Press Releases
Year
Public Health to Open Flu Shot Clinics to General Public
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 18, 2005
Contact
Diana Yates, Communications Coordinator
217-531-4275
Public Health to Open Flu Shot Clinics to General Public
October 24 Clinic to be Held at Public Health Main Building in Champaign
Public Health will offer its third adult flu shot clinic on Monday, October 24, and will open the clinic to all adults, regardless of age or health status.
Its first flu clinic on October 17 was limited to adults at high risk for complications from the flu. At that clinic Public Health nurses dispensed more than 130 flu shots to adults in the high-risk categories.
Tomorrow (Wednesday, October 19) Public Health will hold a flu shot clinic for adults and children displaced from the Gulf Coast by Hurricane Katrina. That event will be held at the Champaign- Urbana Mass Transit District Illinois Terminal, 45 E. University, in Champaign. This clinic will be from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. on the second floor of the Illinois Terminal, Room #202.
The Champaign-Urbana Public Health District has ordered 1,500 adult and 250 child doses of influenza vaccine for the season and has received a total of 600 adult and 180 child doses of vaccine so far.
Parents seeking flu shots for their children may call Public Health at 217-531-4317 to schedule an appointment.
While the clinic on the 24th is open to all, health officials continue to urge people 65 years of age and older, those with chronic medical conditions, residents of long-term care facilities and health care workers with direct patient care to get flu shots. Pregnant women and adults who care for children less than six months of age are also encouraged to come in for a flu shot.
Pneumonia shots are also available at all flu shot clinics.
Other flu shot clinics will be scheduled as supply of vaccine allows. For information about Public Health flu clinics, call 217-531-4252. For a list of all flu shot clinics offered in Champaign County go to www.cuphd.org.
Adult flu shots cost $18.70; Adult pneumonia shots cost $29.70. Child vaccines are available free of charge to children who are uninsured, underinsured or on Medicaid. Children who are Native Americans or Alaska Natives are also eligible for free flu and pneumonia shots. Again, call 217-531-4317 to schedule flu shots for children.
No one will be turned away for inability to pay.
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Papa Del’s Pizza in Champaign Goes Smoke-Free
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 12, 2005
Contact
Nikki Hillier, Health Educator Community Health Surveillance, Planning and Education
217-531-2914
Diana Yates, Communications Coordinator
217-531-4275
Papa Del’s Pizza in Champaign Goes Smoke-Free
Public Health to Award Smoke Free Recognition Certificate on October 13
“I’ve been thinking about going smoke-free for a long time. I was hoping it would be done city-wide but then when the [Champaign] city council didn’t do it I decided I should just go ahead.” –Bob Monti, Owner, Papa Del’s Pizza
CHAMPAIGN – Papa Del’s Pizza, at 206 E. Green Street, Champaign, is now a smoke-free restaurant. Owner Bob Monti chose to make his restaurant smoke-free this week, adding his establishment to a growing list of eateries that are getting rid of their smoking sections altogether.
Monti said several factors contributed to his decision to go smoke-free. First, trying to keep smoke from non-smokers was a constant hassle, even with the elaborate exhaust systems and filters he installed to do the job. The task was especially difficult whenever Papa Del’s hosted large parties and the non-smokers had to be moved to remote areas of the restaurant to escape the smoke.
Another factor was Monti’s health concerns. “All my aunts and uncles that smoked died of smoking related diseases,” said Monti. The only ones still living never smoked, he said.
“I’ve been thinking about going smoke-free for a long time,” Monti said. “I was hoping it would be done city-wide but when the [Champaign] city council didn’t do it I decided I should just go ahead.”
"We are very excited by the decision of Papa Del's to become a smoke-free establishment," said Scott Hays, President of the C-U Smokefree Alliance. "Restaurant owners from across the city support a smoke-free policy, but many would like the city to establish a consistent city-wide policy first. Yet, many restauranteurs such as Mr. Monti feel that being smoke-free is important enough to move forward with – whether the city acts or not."
At 10 a.m. on Thursday, October 13, representatives of Public Health will give Papa Del’s a certificate from the Illinois Smoke-free Restaurant Recognition Program. This statewide program recognizes restaurants that have gone entirely smoke-free and raises public awareness to the dangers of exposure to second-hand smoke. Establishments choosing to participate in the program receive the certificate and are listed on the Department’s web site (http://www.idph.state.il.us/tobacco/smoke-freelisting.htm). Papa Del’s will also appear in the Champaign County Smoke Free Restaurant Guide.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has determined that second-hand smoke cannot be reduced to safe levels indoors. Workers in businesses that allow smoking indoors are at a greater risk for heart attacks, cardiovascular disease, cancer and respiratory disease. Patrons of such businesses may also suffer the ill effects of exposure to second-hand smoke.
Both the Champaign County Public Health Department and the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District have voted to support a resolution calling for the elimination of second-hand smoke in public places.
The text of the resolution, sponsored by the C-U Smokefree Alliance, is provided below.
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Resolution to Eliminate Secondhand Smoke in Public Places
Whereas, the U.S. Surgeon General has determined that simple separation of smokers and nonsmokers within the same air space does not eliminate the exposure of nonsmokers to secondhand smoke.
