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Our purpose is to work in partnership with the community to promote health, safety, and well being. We provide Public Health, Social, and Environmental Health services for Austin and Travis County, and serve a population of nearly one million. The role of public health is to promote community-wide wellness; prevent disease; and to protect the community from infectious diseases, environmental hazards, and epidemics.
Headlines
Free Rabies Vaccination and Pet Registration | WIC Clinics Temporarily Closed | Water Illness Prevention Week | Protecting Young Wildlife | Bat Season | Free Cooking, Exercise and Wellness Classes | New Pandemic Flu Web site
Free Rabies Vaccination and Pet Registration Clinic
Bring your pets to Walter E. Long Park
A free pet vaccination and registration clinic will be held from 8 a.m. to noon Saturday, June 14 at Parque Zaragoza, 2608 Gonzales St, Austin, TX 78702. The free clinic is sponsored by the Austin/Travis County Health and Human Services Department’s Town Lake Animal Center.
Vaccinations are for dogs and cats 12 weeks of age and older. Puppies and kittens younger than 12 weeks will be provided free identification tags and registered in our database so that they can be reunited with their owners if lost.
Dogs must be on a leash, Cats must be in carriers or secured in boxes with air holes. For more information the public can call 311.
WIC Clinics Temporarily Closed to Transition to New Benefits System
Beginning May 19th, the Austin/Travis County WIC Program will no longer be issuing benefits by a voucher system. Benefits will be loaded onto a computer chip on the WIC Lone Star Card known as Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT).
In order to prepare for this transition, all 13 of the Austin/Travis County WIC clinics will be closed May 14 -16, 2008. During this time, all of the clinic computer systems will be shut down to allow new software and equipment to be installed. Staff will be attending training.
WIC will continue to offer breastfeeding support at Mom’s Place, breastfeeding clinic, with breast pumps and lactation services for WIC clients. Please contact Mom’s Place at (512) 719-3010.
To assist with finding the nearest WIC location, please contact the Texas Department of State Health Services WIC program at 1-800-942-3678.
For more information, contact Rebecca Lopez-Aviles, Outreach Coordinator at 972-6846.
This institution is an equal-opportunity provider.
National Recreational Water Illness Prevention Week
The week before Memorial Day (May 19–25, 2008) has been designated as National Recreational Water Illness Prevention Week.
A primary goal with this year’s National Recreational Water Illness Prevention Week is to highlight the importance of healthy swimming behaviors in preventing recreational water illnesses (RWIs). State and local health departments across the country investigated more RWI outbreaks in 2007 than ever before. According to the Austin/Travis County Health and Human Services Department, 12 cases of cryptosporidiosis were reported in Travis County in calendar year 2007. This upsurge is being driven by a nationwide increase in the number of RWI outbreaks caused by Cryptosporidium (“Crypto”), a chlorine resistant parasite, and is primarily associated with treated recreational water venues, such as pools and water parks. Remember, even a well-maintained pool can transmit Crypto.
Click here for more information.
Protecting Young Wildlife
Each year, especially in the spring and summer, many young wild animals are unnecessarily picked up by the general public and taken to animal shelters, referred to game wardens, or to wildlife rehabilitators for treatment and rearing. While most of these animals are picked up by well-meaning people, the Austin/Travis County Health and Human Services Department wants citizens to know that many such human-animal encounters are unnecessary and can even be detrimental to the wildlife concerned.
“The most commonly referred animals are baby birds and deer fawns,” says Dorinda Pulliam, assistant director for animal services. “Here in Austin, raccoons and possums are also frequently brought into the shelter. Unnecessary referrals to rehabilitators can be detrimental to these wildlife and others. A young animal’s best chance for survival is with its natural parents.”
The following situations are the most common and should be approached with discretion:
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Offspring calling from the nest – Many animals deliberately avoid areas where their offspring are present. Such “hiding” behaviors reduce the chance of calling a predator’s attention to the young. It is normal if the parent is absent from the nest, and most likely, they are nearby.
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Blown-down nest: If the nest and young birds or eggs are undamaged, replace the nest into the tree from which it fell. The parents will continue to tend to their young.
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Grounded baby birds: It is common for birds to fledge from the nest before they are fully feathered or flight-ready; their parents will feed them while they are on the ground until they are ready to fly.
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Abandoned deer fawns: Mother deer leave their fawns bedded down while they are away foraging. If the fawn is not crying or wounded, do not handle or disturb it; the mother will return shortly.
This year, the Town Lake Animal Shelter would like to reduce the number of animals that are brought into the shelter and then subsequently placed with rehabilitators. The public can help us by refraining from interfering with these animals unless it is clear that the animal has truly been orphaned or is injured.
Bats Return to Austin
It’s bat season in Austin and the Austin/Travis County Health and Human Services Department wants to remind the public how to protect themselves around these animals. Awareness is the best tool citizens have against exposure.
Rabies exposure occurs only when a person is bitten or scratched by a potentially rabid animal, or when abrasions, open wounds, or mucous membranes are contaminated with the saliva, brain, or nervous system tissue of a potentially rabid animal.
It may take several weeks or longer for people to show symptoms after being infected with rabies, but usually people start to show signs of the disease 1 to 3 months after the virus infects them. The early signs of rabies can be fever or headache, but this changes quickly to nervous system signs such as confusion, sleepiness, or agitation. Once someone with a rabies infection starts having these symptoms, that person usually does not survive. This is why it is critical to talk to your doctor or health care provider right away if any animal bites you, especially a wild animal.
