Latest / Healthier Together: Larimer County's Public Health Podcast / Childhood Immunization Schedule & Winter Readiness

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Childhood Immunization Schedule & Winter Readiness · Healthier Together: Larimer County's Public Health Podcast

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  Welcome to Healthier Together, Larimer County's
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  public health podcast, where we come together
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  for healthier lives, connected communities, and
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  real conversations. From your local public health
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  team, I'm your host, Tom. And I'm Joanna. This
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  is the second Minnesota of our new podcast, Healthier
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  Together, where we'll provide a brief update
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  on local public health news. Today, we have our
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  medical officer, Dr. Paul Mayer, here to talk
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  about recent changes to the childhood immunization
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  schedule. Dr. Mayer, thank you for joining us.
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  I'm very happy to be here. The Department of
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  Health and Human Services and the CDC recently
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  announced changes to the recommended childhood
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  immunization schedule. This has created a lot
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  of confusion, including navigating differences
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  between federal and state recommendations. Can
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  you explain what changes were made and how both
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  the Larimer County Health Department and the
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  state health department have responded? Yes,
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  you bet. Happy to do that. I think it's probably
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  best to start out with a basic message that the
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  current recommendations from the Colorado Department
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  of Health and Environment, our school's guidance,
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  and the recommendations of Larimer County Department
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  of Health and Environment have not changed. We
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  all are continuing to recommend the very same
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  vaccine recommendations that were out prior to
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  these changes on the federal level. And I think
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  it's important for everybody to keep that in
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  mind. To go into some detail on the federal changes.
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  Most simplistic way to look at it is they've
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  reduced the overall number of vaccines recommended,
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  and there is a vaccine by vaccine logic as to
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  why they did that. But overall, again, the recommendations
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  from the state, the state schools guidance, and
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  your local health department are to not change
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  the vaccine schedule at this time. Will these
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  changes at the federal level impact insurance
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  coverage or the availability of routine vaccines?
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  At this point in time, we are hopeful that no,
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  there will be no significant changes in funding
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  for this or availability of these vaccines. And
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  then you started to talk about this, but have
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  there been any changes to the vaccines required
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  for school in Colorado? No, the current school's
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  guidance remains the same as it had been before
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  these federal changes. As a parent, my personal
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  biggest point of uncertainty with these changes
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  is around navigating health care. Usually when
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  you take your child in for a well -child visit,
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  your pediatrician says, hey, these are the vaccines
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  that they're due for. For parents who want to
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  continue to follow the AAP's recommended vaccination
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  schedule, do you have any advice for how to work
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  with their health care providers to make sure
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  they're getting all the vaccines that they need?
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  I think it can be as simple as really just what
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  you just stated. You can show up at your provider's
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  office and say, hey, my child's due for vaccines,
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  and my preference is to continue to follow the
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  American Academy of Pediatrics guidelines. That
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  should make it very easy for your provider, and
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  you can be assured that you're getting the vaccines
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  that you'd like. And where can parents and caregivers
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  find more information about vaccines? I would
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  strongly encourage you to seek your provider,
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  American Academy of Pediatrics, American College
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  of Obstetrics and Gynecology. American Academy
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  of Family Medicine. Those are all excellent sources
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  of information for vaccines. At this point in
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  time, unfortunately, I think the federal information
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  that's coming out might be a little bit confusing
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  for people, and so I would stick to those other
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  sources. Great. Thank you so much, Dr. Mayer.
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  To share a bit more about this topic, we are
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  also joined today by Shannon Williamson and Julie
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  Shanley, two of our amazing public health nurses
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  who work in the immunizations clinic here at
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  the health department. Thank you both for being
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  here. Yeah, thank you so much for having us.
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  Working in our clinic here at the health department
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  and out in the community, what are some common
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  questions that you hear from parents about immunizations?
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  You know, Common questions that we typically
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  get in a patient visit are going to surround
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  that specific patient and what the recommendations
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  are going to be for their immunizations. So when
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  we go into a visit, we really try and frame the
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  visit around that. And if we have parents or
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  caregivers who are vaccine hesitant or have a
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  lot of questions, we want to give them the opportunity
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  to sit in a safe space and talk to us about that.
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  Generally, we'll ask open -ended questions, ask
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  them why they're feeling that way, what can we
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  do to help them, things like that. Any visit
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  that we have, we do provide a lot of education
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  around any vaccine that we're given. We always
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  provide an opportunity for parents and caregivers
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  to ask questions. If we don't have the answer,
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  we let them know that this is something that
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  we will follow up on. We have a great medical
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  officer at our disposal, so if parents at any
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  time want to set up an appointment to speak with
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  him, we can certainly do that for them. In addition
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  to our clinic, where would you recommend parents
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  and caregivers go for more information about
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  vaccines? Our clinic, number one, they can always
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  come in and see us. There are some great resources
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  outside, you know, on the internet. Immunize
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  .org has some fantastic information, and it's
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  written in a way that parents, caregivers can
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  read it and understand it. They can check Let's
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  Get Real about vaccines, which is another website,
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  and HealthyChildren .org, which is the AAP website.
