Tag Archives: weather

Hurricane Season is Coming: Get Prepared During Hurricane Preparedness Week

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Hurricane season officially begins on June 1st, but it is best to start early and get prepared!  Established by the National Weather Service, Hurricane Preparedness Week educates about the impact of hurricanes and informs people about ways to protect their homes and businesses.

Hurricanes are inevitable in South Carolina.  Follow these tips to prepare:

  • Have an Emergency Kit: Your emergency kit should have equipment, such as flashlights, generators, batteries, and first aid, etc.
  • Write or Review your Family Emergency Plan: Discuss means of contact, where you will go, and what you will do in an emergency.  Prepare for health concerns for those with chronic illnesses.
  • Review insurance policies: Understand your insurance coverage for your health, home and personal property.
  • Get familiar with the National Weather Service (NWS) forecast language: Understand the meaning of NWS watches, warnings, advisories, and outlooks.

The CDC’s guide , Preparedness and Safety Messaging for Hurricanes, Flooding, and Similar Disasters, is a tool that discusses every potential issue when preparing for a water-related natural disaster.  For more information about what to do before a tropical storm or hurricane, visit:  https://www.weather.gov/safety/hurricane-plan

For local emergency preparedness updates, visit the South Carolina Emergency Management Division‘s website.

From Other Blogs: Avoiding foodborne illness, cold weather tips, going green for the holidays & more

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A collection of health and environmental posts from other governmental blogs.

Your Holiday How-To: Keeping Hot Foods HOT and Cold Foods COLD!

The holidays are here, which means plenty of gatherings with family, friends and food! These get-togethers are usually fun-filled with catching up, laughter and occasional dancing, so don’t let foodborne illness crash your party. One of the best ways to keep foodborne illness off the guest list is to keep your food items at the proper temperatures while you enjoy your party. — From the US Department of Agriculture blog

Cold weather tips to keep you safe

In South Carolina, we typically don’t have extremely cold weather. However, cold weather has the potential to be dangerous, so it’s important to know what to do when the freezing temperatures decide to creep up on us. — From Flourish, Palmetto Health’s blog

Go Green for the Holidays

Are you one of those organized people who are already prepared for the coming winter holidays? Or do you still have plans to make and gifts to buy? Either way, why not take a second look at some of your usual holiday activities to see if you can make them more “sustainable?”

Sustainability is the responsible use of environmental resources in the present so that future generations will have enough to meet their needs. This is a lofty goal; how can any one person make a difference in reaching it? You may not realize that you are already working toward sustainability if you reuse and recycle; compost; walk, bike, take transit, or drive low-emission vehicles; conserve water and electricity; join community clean-up efforts; or otherwise save resources. — From the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Your Health — Your Environment Blog

5 Practical Skills for the Holiday ‘Host(ess) with the Mostest’

It’s not easy playing the part of host or hostess with the “mostest” at the holidays. A lot of time, effort, and planning goes into making merry with family and friends. In all the excitement of getting the house and food ready for guests, honest mistakes, minor mishaps, and even life-threatening emergencies can happen.

Some accidents are just that … accidents; others—like turkey fryer fires—are often preventable. You can prepare for all of them. — From the CDC’s Public Health Matters Blog

Health for the Holidays: Risks and Recommendations for the Retail Industry

It’s finally here — the most wonderful time of the year… for shopping. People will visit retail stores to buy a variety of goods: the cleaning supplies they will use to prepare for holiday celebrations, the food and beverages they will serve at holiday gatherings, the holiday gifts they will give loved ones, and much more.

Economic projections suggest retailers should brace themselves for a heavy amount of seasonal shopping traffic this year.  … As the industry works to meet the demands of holiday shoppers, it’s important for store owners, managers, and employees to remember that the hustle and bustle can take a toll on retail workers’ physical and psychological well-being. — From the CDC’s NIOSH Science Blog

Vaccination Remains Your Best Flu Protection

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Fall means football games, colorful leaves, cooler weather, and pumpkin spice. It also means another flu season is upon us. The flu vaccine can keep you from getting sick with flu. Make getting your flu shot another fall tradition.

It’s important to know that the flu vaccine cannot cause the flu. With any medicine, including vaccines, there is a chance of reactions. Most people who get a flu shot do not encounter problems. The most common reaction after the vaccine is soreness or redness where the shot was given. Some people may have some mild symptoms like fever or body aches after the shot, which may last for one or two days. It takes your body about two weeks to build up protection after you get vaccinated.

