Earth Day is Every Day at Jefferson County Public Health

"Some people who talk about the environment talk about it as though it involves only a question of clean air and clean water. The environment involves the whole broad spectrum of man's relationship to all other living creatures, including other human beings. It involves the environment in its broadest and deepest sense.”
- Gaylord Nelson, Founder of Earth Day

Public Health is all about preventing illness and disease in our communities and while this year’s earth day, April 22, 2014, has come and gone,  every day is earth day at Jefferson County Public Health. Creating healthier communities involves taking a close look at what makes us healthy or sick to begin with. The Jefferson County Public Health 2013 annual report highlights some of the work we are doing to improve health for everyone in the county.  A recent report released by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Time to Act: investing in the Health of our Children and Communities urges that we integrate health into community development, especially for low-income neighborhoods.  JCPH is committed to working with agencies, businesses and the community towards creating a healthier county for all to live, work, play and age.

Jefferson County Public Health's Environmental Health Services (EHS) works to promote health and quality of life by preventing and controlling harmful environmental factors in Jefferson County.  EHS prevents, investigates and responds to health threats in the County from environmental sources such as our air, land, water, the food we eat and the  domestic and wild animals and insects we encounter. EHS also inspects facilities including schools, daycares and restaurants for adherence to public health safety and disease control measures.  Information, resources and referrals are available from specialists in water quality, air quality, consumer protection and environmental protection. 

Resources and services include, but are not limited to, the following topics; air pollution, water pollution, individual sewage disposal systems, solid waste, drinking water, food borne illnesses, food service inspections, child care inspections, recycling and radon mitigation. For more information on any environmental health service, please call 303-232-6301 or visit the JCPH EHS web page.  

Every division in Jefferson County, including the health department, practices environmental stewardship through reuse, recycling, energy conservation, and water conservation.  These actions are good for people and the planet.  Everyone has a role in protecting our earth and natural resources.  Consider bringing your own shopping bag to the store,  recycling household hazardous waste as well as other household items, using water thoughtfully and saving energy when possible.  Together we can make a difference. 

Learn more about Earth Day and its founder, Senator Gaylord Nelson.   Earth Day . . . The making of the modern environmental movement.  www.nelsonearthday.net    Accessibility on the web continues a Gaylord Nelson focus of making environmental knowledge freely available to all citizens so that local and national decisions could be informed, collaborative, and effective.

Resources:

• Visit the JCPH web page for more information on Environmental Health Services
• View the JCPH recycling resource page
• Check out the Denver Post’s listings of Earth Day Events
• Visit Rooney Road Recycling

Safe Medication Disposal

Do you know how to safely dispose of medications? More than 60,000 young children under the age of five are seen in hospital emergency rooms each year due to accidental poisoning. In addition, it is important to realize that flushing and putting unused medications in the trash can pollute our lakes, streams and water supplies. A recent study shows that 80% of US streams contain small amounts of human medicine.

The best way to dispose of your unused medication is at a medication collection site. Please do not flush medication down the toilet. If you cannot get to a site, please take the following precautions when placing it in the trash:

• Pour medication into a sealable plastic bag. If medication is a solid (pill, capsule etc.), add water to dissolve it.

• Add kitty litter, coffee grounds or anything that would make it less appealing for children or pets to eat, to the bag.

• Remove and destroy all identifying information on the prescription label on the medication containers before recycling or throwing them away.

• Wrap sealed plastic bags and all empty containers in newspaper before putting them in the trash. This will help make sure that your unused medication is not easily seen and does not get into the wrong hands or eaten by a pet.

• Put disposed medication in your trash can on the same day as your trash pick up. Leaving it in the trash over night or for just one day is enough time for someone else to find it. 

For more information and medication collection sites in Jefferson County see our brochure. You can also get more information through the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment Hazardous Materials and Waste Division or visit www.coloradomedtakeback.info.