Public Health

• A College of Public Health team led by Laurence Fuortes, M.D., professor of occupational and environmental health for the past three years has been investigating the health of former nuclear weapons workers at the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant (IAAAP) near Burlington, Iowa. Under a contract from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the team has offered free medical screenings to former nuclear weapons workers at IAAAP. To date, the team has conducted more than 500 medical screenings to identify potentially work-related health conditions including asbestos-related disease, cancer, chronic beryllium disease and emphysema or obstructive airway disease.
  
  The Prevention Research Center (PRC) was established in 2002 and is funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  The PRC’s mission is to improve community health by working toward the elimination of health disparities in rural Iowa and the Midwest through research by the communities on issues of importance to them. The PRC involves community-based participatory research, the implementation of strategies to address community health issues, and the evaluation of demonstration projects.
  
  The Preventive Intervention Center (PIC) evaluates the effectiveness of new modalities designed to prevent occurrence and progression of disease. The Center has clinics located in eastern and central Iowa in Iowa City, Davenport and Des Moines, Iowa. The Center has interest and expertise in interventions such as chemoprevention, global cardiovascular risk management, contraceptives, hormone replacement, nutrition, physical exercise, vaccines, and screening. Diseases of focus for prevention are arthritis, cancer, diabetes, heart Disease and stroke, hypertension, lipid disorders, obesity, osteoporosis, and urologic disorders. The Lipid Research Clinic is involved specifically in a wide variety of studies to evaluate drug therapies for preventing and treating cardiovascular disease, lipid disorders, hypertension, diabetes, and obesity. These studies have included over 10,000 participants from Iowa and eastern Illinois. |
  
• The State Health Registries of Iowa, including the Iowa Cancer Registry and the Iowa Birth Defects Registry, track the occurrence of cancer and birth defects in all 99 counties of the state of Iowa. The registries distribute annual reports on the status of surveillance and focus on preventive measures for Iowans.
• The Injury Prevention Research Center (IPRC) cosponsored the Second Annual Iowa Child and Youth Injury Prevention Conference in Des Moines in 2003. Nearly 200 attendees participated in this state wide event. The IPRC is an active coalition member in the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Injury Free Coalition Program with Blank Children’s Hospital. The coalition’s mission is to reduce motor vehicle crash injuries to adolescent drivers in rural and urban locations.
• The Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Program (FACE) is designed to conduct timely, comprehensive, state-level surveillance to identify and record basic epidemiological data on all traumatic occupational fatalities occurring within the State of Iowa. During calendar year 2002, 63 fatal incidents resulted in 66 traumatic deaths while at work. FACE disseminates prevention strategies using various outreach methods including media interviews, presentations and seminars, and written publications.
• Environmental Health Sciences Research Center (EHSRC) and its Community Outreach & Education Core are very active in conducting presentations on renewable energy promotion; global climate change; water quality protection; cancer; radon detection; bio-terrorism; and health effects of animal confinement (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations – CAFOs). Outreach to Iowans is a primary focus of this center reaching private citizens, church groups, county boards of health and teachers and students in elementary grades to collegiate levels.
• Great Plains Center for Agricultural Health (GPCAH) makes significant contributions in advancing the knowledge of agricultural injuries and illnesses as well as intervention methods. GPCAH conducts focus groups, press conferences, town meetings, radio interviews and public service announcements on agricultural health hazards.
• The Certified State Farm (CSF) Program conducts agricultural occupational health screenings, provides educational interventions and conducts on-farm safety reviews. Four hundred farmers in Iowa have actively participated in this program. Counties represented include: Buena Vista, Butler, Cherokee, Clay, Delaware, Dickinson, Dubuque, Emmett, Franklin, Grundy, Ida, O’Brien, Osceola, Palo Alto and Pocahontas. All CSF services are conducted in AgriSafe Clinics by nurses certified with the 40-hour Agricultural Occupational Health Certification course conducted by I-CASH. This program is unique to Iowa and the nation.
• Iowa ’s Center for Agricultural Safety and Health (I-CASH) is a partnership of public and private agricultural health and safety organizations, including The University of Iowa, Iowa State University, Iowa Department of Public Health, the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship. Among other initiatives, I-CASH developed the AgriSafe Network, a group of 25 hospitals, health clinics, and county health departments throughout Iowa that provide community-based, preventive occupational health services for the farm community. The AgriSafe Clinics are in the following locations: Allison (Butler County); Corydon (Wayne County); Dubuque; Dyersville (Dubuque County); Emmetsburg (Palo Alto County); Grundy Center (Grundy County); Hampton (Franklin County); Harlan; Hawarden; Ida Grove; LeMars; Manchester (Delaware County); Northwood (Worth County); Oskaloosa (Mahaska County); Rock Rapids; Sheldon; Sioux Center; Spencer; and Waukon.
• I-CASH designates annual community grants targeted at the prevention of farm-related injury in young people (less than age 19). Recent Injury Prevention in Ag Youth Grants were distributed as follows: Plymouth County Family Farm Safety Day; Mitchell County 4-H and Youth Development (targeted to grades 1-5); Howard County Extension 4-H Farm Safety Day Camp (targeted to ages 7-13); Butler County Public Health – AgriSafe Rural Neighbors Sun Safety program; Horn Memorial Hospital AgriSafe Clinic farm safety event for 4-7 year olds at Ida County Fair; AgriSafe Clinic in Spencer to educate young drivers about roadway dangers involving farm equipment; and Swine Graphic in Osceola.
• WORKSAFE IOWA is an outreach program providing consultative services to business, agencies and individuals throughout Iowa, focusing on issues of industrial hygiene, ergonomics, occupational health nursing, occupational medicine, product safety services and continuing education. From July 2002 to June 2003, WORKSAFE IOWA performed 12 Ergonomic and 29 Industrial Hygiene consultations for business and industry throughout Iowa.

