Talking Health with the Clinton County Health Department

When preparing for a new family addition, everyone seems to have a different opinion on what style, technique or product is best . But what most can agree on is any amount of chest/breastfeeding (no matter how much) is beneficial. Mother nature has gifted us the perfect food for our babies. Chest/breastmilk contains just the right amount of nutrients. It is also gentle on your baby's developing stomach, intestines, and other body systems. But is chest/breastfeeding just another ‘motherly instinct’ my body is going to know how to do post-partum? That’s where Mallory comes in. She has worked with chest/breastfeeding moms for more than six years, is an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC), and holds the distinguished role of chest/breastfeeding mom. To help celebrate World Breastfeeding Week, we sat down with Mallory to help new parents navigate chest/breastfeeding and see why it is better than any ‘udder’ milk. Mallory, how soon after welcoming a new baby ca...

Being a new parent is an exciting and scary time. Somehow, they allowed you to leave the hospital with this baby and you aren’t sure you are ready to be alone with it. Goal #1 – keep baby alive. To do that, there are so many things to know and do; it’s easy to get overwhelmed. As your baby grows, it is important they meet certain developmental milestones – but what are they exactly and how do you know if they are meeting them? Many new parents assume “someone will tell me if there is a concern” but you know your baby best, trust your gut. When Clinton County children aren’t able to meet their developmental milestones they can be referred to the Early Intervention Program or the Preschool Special Education Program . They provide services that assist in the growth and development of eligible children and their families. To help navigate all things development and how to best help your child meet their milestones, we have enlisted the help of Alexis Grennan. Alexis is a Children’s Servi...

Springtime gives people baby fever, and I’m not talking about the human variety – I’m talking animal babies. Raccoons, chipmunks, squirrels, skunks, and foxes (oh my!). Every year CCHD receives numerous calls from residents who have encountered baby or injured wild animals and want to help. Though intentions are good, doing this increases your risk of rabies exposure. You don’t have to be bitten by an animal to be exposed; it can also happen when the animal’s saliva gets into an open cut, your eyes, nose or mouth. I will admit, they are cute, but when you encounter a wild animal (even if it is sick or injured) the best thing you can do is contact a DEC Wildlife Professional . Don’t touch them, treat them, or give them mouth to mouth (true story). To tell us more about keeping our family safe from the rabies virus , we chatted with Amanda Masten. Amanda is a Senior Public Health Sanitarian in the Environmental Health & Safety Division at CCHD. She has been in charge of coordinating ...

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you have probably heard that the North Country is Tick Country . Actually, you could probably throw a rock at most parks and trails in our area and hit a tick. The ‘ticky’ (see what I did there) part of housing so many tiny visitors in our community is that many come with disease that can make you really sick. In fact, the number of reported tick-related illnesses in Clinton County has more than tripled in the past five years. So what can we do to protect ourselves? This month we are ‘ticking’ (oops, I did it again) the brain of Dr. Lee Ann Sporn, a professor at Paul Smith’s College. Her research focuses on monitoring and surveillance for ticks and the diseases they carry in the North Country. Dr. Sporn, it seems like we hear more about ticks than we did when I was growing up. Is that because there are more of them or we are just talking about them more? It used to be said that “there are no ticks, poison ivy or rattlesnakes in the Adirondack...

Would you like to add $1,500 to your annual income? Each year, the average family of four loses that much in uneaten food . I’m not sure about you, but lately I walk into a grocery store and instantly spend $100. Wasting anything, especially money, really irks me. Some call it frugal; I am fully aware that it is just plain cheap – and I’m okay with that. But food waste is not new; it accounts for $161 billion dollars a year in the US. The silver lining in Oscar’s trash can is that reducing food waste at home is actually not all that difficult, everyone can do something. This month we are talking trash with KayLeigh Raville, Supervising Public Health Educator at CCHD. KayLeigh is a Registered Dietitian and oversees our Eat Smart, Waste Less program, aimed at reducing food waste and increasing access to organics recycling opportunities in Clinton County. KayLeigh, when we say food waste, what do we mean? Like the scraps from my plate after dinner? Because I usually give those to the d...

  1-800-222-1222 is a number every household should know, or at the very least have on the refrigerator. It connects you with Poison Help 24/7/365. What do you call them for? Well, if you are a parent, it might be when your kids are playing Lion King and decide to forage for food in the houseplants. Or when your partner thinks they can get rid of the sniffles quicker by washing down their Nyquil with Alka-Seltzer. Speaking from experience, you don’t really know when or why you will need them, but trust me, you will. Public Health Educator Maryann Barto is with us this month to teach us who and what to look out for. Maryann works in CCHD’s Healthy Neighborhoods Program where she visits the homes of residents (just like you) and helps make them safer. After visiting your home and completing a safety assessment, she can provide you with free education and safety products. Want a visit? Give her a call at 518-565-4870. Maryann, who should we have our eye on when it comes to accident...

 The month of February has become synonymous with images of hearts, love and that little guy in the diaper. But it’s also known for a different kind of heart, the anatomical one. Heart disease is the leading cause of death for men, women, and people of most racial and ethnic groups in the United States. According to the New York State Community Health Indicator Reports Dashboard , Clinton County has several cardiovascular disease indicators of high concern when the rates are compared to other counties in the state. Things like premature death (aged 35-64) mortality rates for cardiovascular disease, diseases of the heart, coronary heart disease and congestive heart failure are on the naughty list. It’s time to get smart about your heart. That means knowing what causes heart disease and what your individual risk factors are. To help navigate through all the medical jargon and recommendations, we have enlisted the help of AJay Keyser. AJay is a Family Nurse Practitioner who works wit...