-The following program is a West Tennessee PBS special presentation made possible through the generous financial support of viewers like you.

Please visit westtnpbs.org and make a donation today so that we can continue to make local programs like this possible.

Thank you.

-It's American Heart Month and not just because of Valentine's Day.

Tips for improving heart health straight ahead.

Tooth decay remains the most common chronic childhood disease, but it is largely preventable.

Dental hygienist Kristin Bodiford joins us in the studio with oral health care tips for parents and information on the school-based dental health program.

Finally, severe weather season is approaching.

Experts weigh in on how you can be best prepared.

[music] -Our health.

Children's health.

Senior health.

Family health.

Healthy eating.

Healthy living.

This is Channel 11 Checkup with Ginger Rowsey from the Jackson-Madison County Regional Health Department.

-Hi, I'm Ginger Rowsey.

Thank you for joining us for this edition of Channel 11 .. a show that focuses on the health of our community.

In this show, we'll provide education and resources on health and wellness issues facing West Tennesseans.

First, here are some health headlines.

February is American Heart Month, a time when all people are encouraged to focus on their cardiovascular health.

Heart disease remains the leading cause of death for men and women in the United States.

In 2022, one in every five deaths in the US was caused by heart disease.

High blood pressure is the leading cause of heart disease, and nearly half of US adults have high blood pressure, which puts them at risk for both heart disease and stroke.

Working with your health care professional, you can plan a healthy lifestyle, which can help keep your blood pressure in a healthy range.

Here are a few general guidelines.

First, eat a healthy diet.

Choose foods low in trans fat and sodium.

Most people in the US consume more sodium than recommended.

Everyone age two and up should consume less than 2,300 milligrams of sodium per day.

That's about a teaspoon of table salt.

Adults age 51 and older, African-Americans of all ages, and people with high blood pressure, diabetes, or chronic kidney disease should consume even less than that, only 1,500 milligrams of sodium per day.

It's also important to get moving.

Staying physically active will help you control your weight and strengthen your heart.

If you're not already active, try walking for 10 minutes, three times a day, five days a week.

Finally, take your medications.

If you have high blood pressure, your healthcare professional may give you blood pressure medicine to help control it.

It's important to follow your healthcare professional's instructions when taking the medication and to keep taking it even if you feel well.

In other news, a recent advisory from the US Surgeon General's office addressed the growing body of evidence about alcohol's harmful health impacts, including its direct link to cancer.

According to the statement, alcohol is directly responsible for approximately 75,000 new cancer cases and nearly 19,000 cancer-related deaths annually in the United States.

Alcohol consumption has been identified as a risk factor for at least seven types of cancer, including breast, liver, colon, and esophageal cancers.

Cancer risk increases with the amount of alcohol consumed over a lifetime, and the report shared findings that even light to moderate dr.. can contribute to cancer risk.

Finally, February is National Teen Dating Violence Awareness and Prevention Month.

This is an issue that impacts everyone, not just teens, but their parents, teachers, friends, and communities as well.

Nationwide, youth age 12 to 19 experience the highest rates of rape and sexual assault.

Studies show that approximately 10% of adolescents report being the victim of physical violence at the hands of an intimate partner during the previous year.

Everyone can make a difference by reaching out to young people in simple ways.

Talk with your children or the teens in your life about the warning signs of dating abuse, such as intense jealousy, excessive calling or texting, and isolation from friends, family, or activities.

You should also make a point to discuss the characteristics of healthy teen relationships, such as mutual respect, trust, and honesty.

February is National Children's Dental Health Month, a great time to promote the benefits of good dental hygiene and the importance of oral health in children.

Here to share more is dental hygienist Kristin Bodiford with the Health Department's School-Based Dental Health Program.

Kristin, thanks so much for being here.

-Thank you for having me.

-Your workspace looks a little different from a typical dentist.. -It does.

-Tell us a little bit about the school-based program.

-We work in the schools, and we work on students .. through eighth grade.

