Promoting Healthy Lifestyles and a Clean and Safe Environment 2013 Annual Report
MOVING FORWARD TO A HEALTHIER OCEAN COUNTY
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- Community Health Planning 2013
- Five Prioritized Health Issues for Ocean County
- Revision of the Public Health Practice Standards
- OCHD Environmental Division OCHD Environmental Division
- The Ocean County Women, Infants and Children (WIC) Program Continues its Upward Growth
- WIC Sites Caseload 2013
- TOTAL 22,366
- WIC Sites Processing standards for 2013
OCHD Environmental Division OCHD Environmental Division The Environmental Health Division of the Ocean County Board of Health protects and assures the health of the public by addressing problems of concern regarding exposure to environmental contaminants. This is accomplished by eliminating or minimizing pollutants in the air, water and by controlling solid and hazardous waste, as well as inspecting and monitoring establishments for consumer health safety. Each year this division continues to grow and diversify as it responds to the wants and needs of the public. The Environmental Health Division also is committed to keeping its residents informed about the quality of the environment in which they live and to work to maintain a safe and healthy environment for the residents of Ocean County and its many visitors. The Environmental Division responsibilities include periodic inspections of a wide array of facilities and sites and responses to complaints received by the public pertaining to any environmental and/or public health safety problem. Investigations of the complaints cover numerous fields which include noise pollution, hazardous substances in ground water, insect and rodent control, heating problems in multi-unit dwellings, noxious weed surface water pollution, and air pollution. In its efforts to provide effective, reliable enforcement, information, service, and education for our county, during 2013, the division has hosted an informative seminar for recreational bathing inspection expectations. This program was well received and this, and possibly other programs, will be presented again in 2014. The Environmental Division performed the following number of inspections in 2013: 2382 retail food establishments, 497 recreational bathing facilities, 44 animal facility inspections, 27 youth camps, 6 body art inspections and 5 campground inspections. The division also fulfilled the requirements of the County Environmental Health Act (CEHA) contract with the NJDEP, which included the following type of inspections: solid waste facilities, air pollution and permits (dry cleaners, boilers, emergency generators), and public non-community water systems. The division also provided a successful environmental lead hazard assessment and abatement enforcement program as well as an effective Bedbug Education and Information program. In addition to all programmed work, the division responded to 1692 total complaints from the public across all disciplines in the division. OCHD also participated in and successfully completed the Coastal Cooperative Monitoring Program (CCMP), which monitors 82 bathing beach sites in the County for bacterial issues in waters used for swimming. This year saw 7 official beach closures at 3 ocean/bay/river bathing sites and 72 official beach closures at 17 lake and creek bathing sites. The division has been working with municipalities along the Toms River which have public recreational bathing sites and the NJDEP to determine possible sources of contamination which continue to affect certain beaches along the Toms River. Contamination source investigations have been successful and information presented to those municipalities affected so that remediation efforts may begin to help with the water quality of the Toms River. Hurricane Sandy provided us with continued challenges in Environmental. The division was responsible for ensuring that all public recreational bathing beaches would meet regulations in the public recreational bathing code prior to the recreational bathing season, mainly along the Atlantic Ocean and the Barnegat Bay. We worked closely with the municipalities involved for restoring the beaches to acceptable swimming/bathing conditions and involved the NJ Department of Health for joint site inspections for each bathing site prior to the start of the season. In addition to the recreational bathing sites affected by the storm, we worked closely with all affected food establishments, providing on-site guidance to all facilities so that they were able to re-open their establishments as quickly as possible while conforming to the retail food establishment regulations. To date, 283 out of the 362 affected establishments have been reopened. Many of those that have not reopened have either been completely destroyed or the owners have chosen not to reopen their business. This agency also responded to a major fire at the Seaside Heights Boardwalk, which claimed over 20 retail food establishments as victims. Many of these establishments were destroyed, and to date we have only reopened 2 establishments. The Environmental Health Division of the Ocean County Board of Health protects and assures the health of the public by addressing problems of concern regarding exposure to environmental contaminants. This is accomplished by eliminating or minimizing pollutants in the air, water and by controlling solid and hazardous waste. Each year this division continues to grow and diversify as it responds to the wants and needs of the public. The Environmental Health Division also is committed to keeping its residents informed about the quality of the environment in which they live and to work to maintain a safe and healthy environment for the residents of Ocean County and its many visitors. The Environmental Division responsibilities include periodic inspections of a wide array of facilities and sites and responses to complaints received by the public pertaining to any environmental and/or public health safety problem. Investigations of the complaints cover numerous fields which include noise pollution, hazardous substances in ground water, insect and rodent control, heating problems in multi-unit dwellings, noxious weed surface water pollution, and air pollution. In its efforts to provide effective, reliable enforcement, information, service, and education for our county, during 2012, the division has hosted two types of informative seminars concerning both recreational bathing inspection expectations and retail food establishment rules and guidelines for starting a retail food business in Ocean County. Both programs were well- received and these programs will be presented again in 2013. The Environmental Division performed a 100% inspection rate for body art establishments, recreational bathing facilities, youth camps, campgrounds, County Environmental Health Activities (on pace to 100% for Public Non-Community well water system inspections by the close of 2013) and 90 – 100% of all retail food establishments. In addition, the Environmental Division successfully completed the Coastal Cooperative Monitoring Program (CCMP), the tanning facility program, effectively reviewed all consumer health plans submitted and maintained an effective Bedbug Education Program. As discussed in detail before, Hurricane Sandy provided us with challenges in Environmental, which were unprecedented. We were able to quickly establish a large-scale response to extensive power outages at local retail food establishments that were affected (approximately 250 establishments were surveyed in two weeks time). We were also able to assess the bayside areas for damage to sensitive pollution sources, such as home heating oil tanks and above-ground gasoline storage tanks that are found at area marinas. Information for actions for flood emergencies was also disseminated by phone, radio and internet as it pertains to food, mold, well and septic issues. In addition to all of these challenges, the Environmental division was able to maintain full capacity for response to routine inspections and complaints that were not Hurricane Sandy related.
The Ocean County Women, Infants and Children (WIC) Program Continues its Upward Growth The population in Ocean County has been growing in the last ten years with a 12.8% increase as per the 2010 census reflected in the Ocean County Program increased in enrolled participation of 57% from 2007 to 2013, reflecting the economic recession and population increase in the county. In 2013, the biggest increase in enrollment was in breastfeeding women by 5% followed by the enrollment of children by 4%. We also saw a growth in enrollment of pregnant women by 2%, and infants by 1%. There was a slight decrease in non-breastfeeding women by -5%. The Ocean County WIC program had a decreased of redeemed participation (returning clients for benefits) in 2013due to Superstorm Sandy which displaced a lot of our participants out of the county. Ocean County Enrollment Participation Caseload Growth Year Percentage Growth 2008 11.26% 2009 18.03% 2010 16.94% 2011 9.13% 2012 7.73% 2012 -0.07% Total Ocean County WIC Caseload for 2013: 22,366 (unduplicated count)
The Ocean County WIC Program met the NJ WIC Processing Standards (process clients within 10 days of applying for WIC benefits) for the third consecutive year for all WIC sites.
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