BUFFALO HEALTHY LIVING
ERIE COUNTY, N.Y. — The Erie County Department of Health (“ECDOH”) will once again offer educational and informative activities throughout the twelve-day run of the annual Erie County Fair. As in past years, various Erie County departments, including the Health Department, will be located in the Marketplace Building on 42nd Street on the Fair Grounds in Hamburg.
Erie County Department of Health experts will be available to answer fairgoers’ basic health questions and provide information on a variety of topics and health department programs.
“There will be numerous opportunities to learn important health information on various topics, including lead poisoning prevention, recommended immunizations for all ages and home and family emergency preparedness,” stated Dr. Gale R. Burstein, Erie County Commissioner of Health. “This is a great opportunity for residents to have their questions answered directly by experts from several programs of the Health Department.”
The Erie County Opiate Epidemic Task Force will be represented each day, including on-the-spot trainings to recognize an opioid overdose and how to reverse it using Narcan® (naloxone).
In conjunction with Catholic Health, there will be free bone density screenings for women and men, age 40 or older, on August 10thand 17th, from 12 noon – 5pm.
The Erie County Cancer Services Program will offer cancer screening education, referrals to services for those with little or no insurance, and take-home colon cancer screening kits for eligible men and women age 50 and over on August 10th, 13th,15thand 17th, from 10am– 9:30pm.
These Erie County departments will also be present at the Fair to share their knowledge:
Buffalo & Erie County Public Library
Environment & Planning
Homeland Security & Emergency Services
Office for People with Disabilities
Parks, Recreation & Forestry
Public Health Emergency Preparedness
Senior Services
Social Services Foster Care Program
Veterans Services
A daily list of activities at the Fair will be available on the ECDOH Facebook page and Twitter feed.
“I encourage everyone to stop by to learn about all the services available to Erie County residents,” concluded Burstein.
ECDOH will also have a huge responsibility behind the scenes. The Fair is the largest single event of the year for the Division of Environmental Health. Prior to the Fair’s opening, ECDOH public health sanitarians will be inspecting food vendors to ensure that the tempting variety of food offerings are prepared and stored safely. During the 12 days of the Fair, they will inspect over 140 temporary food stands and food trucks, 10 permanent food service locations, 3 campgrounds, 3 temporary residences and the Fairground itself. As always, results of inspections of permanent food service locations (including food trucks) can be found at www.healthspace.com/erieny.
Environmental Health’s inspection activities also includes maintenance of public bathrooms and hand washing stations, proper storage and disposal of animal waste, proper drainage of wastewater, garbage storage and collection, sanitary water connections and emergency vehicle egress in the camping areas.
During the Fair, ECDOH responds to complaints concerning clean indoor act smoking violations, food-borne illnesses, animal bites and bat exposures. The ECDOH team will be hard at work to ensure the 1 million plus visitors to the Fair have a safe and healthy experience.
For More Information:
Erie County Department of Health
Erie County Fair
Originally posted by Buffalo Healthy Living Magazine . Republished with permission.