We go to all the elementary and middle schools in Madison County.

We set up in a room inside of a school.

-Somewhere in a school.

-Just somewhere in a school.

-You go from school to school throughout the school year.

-We do.

-Specifically, what services are you offering?

-We are offering a screening and sealants, which are really important to protect the teeth from cavities, and fluoride.

Then additionally, if a student has a cavity that we see, we can place a liquid called silver diamine fluoride on the tooth to prevent the cavity from getting worse.

It just seals it off and then allows the family time to get to the dentist.

-Okay, great.

For those who don't know sealants, can you maybe explain what they do?

-Yes.

Sealants are a protective coating on the permanent teeth that we apply to the chewing surface of the tooth where the grooves naturally are on the tooth.

It covers that up and just provides a little blank.. to protect it from cavities.

-All this is free, right?

-It is.

Yes, it's free.

We go to all of the public schools in Madison County that are considered Title I schools.

We distribute permission forms at those schools so the students can take those home to their families and have their families fill out the form if they want to participate.

Yes, it's free.

-What makes it a Title I school?

What qualifies a school to be in the program?

-A Title I school, students qualify for free and reduced lunch.

-A majority of that population qualifies for free and reduced lunch.

Is that most schools in Madison County?

-It is.

It's the majority.

-Majority of our public schools.

How many kids do you see then in an average year?

-Last year I pulled our report and we saw over 2,200 students- -Wow.

--last year.

Then we did over 10,000 sealants last year.

-Y'all stay very busy?

-We stay very busy.

-As you check teeth, and so you've seen 2,000 kids in our school system, so what are some of the things that you're seeing?

What are some trends or issues with teeth that you see as you go through these schools?

-Right.

Especially since the pandemic, we've seen a lot of decay in students.

That has really been something that the state of Tenn.. has been trying to arrest the decay and stop the decay.

Decay is a disease process.

Once a student develops one cavity, then they're prone to getting a lot more cavities.

What we're trying to do is stop the decay process.

-Why do you think since the pandemic that we see more of that?

What's the tie-in there?

-Yes.

A lot happened during the pandemic where the schools were not in session.

Students were home and so they were eating all day.

Nutrition plays a large part in preventing cavities.

Obviously, the more sugar that you eat and the frequency of it plays a big role in cavities.

Also, dentist offices were closed for a little while.

People weren't able to receive the care that they had previously gotten.

It was a combination of those things.

-Yes.

You and I have talked about this.

You get off track with the dentist.

It is hard to get back on the schedule quickly.

That did because a big delay for a lot of people and it's still showing up, I guess, obviously, in the teeth that you're seeing.

When we think about tooth decay, and I know we've talked about that that's one of the most common chronic illnesses in kids, or tooth decay, how does that have effects on just general health issues?

-Yes.

Untreated decay can lead to infections in teeth called absces.. That's really something that we want to try to prevent is infection in teeth.

Whether it be permanent teeth or baby teeth.

We don't want infection anywhere in our body and not in our mouth either.

The sooner that the decay is treated, then that will help to prevent abscesses.

-Now when y'all see kids and you're applying the sealants, you're checking, applying fluoride, but you're not actually doing the cleaning, right?

-Right.

-You're not really replacing the dentist.

This is just a stopgap in between.

-Yes.

We are a supplement to your regular dental visits.

We still recommend that everyone go to the dentist at least once a year, preferably twice, every six months.

At least once a year to have that dental exam from the dentist and a cleaning.

Then, some dentist offices do provide sealants.

A really good opportunity to get those sealants is at school.

-How often do kids need those?

-Once you put sealants on, they can stay for a long time.

It depends on your habits.

If you chew ice or if you grind your teeth, those sealants can chip and wear down.

We touch those sealants up, so if we see a student the first time at four years old and then we continue to see them at regular intervals all the way through the eighth grade, we can touch up those sealants and seal additional teeth as they erupt and protect those teeth all the way up until high school.

-All right.

That's a good service.

