosswalk signal off the corner of 50^th street and Fletcher Ave, and we placed our sticker right next to the button you press to cross the street. We picked this location because it was so close to a student apartment complex and it’s often used by those students to cross the street and attend USF. It’s important to remind students, or a pedestrian what public health does for them and how it keeps them safe form traffic, and gives them a safe way to get to school or anywhere else. This especially represents a public health issue of collisions for both the person crossing the street and the driver of any vehicle. Many times you hear about accidents happening due to people crossing the road at the wrong point when the driver is usually not suspecting anything. Crosswalk signals allow drivers to visually notice a landmark where people cross and become aware of pedestrian crossing. On the other hand it protects people and allows them safe passage while crossing the street and allows an easy way of transportation from one destination to another. Not having crosswalks is a major risk for those who walk a lot for as a method of movement and for drivers on a busy road. A lot of accidents have occurred because of crosswalk signals are not in place and this forces people to cross the street at their convenience; however it may not be at the convenience for the driver. Ultimately causing an accident where both the pedestrian and driver could be hurt. It’s a very important issue that unfortunately has been overlooked by most and easily could be fixed.

Nicole Bell

Lubana Massis (not pictured, she is taking the photo)

Stephanie Barbosa

Brian Pirolozzi