Getting your flu vaccine is easy in South Carolina. Most insurances, including Medicare Part B, cover the flu vaccine. You can get your flu vaccine from your health care provider, DHEC health departments or most local pharmacies. A prescription isn’t needed for children age 12 and older or adults to get their flu vaccine at the pharmacy (age may vary by pharmacy).

Flu vaccines at DHEC Health Departments are now available by appointment. Call 1-855-472-3432 to make an appointment.  To find a non-DHEC flu vaccine provider, go to http://flushot.healthmap.org/.

From Other Blogs: Celebrating America’s health centers, dealing with extreme heat, caring for a sinus infection

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A collection of health and environmental posts from other governmental blogs.

Celebrating America’s Health Centers: Our Healthcare Heroes

I wouldn’t be here today if not for this health center. I didn’t realize all the help they offer and how many people use them until I became a patient … The staff has always treated me with the utmost respect. I can never thank them enough. I’ll have a place in my heart for these folks for the rest of my life.” -Phillip, a patient at a health center in Virginia

For Phillip and more than 27 million other adults and children across the country, health centers provide affordable, high-quality and patient-centered primary healthcare that would otherwise be out of their reach.

Health centers use a holistic approach to patient care, treating the entire person by integrating mental health, oral health, substance use disorder and primary medical care services. The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) funds nearly 1,400 health centers operating more than 11,000 service delivery sites in communities across the country.  — From the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) blog

CDC’s Tracking Network in Action: Extreme Heat

Extremely hot weather can make you sick. Stay cool and hydrated to protect yourself. The Tracking Network provides data and tools that you can use to see how extreme heat may affect your health. — From the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Your Health – Your Environment blog

When to seek care for a sinus infection

Most adults have experienced a sinus infection and know how annoying and painful they can be.

Acute sinus infections generally stem from the common cold. The pressure felt in the face, forehead and behind the eyes is caused by the inflammation of the sinus cavities and nasal passageway. — From Flourish, Palmetto Health’s blog

Collaborating to Make Stronger Emergency Managers

Building a “Culture of Preparedness” and readying a nation for disaster isn’t limited to the United States.

A three-day summit at the Emergency Management Institute that focused on emergency management training and education continues the collaboration between FEMA and Mexico’s National Center for Disaster Prevention.

Supported by the U.S. Northern Command’s Humanitarian Assistance Branch, the two agencies agreed to a six to 10 year project that will strengthen emergency management training and education in both countries. They committed to sharing knowledge in emergency management training, exercises, and education to support and enhance the capacities of the each nation. — From the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) blog

A pain in the neck

Do you ever wake up with a stiffness in your neck? What about pain in your neck that gets worse after holding your head in one place for a long time? These are typical signs of neck pain. Other symptoms of neck pain include muscle tightness and spasms, headaches, decreased ability to move your head, and difficulty sleeping.

Approximately 10 to 25 percent of people complain about having a severe neck pain episode at least once in their lives. Aging and everyday damage contribute to the commonness of neck pain, and while these causes of neck pain cannot be avoided, there are many that can. — From Flourish, Palmetto Health’s blog

From Other Blogs: Keeping cool in hot weather, avoiding uninvited guests at summer outings, using trauma-informed care to inform emergency preparedness and response

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A collection of health and environmental posts from other governmental blogs.

Keep Your Cool in Hot Weather

Now is the time to prepare for the high temperatures that kill hundreds of people every year. Extreme heat causes more than 600 deaths each year. Heat-related deaths and illness are preventable, yet many people still die from extreme heat every year.

Take measures to stay cool, remain hydrated, and keep informed. Getting too hot can make you sick. You can become ill from the heat if your body can’t compensate for it and properly cool you off.  The main things affecting your body’s ability to cool itself during extremely hot weather are … — From the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Your Health – Your Environment blog

How to Avoid Uninvited Guests at Your Summer Outing

In the summertime, as the weather begins to heat up, our microscopic friends, called bacteria, begin to make uninvited appearances at our cookouts, picnics and even camping trips. Sometimes these little friends can be helpful, but other times, they just make you sick.

Bacteria will grow anywhere they have access to nutrients and water. Microorganisms that cause disease are called pathogens. When certain pathogens enter the food supply, they can cause foodborne illness. – From the US Department of Agriculture blog

Using trauma-informed care to guide emergency preparedness and response

Exposure to a traumatic event or set of circumstances can negatively affect a person’s mental, physical, social, emotional or spiritual well-being for a long time after the initial incident. We know that not all individuals respond to trauma in the same way and we know that individuals with a history of trauma, especially childhood trauma, are more likely to experience psychological distress and are at increased risk for the development of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) with future exposure to trauma. – From the CDC’s Public Health Matters blog