Someone else, dentophobia or fear of the dentist, I know that's a real thing.

-It is.

-Do you see that in kids when they come to see you- -Yes, sometimes.

--really kids that are scared to come?

-Yes, sometimes.

Sometimes they've had a negative experience somewhere or they've never had an experience with a dentist, and so they're not sure what to expect or they expect the worst.

A lot of our job is making those kids feel comfortable and safe.

Nothing that we do is invasive or would hurt, but we just try to reassure them that it's going to be okay and it's really good for their teeth.

-What's your advice to parents just as far as taking their kids to the dentist and their kids are scared?

What can you say to them to help calm.. before they go or prepare them for their visit?

-Right.

I worked in private practice before I worked in publi.. and I always told my moms and dads, bring your kids as soon as they're able to sit in your lap, and as soon as they're able to do that, then they can be familiar with the dentist's office and the sounds and what it looks like, and they see that we're not hurting mom or dad.

That helps them at a really early age become comfortable with the dentist.

If the child still is nervous, we just tell the parents that-- Sometimes if the parent goes with them, it helps, and sometimes if the parent doesn't go with them, it helps.

[laughs] -It depends on the parent, right?

-It depends on the parent and the .. but kids are really resilient, and they always do a great job for us, so we're real proud of our kids.

-Good.

I've seen y'all work, and they are so very gentle with the kids, and the kids always leave smiling and they're very happy.

Get a good prize when they come to see you, too.

-They do.

Right.

-[chuckles] Transitioning a little bit, just in general dental care, I know fluoride has become a bit of a buzzword in the last few months, particularly fluoridated water.

With greater access to fluoride and things like toothpaste now, are we still seeing a benefit from adding fluoride to our water, in your opinion?

-Yes, absolutely.

It has really helped our kids, especially as their teeth erupt and they're exposed to the fluoride in water.

It really helps prevent disease, which is the decay process.

Yes.

We notice a trend in areas where the kids are on well .. where the decay rate is higher in that particular area of the county, whereas the kids in the city who are on fluoridated water seem to have a little less of an issue.

-Wow.

Even at this level, you can see that difference.

Definitely still a good thing and still a benefit.

We have a few more minutes.

Just a few little rapid-fire questions for you.

About the validity of some dental care trends.

Our viewers are watching TikTok.

They probably see a lot of things.

You can find a lot about health care or dental care o.. really, on TikTok.

Oil pulling was having a moment for a little bit.

Of course, it's been around forever.

You knew all about it.

Oil pulling, that swilling olive oil or coconut.. to give you wider, healthier teeth, is that a thing?

-Yes.

Some people think it's a thing, and if it's your thing, then go for it.

The ADA has not found any significant benefit from oil pulling.

A lot of people use coconut oil, and they just swish it around for a couple minutes and then spit it out.

It's fine if you want to do it, but we don't really see any-- -It's not going to hurt, but it's probably- -It's not going to hurt.

--not helping that much.

-Probably not going to help, yes.

-There are other DIY whitening trends out there.

Is there anything to those, as far as maybe apple cider vinegar or baking soda and hydrogen peroxide, anything like that?

-Right.

The big one is charcoal toothpaste that we see.

A lot of people like to use those things.

The main thing is that those are abrasives.

When you brush with charcoal toothpaste or baking soda or anything too much, that abrasiveness of the product will take off a little layer of enamel of your teeth.

It's actually harmful to do frequently.

We just recommend any ADA-approved toothpaste, American Dental Association-approved toothpaste, brushing twice a day, flossing.

That is tried and true, studies have proved that's the way to go.

-No easy methods here, it's just the tried and true.

-No quick fix.

Yes, tried and true.

-Some good advice and good things to keep in mind, especially as you're thinking of your own oral health care.

For parents who have kids in the school system and want to take advantage of your program, you'll be coming here in February.

What school are you at currently?

-Right now, we're at Lincoln Elementary, and then after we complete Lincoln Elementary, we will move to South Elementary.