Whereas, numerous studies have found that tobacco smoke is a major contributor to indoor air pollution, and that breathing secondhand smoke is a cause of disease in healthy nonsmokers, including heart disease, stroke, respiratory disease and lung cancer. The National Cancer Institute determined in 1999 that secondhand smoke is responsible for the early deaths of 65,000 Americans annually.
Whereas, the Environmental Protection Agency has determined that secondhand smoke cannot be reduced to safe levels in businesses by high rates of ventilation. Air cleaners, which are capable of filtering the particulate matter and odors in smoke, do not eliminate the known 5,000 chemicals - including arsenic, cyanide and formaldehyde and other toxins - in secondhand smoke.
Whereas, employees who work in smoke-filled businesses suffer a 25-50% higher risk of heart attack and higher rates of death from cardiovascular disease and cancer, as well as increased acute respiratory disease and measurable decrease in lung function.
Whereas, smoke-filled workplaces result in higher worker absenteeism due to respiratory disease, lower productivity, higher cleaning and maintenance costs, increased health insurance rates, and increased liability claims for diseases related to exposure to secondhand smoke.
Whereas, there is conclusive proof that smokefree air laws do not have adverse economic consequences for businesses subject to them; moreover, there is much evidence that smokefree air laws have a positive economic effect on those businesses.
Be it therefore resolved, that the undersigned organization endorses the C-U Smokefree Campaign, which will work to:
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Protect the public health and welfare by prohibiting smoking in public places and places of employment
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Guarantee the right of nonsmokers to breathe smoke-free air.
Be it therefore resolved, that the undersigned organization will:
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Inform its members and the general public of its endorsement of this Resolution
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Inform local elected officials of its endorsement and urge its members to do the same.
-Champaign County Public Health Department and Champaign-Urbana Public Health District
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October 12 is Health Cares About Domestic Violence Day
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 6, 2005
Contact
Teresa Miles, Health Care Outreach Coordinator
Illinois Health Cares Coalition of E. Central Illinois
A Woman’s Fund
217-384-4462
Diana Yates, Communications Coordinator
217-531-4275
October 12 is Health Cares About Domestic Violence Day
Press Conference Will Highlight Domestic Violence in Central Illinois; Advocates Ask Health Providers to Screen All Patients for Abuse
CHAMPAIGN – Wednesday, October 12 is Health Cares About Domestic Violence Day, and local advocates are using the occasion to highlight the problem of domestic violence in Champaign County and other Central and Southern Illinois counties.
Illinois Health Cares will hold a press conference on October 12 at the Champaign- Urbana Public Health District Main Building, 710 N. Neil St., from 2-3 p.m. The event is designed to bring attention to the local problem of domestic abuse and to urge health providers to ask every patient they see whether he or she is a victim of abuse.
On October 12, advocates and volunteers will distribute cards with a list of “Safety Questions” health providers can ask their patients to uncover problems of domestic abuse.
Last year there were 2,075 reports of domestic battery in Champaign County. Of these, 1,313 led to charges against offenders. In 2004, 660 orders of protection were requested.
In 2004, the Senior Resource Center received 36 reports of elder abuse in Champaign County. Involuntary confinement, physical abuse, emotional and sexual abuse were among the allegations.
Local substance abuse treatment providers report that up to 75 percent of those in treatment are, or have been, victims or perpetrators of domestic abuse.
More evidence of the extent of the local problem is available in the daily newspaper. Here are a few of the cases in the past year in Central and Southern Illinois:
DANVILLE – September, 2005: Kimberly Gray, 34, is fatally shot in her Newton home. A preliminary autopsy report found that she had been shot multiple times. She had recently moved herself and her young children away from her husband, Kenneth A. Gray, 34. Mr. Gray is charged with four counts of first-degree murder in connection with her death.
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DANVILLE, September, 2005: A 21-year old Danville man is convicted of fatally stabbing his former girlfriend, Wyneva Johnson, 19, a high school senior and track star at Danville High School. PAXTON – August 2005: A Ford County jury finds a Gibson City minister guilty of repeated sexual assaults on a woman over a six-year period that began when she was 14 years old. URBANA – July 2005: Byron A. Ward, 35, pleads innocent to charges of intimidation, unlawful restraint and domestic battery with great bodily harm. Ward is accused of punching, pushing and threatening his ex-girlfriend, dragging her into an apartment and – after his arrest – threatening to “put a bullet in her head.” His trial is this month. PEORIA – July 2005: An alleged serial killer, Larry Bright, 38, confesses to killing eight Peoria area women. All of the victims are African American women. URBANA – June 2005: A Champaign dentist, Scot E. Brewer, 48, is arraigned on charges he sexually assaulted a female employee in his office. His trial is scheduled for November. BELLEVILLE – May 2005: Nicole Jacobs and Wayne Dunnavant are found stabbed multiple times in Jacobs’ apartment. Nicole Jacobs’ husband, Leron Wilborn, later confesses to the killings. PIPER CITY – November 2004: Jesus Alva, 39, stabs his fiancé, Michealina Helm, to death with a butcher knife. She had just moved out of their shared home. Alva had been convicted of misdemeanor domestic battery against Ms. Helm one month before he killed her. |
These are only a small fraction of the cases of domestic abuse in our community.
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