• The Heartland Center for Occupational Health & Safety, a National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Education and Research Center, conducts ongoing interdisciplinary outreach throughout Iowa and federal region VII ( Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska). Outreach program areas include Industrial Hygiene, Occupational Health Nursing, Occupational Medicine, Ergonomics, Agricultural Safety and Health, Injury Prevention, and Safety.

• The Center for Public Health Statistics, in cooperation with the Iowa Department of Public Health, and other state agencies, with assistance from the Wellmark Foundation, produces the biennial Iowa Health Fact Book, which is distributed to public health professionals around the state.

• Iowa Tobacco Research Center - Department of Community and Behavioral Health - Nearly 1,600 Iowans from 97 counties accessed Quitline Iowa, a smoking cessation hotline operated by the Department of Community and Behavioral Health. Callers receive information and smoking cessation telephone counseling from trained counselors, as well as printed materials through the mail.

• A statewide training session entitled "Implementing the 5 A's" was
  broadcast to 19 sites over the Iowa Communication Network to an audience of approximately 75 health care providers, tobacco coalition members and others interested in smoking cessation.  The training assisted health care providers in developing discipline-specific and site-specific approaches to smoking cessation using the 5 A's (Agency for Health Care Policy and Research clinical practice guidelines for brief intervention).

• R. William Field, M.S., Ph.D., associate professor of occupational and environmental health and epidemiology, was an expert scientific spokesperson for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's National Radon Action Month campaign in January 2004. The public education campaign was designed to encourage the public to test their homes for radon and take action to reduce radon concentrations in homes testing high. The EPA estimates that prolonged residential radon exposure causes an estimated 21,000 lung cancer deaths each year in the United States. Iowa has the highest average radon concentrations in the nation.

• The University Hygienic Laboratory provides multidisciplinary analytical and diagnostic services, leadership and education to support the state’s environmental quality and public health. Services and programs include, but are not limited to:
• Babies : The UHL tests every baby born in the state of Iowa. These tests determine whether the babies might develop a preventable disorder that would cause mental retardation, physical sickness or death.
• Food : When there is a food-borne outbreak, UHL tests the foods and the patient specimens for bacteria, parasites and viruses. Implicating a particular food helps improve food management and provides education opportunities.
• Air: The UHL tests the air in the state and posts up-to-date air quality data so that individuals with respiratory illnesses can make informed decisions about their activity levels.
• Water: UHL tests the drinking water of many citizens who have private wells, and also tests community water supplies around the state.
• Recreation : The UHL tests the viability of our lakes and rivers, for contamination that could be harmful to humans.
• Energy : The UHL participates in radiation emergency response teams and is ready to react when one of our area nuclear power plants might have an accidental release.
• Disease Tracking : The UHL provides physicians with up-do-date, web-based information regarding flu viruses circulating around the state. They also tests mosquitoes, ticks and animals for diseases transmissible to humans, such as rabies, West Nile Virus and Lyme Disease.
• Homeland Security : UHL Director Mary J.R. Gilchrist, architect of the CDC’s Laboratory Response Network, serves on the Iowa Health Disaster Council and HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson’s Council on Public Health Preparedness.
• Training and Education : The UHL provides training to hospital and public health professionals regarding appropriate responses to suspected terrorism. UHL reaches K-12 through educational experiences via video, on-site experiences and assistance with science projects. UHL provides lectures throughout the state to citizens concerned about health or the environment.