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  Day -to -day as public health nurses. You both
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  get to connect one -on -one with children and
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  families who need vaccines. Is there an interaction
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  with a patient or family that made you smile
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  or has stuck with you? You know, I like to think
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  that all of our interactions are really special.
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  We love our patients. I think the ones that really
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  come to mind for me that make me smile are our
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  return patients. So when we start with the babies
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  at two months old and start that. vaccination
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  schedule for them, and then they continue to
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  come back and see us. And we get to see how much
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  those babies have grown and changed. Those are
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  always a lot of fun. Yeah, I had the same exact
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  thought. I really love getting to start out working
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  with a kiddo and their family and then seeing
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  them grow into healthy, bigger kiddos. Thank
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  you both so much for joining us today. Absolutely.
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  Yeah, thank you again for having us. The Larimer
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  County Immunization Program offers low to no
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  cost routine and recommended immunizations for
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  infants, children, and adults who have Medicaid,
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  have health insurance that does not cover the
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  cost of immunizations, or do not have health
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  insurance. To learn more about our clinic and
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  request an appointment, visit larimer .gov slash
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  vaccines. With us next is Lauren Kraft, the Health
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  Department's Emergency Preparedness and Response
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  Coordinator, here to speak with us about ways
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  we can stay safe during the winter months. Lauren,
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  thank you so much for being here. Would you mind
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  explaining to our listeners your role within
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  the department? Yeah, absolutely. Thanks for
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  having me, first of all. So with the department,
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  I'm the Emergency Preparedness and Response Coordinator
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  with our EPR program. And in that role, I really
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  help to make sure that Larimer County residents
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  stay safe at all times. And when there are emergencies
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  or incidents that happen, we lead the health
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  and medical services branch down in the Emergency
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  Operations Center. So today we kind of wanted
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  to talk a little bit more about some of these
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  winter -ready tips. So what tips do you have
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  for drivers during these winter months, especially
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  when the roads are really icy? That's really
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  common here in Larimer County and in Colorado
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  overall. And so I think some of the best tips,
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  first of all, is just to slow down. The slower
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  you go, the more distance you have between you
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  and the person in front of you, the safer you
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  are. And then I think the next tip would be making
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  sure that your car is prepared before you actually
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  start driving. Making sure that your gas tank
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  is at least half full, your windshield wipers
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  work, and you have enough windshield wiper fluid.
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  and then that your tires have good traction for
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  those icy roads. And if you can, switching your
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  tires to winter tires is recommended, but I know
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  that's a barrier for a lot of people and not
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  always available. And then also just clearing
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  off all the snow or ice on your car before you
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  drive. All the people that drive around with
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  like inches of snow on the top of their car,
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  it just really decreases the visibility for themselves,
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  but then the people behind them and can make
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  some really dangerous situations. I think we've
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  all seen somebody who's tried to just, oh, I
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  have a little porthole of snow that I can look
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  out. This is perfectly fine. Or they don't clear
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  it off the top of their car and then they stop
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  and all the snow goes right over their windshield.
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  Exactly. Yeah. So it's, it's. Can be very dangerous.
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  And then I think if you're really unsure about
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  your car's conditions or the road conditions,
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  just not driving at all and erring on the side
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  of caution is probably best practice. That sounds
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  like a good call. So, you know, the other thing
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  that we wanted to kind of talk about is just,
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  you know, what can people keep in their cars
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  if there is an emergency, especially during the
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  winter months? What would you recommend that
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  people keep in their cars? Yeah, having a really
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  well -stocked emergency kit in your car is really
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  important in case you are stranded on the side
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  of the road or get in some sort of accident and
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  have a bit of time before first responders can
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  get to you. But for winter months especially,
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  having extra clothes, warm blankets, emergency
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  blankets, gloves, hats, that sort of thing, just
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  extra clothing to keep you warm is really important.
