MPH 632 - Fall 2018

As we begin to think about being active and prepared, explore the website for The National Center for Disaster Medicine and Public Health  (Links to an external site.) Links to an external site.  and the links that are specific to your region or area of interest to learn more about health (physical and psychosocial) and environmental impacts or preparedness needs for these disaster precipitators. In California we have the  Disaster Healthcare Volunteers Site  (Links to an external site.) Links to an external site. , where healthcare professionals and those with healthcare experience can express a desire to be a volunteer should a disaster happen. Is there something similar where you live? There is something similar for my area.  San Mateo County does have emergency volunteer opportunities.  One is the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) program that educates people on disaster preparedness for hazards and trains them in basic disaster response...

BLOG about the following: What do you personally find most troubling about climate change? One of the things that I find most troubling about climate change right now is the viewpoint that Donald Trump has on it.  I thought the article that was on Obama and White House Website was really helpful information and it seemed truthful.  I find it troubling that Donald Trump doesn't fully believe in climate change and he doesn't see it as a priority to peoples health.  Even in a recent 60 Minutes interview he didn't fully admit that it is an issue and the science behind it.  I think despite what the research supports, he has his own viewpoints on the issue, but that results in less efforts being put into addressing climate change.   As a public health professional, what do you think needs the greatest attention right now? I think right now the greatest attention needs to be on efforts on reducing what we are currently doing that is ...

After finishing this module, including watching the YouTube video about a young woman who chose to live a ZERO WASTE life, consider your household waste stream. Are there changes that you might be able to make in your life to live a zero waste life and enter your thoughts/ideas into your blog. I was so surprised from the very start of the movie.  I couldn't believe that her waste could all fit into one mason jar.  The speaker even said that quitting plastic and all other waste isn't so easy, .  I would agree and that is probably the biggest reason why making changes would be so difficult for me.  It can be time consuming, and requires more consciousness of my actions.  I also live with my parents so I think a lot of change would also need to come from them if we wanted to get closer to a zero waste life.   Things that I do already that she mentioned, but I could do more of is shopping at the farmers market, buying second hand ...

CHOOSE ONE of the following organizations/agencies: OSHA, CAL/OSHA, NIOSH, ILO, WHO, AFL-CIO Go to their website. Each of these occupational safety and health or labor organizations support a range of occupational health and safety programs. Select a health and safety program sponsored by one of these organizations, read about it. Provide a short summary on your BLOG and how it might relate to your health and safety. These safety and health programs aim to prevent workplace injuries, illness, improve compliance with the existing laws and regulations, reducing cost, engaging workers, enhance social responsibility goals, and increase productivity and overall business operations.  One program is to improve worker participation.  Effective safety and health programs utilize workers collective experience, knowledge, and insight to find solutions work their workplace safety and health challenges.  This is important because they are the ones on the front line who kn...

Each of these diseases still affects many workers today.   Over the years there have been major public health campaigns to address them.  Organized labor has often lead the campaigns.    Select one of these diseases and search the web to learn about the history  of the public health campaigns and the  current status  of the disease and related occupational health policies.   (What are the OSHA or MSHA regulations regarding the exposures that cause the disease that you selected to review?)    The occupational disease that I looked up was Asbestosis. Asbestos is in so many places and it is a mineral that can be incorporated into construction, commercial, and household products.  There is some legislation around Asbestos such as the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), Clean Air Act, Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), and the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act and Reauthorization Act.   OSHA does highly ...

In your  BLOG , write about your findings - about the potential dangers associated with the chemical/product you looked up. Was the MSDS an adequate tool for a worker to use to gain an understanding about the potential health risks and how to protect him/herself? (Consider that the general public reads at a reading level at or below 6th grade, and that's if English is their first language.) The chemical that I looked up was hydrogen peroxide.  The MSDS did give prevention precautions saying to keep it away from heat, mixing with combustibles, and consuming.  It was good because it did have some pictures.  Two of the pictures were clear to understand, but the other one was not clear.  This can be helpful if people don't read the language that the MSDS is written in; however it can be pointless if people don't understand the pictures.  I do think that it is a reading level that the general public can understand.  It was pretty simple as it had a prev...