Have a question for Karen how to keep food safe? There are 1,500 food safety answers that can be accessed on a mobile device.

Check it out at m.AskKaren.gov on your mobile device or from your desktop go to AskKaren.gov

Article courtesy of Tim Shum of Fraser Health

“Published on Monday, February 13, 2012 2:09 PM

Since giving up their desks last fall, Surrey’s 25 environmental health and licensing officers are saving paper, reducing duplicated work and providing better customer service.
The officers became designated mobile workers through FHworkOptions when the Surrey Health Protection Office (HPO) moved to Central City in September. Instead of desks of their own, the officers were issued tablet computers, portable printers, cell phones and the use of shared workstations.
“There was a bit of a learning curve, but the feedback from staff is they like the new tools,” said Tim Shum, Regional Director, Health Protection.
“We’ve been able to increase efficiency because inspection reports are entered electronically and synchronized with our information system.
Before, inspectors would come back to the office and give their reports to the data clerks to enter.”
The change has eliminated the potential for data entry errors, along with the need to bring in casual clerks to handle backlogs. Customers receive an easier-to-read electronic copy of the report, and now have direct access to officers through their cell phones instead of leaving messages at the office.
The paper savings are also significant: in the first three months after the switch, almost 1,500 paperless inspections were conducted. Fraser Health’s nine HPOs conduct about 32,000 inspections per year, each requiring data entry and physical storage of the reports.
Inspections represent about half of the officers’ work; the permitting, complaint and application processes are still paper-based but will eventually transition as well, Shum said. “Our hope is that eventually there will be very little paper, if any.”
Following Surrey’s success, the other HPOs will gradually move to a mobile workforce, in keeping with the technology refresh schedule. The IM coordinator – whose support has been critical during the transition – has already begun to assist with the Abbotsford / Mission office switch set for this spring.”

If you haven’t already done so, please fill out the 20-minute independent and confidential evaluation survey of the NCCEH: http://www.ncceh-evaluation.ca/
The results will inform both us and our funder.

Thank you very much.

Christina Chociolko, PhD
Network Coordinator
National Collaborating Centre for Environmental Health
christina.chociolko@bccdc.ca
www.ncceh.ca

Production of this email was made possible through a financial contribution from the Public Health Agency of Canada.”

Do you have historical memorabilia? Let CIPHI know! They are looking for people to participate in the centenary and help with these project objectives:

The following is  from CIPHI March 8th, 2012 news release:

“1.  Mark the 100th anniversary of CIPHI;
2.  Celebrate environmental public health professionals who have dedicated themselves to service and delivery of
environmental health;
3.  Celebrate the role of environmental public health professionals in Canada as well as our traditions, history,
successes, and values;
4.  Highlight how environmental public health professionals have evolved over the past 100 years and to look to the
future of our organization; and
5.  Enable environmental public health professionals to participate in celebrations that contribute to building a sense
of pride and belonging to public health.”

About this video:
“How did we get here, where are we going? This short film presents a historical overview of public and environmental health in the United States over the past century. It’s a complex story of the interconnections between air, water, soil, food production and distribution, chemicals, population, climate change, national, state and local policy, and communities taking their health into their own hands. Learn about the success and challenges, regulations and radical changes this country has seen in the past century.

Co-Produced by Deborah Fryer and Jill Litt
Written, Edited, and Directed by Deborah Fryer”

The CDC iPad application has been designed as a way for users to access health information at their fingertips. It will feature important health articles, popular journals, timely updates and access to social media to coincide with important health concerns and events throughout the year. It gives an increasingly mobile public 24/7 access to important health information that people can use to protect their lives and loved ones.

Important Health Content: Health Articles, Vital Signs, Preventing Chronic Disease Journal, Public Health Blogs, and Newsroom feeds update automatically.”

Source: http://www.cdc.gov/Features/iPadApp/index.html