The Will County Environmental Health Department Newsletter “Your location for News, Updates, and Outreach.”

ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH

VOL.1 ISSUE 4 Created and Edited By: Nicole T. Garrett

National

Safety

Month

NSC Mission

The National Safety

Council saves lives

by preventing inju-

ries and deaths at

work, in homes and

communities, and on

the roads through

leadership, research,

education and advo-

cacy.

[http://www.nsc.org/act/

events/Pages/national-

safety-month.aspx?

utm_medium=(none)

&utm_source=(direct)

&utm_campaign=NSM]

West Nile Virus Traps are being set around the county. Will Count Health Department partners

with various locations around the county that have agreed, once again, to allow

the environmental health staff to place mosquito traps for west nile virus surveil-

lance and monitoring. Mosquitos are collected and tested in the laboratory for

the virus. The RAMP® WNV (West Nile Virus) test is a highly sensitive test used to

identify WNV in mosquitoes and corvids. This test is used by mosquito control

districts, public health laboratories, veterinary diagnostic laboratories and uni-

versities. The RAMP® WNV test consists of a single-use disposable test cartridge to be used

with either the portable RAMP® Reader or the multi-port RAMP® 200.

In , there will be a drill conducted by the Will County Health Department and Illinois Depart-

ment of Public Health. This drill, known as IDROP, will assess the planning and procedure strategies created

for medication distribution POD (Point of Distribution) sites. The goal of this simulation is to prepare for a

. This full scale drill will include all local health departments,

including the drop site of the Will County Health Department. The most recent Emergency Response manual

was released by the Emergency Preparedness team, including information on the MSA (Metropolitan Statisti-

cal Area) Jurisdictions of Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin.

Taylor Wagner

Taylor has been with the WCHD since October of 2012 as a Lab Analyst, where she performs microbi-

ology and chemistry analysis on potable and waste water as well as interprets and enters data, and

helps customers with questions about their well and septic systems. She obtained a bachelor of bio-

logical sciences, loves knitting, dancing, creating all forms of art, gardening, playing games and ten-

nis, and animals. Her funny experience while working for the WCHD EH lab was: “For the earth-

quake drill, we didn’t know that it was voluntary. So we all took cover under the desks in Gabby’s

office and waited for the “all clear”. Gabby took pictures of us all huddled and waiting. We waited for

a while and finally called to see if an “all clear” was announced. We were informed that the original

announcement said that we could take cover and then go back to work. Oops!”

Taylor is performing in a ballet recital. Taylor pledge a sorority in college.

Taylor used to be employed at an athletic store.

Proposed Underground Water Use Restriction Ordinance

Cytec Industries, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, and the Will County Health Depart-

ment have been in conglomeration to create an ordinance restricting the use of groundwater due

to environmental concerns on 60 acres of property located in Joliet, IL. Wells on these proper-

ties contain high levels of sulfates (more than 400 ppm) due to the production of dry aluminum

and baking powder in the early 1920’s. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has released that this level of sulfate

water contamination will incur a disagreeable taste, however, no real health hazards are imposed.; however, all wells that test at al

level of >400ppm of sulfates must either be abandoned or restricted to non-potable use. This ordinance will detail information

such as planning and procedures for well abandonment and potential sealing as well as prohibiting the use of water for potable

purposes from these sites. Community Relations Plans are required to give notice and information related to the ordinance to af-

fected residents. Homes that were affected by this groundwater contamination were supplied with public municipal water by the

City of Joliet, free of charge, compliments of Cytec Industries.

National CPR & AED

Awareness Week

National CPR and

AED Awareness

Week is June 1-7 and

spotlights how lives

can be saved if more

Americans know

CPR and how to use

an Automated Exter-

nal Defibrillator

(AED).

Sudden cardiac ar-

rest (SCA) is a lead-

ing cause of death in

the United States

accounting for an

estimated 165,000 out-

of hospital deaths

per year and only 7.9

percent of victims

survive. It can be

treated successfully

in many victims by a

timed electrical

shock using an auto-

mated external de-

fibillator (AED), but

time is crucial. Using

AEDs helps save

lives because they

can help restore nor-

mal heart rhythm

before emergency

personnel arrive.

[http://www.heart.org/

HEARTORG/CPRAndECC/

CommunityTraining/

CommunityPrograms/CPR-Week_UCM_427219_SubHomeP

age.jsp]

Last Laugh...

For Questions/Concerns/

or if you would like to see

specific topics included in

the monthly newsletter,

please email : ebilotta@willcounty

health.org

Environmental Health Department 501 Ella Ave. Joliet, IL 815-727-8490

Lucas

Sliker 6/4

Kyle

Moy 6/26

Tina Bilecki

6/2/2003

Trisha Kautz

6/30/1999

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1 2 3 4 5 6

7 8 9 10 11 12 13

14 15 16 17 18 19 20

21 22 23 24 25 26 27

28 29 30

June 1-8

Sun Safety

Week!

June 7-13

Bed Bug

Awareness

Week!

National

Cancer

Survivor

Day

World Environ-

ment Day!

World Blood

Donor Day!

June 17-23

Animal Rights

Awareness

Week!

June 21-27 Lighting Safety

National Mosquito Control Week!

Happy

Fathers

Day!

U.S. Open

Golf Cham-

pionship

June 15-21

June 1-7

National

CPR&AED

Awareness

Week!

Clerical

Meeting

@ 9am

EH Staff

Meeting

NIPHC

Meeting

@ 9am

BOH

Meeting

Manager

Meeting