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  And then for your visibility on the side of the
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  road, having flashlights or flares or even those
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  reflective triangles so that first responders
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  can easily spot you is really... a good thing
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  to have in your car. And then depending on what
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  the situation is, you could be stranded for a
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  couple of hours or even up to a day or so. So
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  having enough snacks or high calorie foods, non
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  -perishable foods in your car and enough drinking
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  water is really important. And then if you travel
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  with your pets a lot, making sure that you have
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  pet food and water for them as well is great
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  to make sure that they're prepared for those
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  situations also. And then all of the stuff that
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  you should just have in your car normally, jumper,
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  cables, having a small first aid kit, an extra
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  phone charger is really important so that you
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  can call first responders, and then just having
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  a snow scraper and a shovel in your car in case
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  you need to dig yourself out. You know, if somebody
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  is in an emergency and they are kind of stranded
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  on the side of the road or something happens
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  while they're out, do you have any recommendations
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  for how somebody can respond to an emergency
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  on the road? Yeah, I think... The main thing
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  is really just to stay calm. And I know it's
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  easier said than done, but the calmer you can
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  be in an emergency, the clearer you'll be able
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  to think. So if you experience something when
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  you're on the road, pull over, put your hazard
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  on, and keep them on so that first responders
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  can easily locate you. Use those flares or reflective
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  triangles that you should have in your emergency
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  kit to help be able to be visible on the side
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  of the road. And then you want to stay in your
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  car unless it's really unsafe to do so. Staying
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  with your vehicle allows first responders to
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  be able to locate you easier. And then if you
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  or someone in the car is injured, calling 911
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  immediately, obviously, to make sure that you
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  can get help when you need it. But if you're
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  really just stuck on the side of the road and
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  it's not an emergency, you can call for roadside
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  assistance or one of those local non -emergency
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  numbers. So that covers kind of more about what
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  people might encounter when they're out on the
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  roads in their cars. What about at home? What
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  are some steps that people should take during
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  the winter months to help prepare for an emergency
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  at home during the winter? Yeah, I mean, it's
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  in my job title, but preparedness is really the
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  biggest thing. Making sure that you have an at
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  -home emergency kit is really the biggest step.
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  So again, having enough food and water. The recommendation
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  is for at least three days for everyone in your
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  household, including children, infants, and pets.
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  And then you want to make sure that you have
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  all of the other things that you need on a daily
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  basis. So backup glasses, medications, power
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  banks for your phones. And then when I'm out
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  of power at home, I always like to have games
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  on hand so that you can try to lower those stress
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  levels and try to take care of your mental health
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  a little bit better. But then you also just want
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  to have your extra batteries and battery -powered
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  lanterns and flashlights and all those sorts
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  of things. And then in terms of... Communication
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  plans, making sure that you know how you're going
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  to receive emergency alerts, how you're going
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  to contact your family or friends to make sure
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  that they're okay. That's usually something that
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  people forget about in times of emergency is
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  how I'm actually going to. be able to contact
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  the people that I need to. And then I think one
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  of the biggest things is heating safety. So if
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  you do have a backup generator, making sure that
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  you're not running it indoors. And if you have,
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  or if you're relying on space heaters, making
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  sure they're not near flammable materials and
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  that you're never leaving them unattended. And
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  then you also, before your power goes out, you
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  want to make sure that your carbon monoxide detectors
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  have batteries and are working properly. You
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  know, I did want to just circle back to the communication
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  plan. What's a good way to put something like
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  that together? Because I feel like that is often
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  probably overlooked by a lot of folks like you
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  just mentioned. There are a lot of resources
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  that you can sign up for beforehand. So NoCoAlerts
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  is a really great resource that you just input
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  your phone number into and they'll send out alerts
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  as needed. Personal communication plans, it's
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  really about getting in contact with your family
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  or friends, the people that you're going to need
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  to communicate with during these times. And if
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  your phone line is down or your phone is dead,
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  how are we going to get in contact with each
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  other? After what amount of time are we going
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  to go over and try to knock on the doors and
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  that sort of thing, if possible? You know, just
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  as a last question here, what are some things
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  that people often forget about in an emergency?
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  Yeah, I think one of the biggest things is for
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  folks who are reliant on durable medical equipment,
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  powered medical equipment or oxygen, those sort
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  of things, or need refrigerated medications.
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  Sometimes those are often overlooked, and so
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  they can often contact the provider, the equipment
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  provider, and create an emergency plan. Or if
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  they use a home health agency, they often have
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  emergency plans for their patients. And then
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  as a last resort, you can work with your primary
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  care provider or whoever writes your prescriptions
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  to help create an emergency plan to make sure
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  that you have those resources when your power's
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  out. And then I think just checking on your neighbors,
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  making sure that you're taking care of each other.
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  And if you have older adults in your neighborhood,
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  making sure that you're checking on them. So
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  Lauren, for additional information, where can
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  people go find more stuff to look at? Some of
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  my favorites are ready .gov. They have a lot
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  of really great just overall tips and tricks
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  and resources for people. And then for more Larimer
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  County specific, the health department's website
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  has a lot of great information. And then the
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  Office of Emergency Management's website for
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  Larimer County will always have updates during
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  disasters and whenever we're activated. Perfect.
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  Thank you so much for joining us, Lauren. We
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  really do appreciate it. Yeah, thanks for having
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  me. Thanks for listening, Larimer County. Until
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  next week, stay well, stay connected, and remember,
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  we really are healthier together.