M7.4 Blog about your local environmental services
Sacramento is the capitol of California, so it is home to the California Department of Public Health which oversees all public health entities in CA. For Sacramento County specifically there is Sac County Public Health or (Department of Health Services) or (Department of Health and Human Services). To my surprise, they do not have an environmental health program. The county has an entire department dedicated to environmental health issues around the county called The County of Sacramento Environmental Management Department. This department has environmental health specialist and health inspectors who work to prevent, preserve and improve environmental conditions around the county. There is a list of programs this department provides including, Food safety/protection, recreational health, smoking and tobacco retailer program, noise control, detention facilities, lead illness, stormwater, Body art, and employee housing. I further looked into a few of these programs. The Tobacco Retailer Program is a program that requires companies obtain a business license and have an unannounced inspection performed once per year to ensure compliance to regulations regarding sale of tobacco and tobacco products. The Detention Facilities Inspection Program allow health inspections of County Jails to include food, sleeping, and building conditions. The last program I found interesting is the Lead Illness Program. The program investigates childhood lead poisoning working closely with the Sac County HHS to identify and remove the cause.
That is interesting that they do not have a department but they do have a county program. I would be interested to hear if the county program is under the umbrella of the department of public health. That is what it was like for SF. Interesting also to hear about the detention facility environmental focus, that is an area that I definitely feel does not get as much attention or state dollars to care for its populations health.
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