Public Health Community Trends

Olivia Snow

Public Health Community Trends

I used to live in Omaha, Nebraska when I was little and might someday be interested in returning to live there someday, so that is where I chose to do my research. I was able to speak to Brenda Kristy who is a Senior Public Health Nurse in the county where Omaha resides. As I talked with her she told me 5 communicable diseases in the county and a little bit about them.

The first one she told me about was STDs. In their county there are three main types of STDs that they are trying to control. They are chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis. Some of the things that they are doing within the county to try and prevent the spread of these diseases are coming up with programs for teens that will spread awareness of these STDs and of their significance. Prevention of spreading is their main goal.

The next communicable disease that Brenda told me about was influenza. She said that the numbers of people infected fluctuate through the different seasons, but that this is always an issue that they are aware of as public health professionals. Some ways that they are trying to cut back on those that are infected are by spreading information on vaccinations. More people that get vaccinated means less people that get infected and less lives will be lost to this disease.

            Salmonella was the next one that we talked about. Just this summer there was an outbreak of salmonella in Nebraska. There were 14 confirmed cases and 4 more that were suspected to be salmonella. This was on her list five because of its relevance today. Diseases are prone to just show up and as public health professionals in the United States one needs to be ready to respond at all times. To prevent the spread of this disease they work on recalling the products that are said to be causing the outbreak.

            Brenda also talked to me about tuberculosis. This used to be a leading cause of death in the United States and how since calmed down. But it is still an issue in Omaha. They are constantly encouraging and promoting people to be checked for and diagnosed with tuberculosis. Tuberculosis can be cured and Brenda works hard to spread that information and make sure that in her area people know what TB is and that is can be cured.

            The last type of disease that we talked about was campylobacter infections and other gastrointestinal diseases. I have never heard of campylobacter and learning about a new disease-affecting people she works with was very interesting. Some ways that this disease can be transported are fecal-oral, ingestion of contaminated food or water, and the eating of raw meat.

            It was very interesting for me to talk to a public health official and get a better idea of what exactly they do. I considered contacting epidemiologist for this research, but I decided that I wanted to know not only what the disease were, but what everyday employees were doing to try and prevent them. Brenda was very kind and helped me to understand a lot more about public health than I did previously. She was very concerned, not only with the diseases, but with the prevention. Learning about these common diseases and how public health deals with them on a daily basis has helped me to better understand public health and how it deals with the people od our country who are in need.