The Austin/Travis County Health and Human Services Department offers the following tips:
- many bats enter homes, apartments and businesses through unscreened windows and opened doors—particularly when the weather is nice in the fall and spring
- bats will generally leave a building on their own, given the chance
- if you find a bat in a room, do not try to catch it (unless testing is necessary because a person or pet has been sleeping in the room while the bat was present)
- to encourage a bat to leave on its own, open windows, turn the lights on, and leave the room, closing the door behind you and keeping children and pets out of the area
- check the area every few hours to see if the bat has departed—it may take up to 18 hours for a bat to leave a resting place
- if you must remove a resting bat from a room because there’s no way to avoid contact with people or pets, wear thick leather gloves and carefully place a wide-mouthed cup, jar, or coffee can over the resting bat, slip a piece of cardboard between the opening and the resting surface, then take the container outdoors to release the bat
- NEVER HANDLE A BAT—ALIVE OR DEAD—WITH YOUR BARE HANDS!
If you or anyone you know could have been in contact with a bat please call the Austin/Travis County HHSD’s Disease and Surveillance Unit at 972-5555 or your local health care provider.
Free Cooking, Exercise and Wellness Classes
Join one or more of these classes to help you stick to your New Year’s resolution.
Schedule of free classes.
Want to learn to cook healthier? Want to lose weight? Want to find an exercise group? Want to learn about diabetes self-management? Join the Austin/Travis County Health and Human Services Department and its community partners for free classes.
The Sustainable Food Center is offering several sessions of The Happy Kitchen/La Cocina Alegre™ in both English and Spanish. This six-week class will teach you how to cook healthier. You will also learn valuable information about nutrition. Does it produce results? One participant said, “I stopped drinking soda and lost 20 lbs. Who knew one change would make such a big difference!” Best of all, you get free groceries to take home and try the recipes yourself. Contact The Happy Kitchen/La Cocina Alegre™ at 512-236-0074 x3.
Want to lose weight? Join the Texas AgriLife Extension Service’s Wellness and Weight Management Program. You will learn how to integrate nutrition and physical activity changes into your life during this 12-lesson class. Register by calling Dolores Sandmann at 512-854-9600.
The Austin/Travis County HHSD and the Austin Parks and Recreation Department invite you to join one of many WalkTexas! exercise groups. Whether you want to walk, run, bike, or do some other type of physical activity, the WalkTexas! Program will help you stay motivated. You can also create your own group if you would like. For more information or to register, contact Ashley Bennett at 972-5475, or email ashley.bennett@ci.austin.tx.us or contact Sabrina McCarty at 972-5463, or email sabrina.mccarty@ci.austin.tx.us.
Walk Across Texas!® is a free online program where you can track your fitness success. Create your own team or participate on your own and rise up to the challenge of walking 830 miles across Texas. Register by calling Dolores Sandmann at 512-854-9600.
Want to avoid diabetes? Are you helping a loved one manage their diabetes? The Do Well, Be Well with Diabetes offered by the Texas AgriLife Extension Service is the class for you. This 9 lesson series will teach you about proper nutrition with diabetes, diabetes self-management techniques and provide you information about physical activity. Register by calling Dolores Sandmann at 512-854-9600.
You can view the latest calendar of events at www.iThriveAustin.org.
Pandemic Flu Site Online
Our new site offers answers, provides resource information on pandemic flu preparedness for individuals, families, healthcare professionals, businesses, schools and organizations. Read more about pandemic flu readiness.
Description of Online Resources
- Home - Return to this page
- Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response - Information about preparedness and response to naturally occurring and man-made disaster and emergency situations
- Town Lake Animal Center - Link to the Town Lake Animal Center home page
- Birth/Death Certificates - Vital records services
- Community Health Clinics - Link to the Community Care Department home page
- Environmental and Consumer Health Protection - Programs include:
Environmental Health
Consumer Health
Training and Certification
Rodent and Vector Control
Travis County Environmental Health, Compliance and Enforcement
- Healthy Choices for Children, Teens, & Adults - Programs include:
Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention
Chronic Disease and Injury Prevention
Family Health
Health Initiatives
Public Health Nursing
TXCare
WIC
- More Health News - Announcements, press releases, and other news about our programs
- Immunizations - Legal requirements, service locations, and related information
- Infectious Disease Prevention - Programs include:
HIV Services
Refugee Services
STD Services
Hepatitis Services
Disease Surveillance
Tuberculosis Services
- Medical, Childcare, Job Training, and Homeless Assistance - Programs include:
Early Childhood Services
Homeless Services
Medical Assistance Program (in English and Spanish)
Social Services
Workforce Development
- Services in Your Neighborhood - Programs include:
Neighborhood Centers
Graffiti Abatement
Northeast Austin Weed & Seed effort
Mobile Health Van
- Youth Programs - These include:
Summer Employment
High Risk Youth
Southeast Austin Youth
St. Johns Youth
Urban Youth Corps
The search feature at the top of the page can be used to look for information throughout the entire City of Austin web site.
Health and Human Services Department telephone numbers:
Health Information-(512) 972-5400
Health Department Administration-(512) 972-5000
Health Department Web Liaison-(512) 972-6124
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