Then we have a couple more schools that we need to do this semester.

We have about 20 schools in total, and then we do about 10 schools in one school year, and then 10 schools in the next school year.

We go to the schools every other year.

-Got you.

Permission forms get sent home, and there are announcements- -They do.

--made, so parents- -Correct.

--can sign up for that free service.

-Yes, absolutely.

-Thank you so much, Kristin.

-Thank you.

-In honor of Black History Month, we wanted to recognize historical African-American public health icons who have shaped the field of public health and continue to influence the work at health departments across the country.

First up is Dr. William Hinton.

The son of former slaves, Hinton became the first African-American professor at Harvard University in 1949.

He was also the first black writer to author a medical textbook.

In his years of research, Hinton became an expert on the disease of syphilis a.. a highly accurate detection test that was adopted by the US Public Health Service for many years.

Dr. Charles Drew is known as the father of the blood bank.

As a surgeon and medical researcher, he studied the field of blood transfusions, developing improved techniques for blood storage, and establishing large-scale blood banks early in World War II.

This allowed medics to save thousands of Allied forces during the w..

He also invented what would later be known as bloodmobiles.

Dr. Marilyn Hughes Gaston was the first African-American woman to direct a public health service bureau.

In 1986, she published a groundbreaking study that proved that babies should be screened for sickle cell disease at birth so that preventative penicillin could be given right away.

The study resulted in congressional legislation to encourage and fund SCD screening programs nationwide.

Within one year, 40 states had begun screening programs.

Her work resulted in a significant reduction of cases and deaths in young children here in the US and around the world.

In February, we recognize Severe Weather Awareness Week in Tennessee.

Here to talk about what you can do to be prepared before severe weather strikes are Madison County Emergency Management Director Jason Moore and the Jackson-Madison County Regional Health Department's Emergency Preparedness Director Lynn Mooney, who also gets the title of longest title, I think.

[laughs] Thank you both for being here.

We're talking about severe weather, and you all have both obviously worked a lot of severe weather cases.

When are we most at risk for severe weather here in West Tennessee?

-For me personally, it's year-round.

I don't believe we've ever had a month that we didn't have some type of severe weather.

-A threat of severe weather.

-Sometimes it can get 80 degrees in January.

We've had it.

I think we've had a tornado in December and certainly in February.

-Yes, absolutely.

-Those are your coldest months of the year, and we've still had severe weather, so year-round.

-When I think severe weather, I think my mind goes to tornadoes, probably a lot of people do too who lived around here, but there's a lot of other threats to be aware of, right?

-Sure.

Massive flooding.

Me and Lynn have worked several BOC activati.. where just wind damage and flooding was a big deal.

We've taken a lot of damage from that.

-Yes.

I know we tend to become numb to these severe weather preparedness messages and we hear them over and over, but then it happens to us, and that makes all the difference.

As someone, Lynn, who's been deployed to a lot of different emergencies, what would you like people to know so they would be better prepared?

-Pay attention to your local forecast, your local news outlets.

They're telling you sometimes days in advance to prepare for those events.

Take those a little bit serious, especially, in the peak times for severe weather.

Like Jason said, January, February is a pretty big peak time for us around here, but pay close attention to those news outlets.

-Any thoughts you had on that, Jason?

-You hear this all the time on TV, the whole turnaround, don't drown thing.

If it's not necessary to be out, there's a lot of flooding going on and we still-- We have to do rescues when really that could have been unnecessary.

Staying off the roadways and just your normal being prepared.

-Yes, using some good common sense.

Lynn, you brought up the communication aspect and paying attention.

I know we have more ways than ever before to communicate, but in some ways, it's maybe hurt us a little.. our messages out.

What has your experience been as we've moved into the social media era?

-There's a lot of misinformation out there.

-Absolutely.

-Know your source.

Get reliable sources to rely on.

You need to have multiple outlets.

Don't just rely on one.

Multiple sources to get, especially severe weather alerts, because those happen quickly, they spin up fast.

You may not only have minutes to prepare when those warnings come out.

Have multiple ways of getting alerts.

-Definitely use a reputable source.

-Right.

-We've had some applications before on our phones that turned out to be non-reputable, I guess you would say.

We've even had tornado warnings come through on some apps that ended up not being legit.

-Really?

-A lot of these folks around here ha.. We'll get phone calls, "Hey, why aren't sirens going off?"

-Right.

-That's because we hadn't had a warning.

They did get a warning.

It's just, you have to be careful about your.. -Of course, we all grew up with just the one TV station that you listen to and you got your news.

It's so different.

How do we train that younger generation to b.. and which ones aren't?

-Oh, I hate to talk about kids today.

[laughs] You're right.

We had three channels on TV when I.. is one of them.

In today's time, those kids, they're really looking at social media.

That's probably your best outlet for those younger people.

Even in saying that, you've got to get some messages out there to even get them to sign up for your pages.

Let's just be honest, children are not that interested in me and Lynn's job.

It just is what it is.

-Until something bad happens- -Sure.

--and then, of course, they aren't.

-Talking to your parents, getting those kids interested in that, maybe that feeds towards that.

-Yes.

Talking to our kids about making themselves aware of- -Sure.

--what to listen to.

All right.

What sort of emergency supplies?

We always hear about having that emergency supply kit.

What sort of supplies need to be in that kit?

-I'm going to let you take that.

-It's important to have plenty of non-perish.. Something that you can eat and drink when your power's been off for several days.

Of course, for the health side, keep a stock of medical supplies that you may need.

We've had events in Madison County where it's taken us a long time to get to people who need help.

Having simple bandaging, light medical equipment, and an extended supply of medicine that you rely on day to day.

-Yes.

You bring that up because it's not just about collecting supplies, it's also about having some skills, too, because you might have to be performing first aid or-- -Right.

You could take basic first aid classes all over Madison.. the City of Jackson Fire Department, Madison County Fire Department, and us at the Health Department.

We do a lot of classes for the community.

Those classes you can take online now.

There's ways that you can go to American Heart Association and take those classes just to familiarize yourself with basic first aid skills.

-Using a generator, maybe.

That's another thing that always, maybe trips some people up if the power goes out.

-It'd be nice if it was just always turn-key.

Yes, it's not.

Truth be told if you do have a generator, make sure that it's been serviced.

We even find ourselves, and we're the people that do this for a living, but sometimes we have generators that-- They just don't crank and they require servicing.

As far as the county goes and the city, we do have a rotation of service vehicles, generators, equipment, large equipment, small equipment.

We do have a service schedule for all that.

I can tell you this, we are ready.

If you are home-based and you have some of these things, just make sure they're maintenanced.

-Yes.

As a reporter covering tornadoes, I remember a woman telling me one time that she wished she had taken her purse with her to the closet because she escaped the tornado, but now she didn't have a driver's license, she didn't have her insurance card, any of that stuff.

Is that something that we need to be encouraging people to do, take your wallet with you when you go to-- -It will help you in the days to come, important information like your insurance or your driver's license, birth certificates, those important documents.

Get you a safe box.

Those safe boxes usually don't get blown too far away, but they can.

Having those documents prepared in a safe place will help you in the days to come after a disaster.

-Knowing where you can find them- -Knowing where you can find them.

--if you have a backup.

All right.

I know we've got, like we said, Severe Weather A.. coming up, and we'll have some activities involved with that.

Thinking about tornadoes maybe specifically, is there a place to go if people don't feel comfortable at their home?

-Yes.

Currently, we have two places.

They're both at the airport.

We have one smaller safe room.

I think it holds, by FEMA guidelines, 80 people.

That's more like 50.

We have one behind our building at the operations center that, by FEMA guidelines, is 200.

I would say that's more like 150 max.

We are in the process of building a new one, North Jackson.

It's going to hold 1,350 people.

-Oh, wow.

-It will be at Pope School.

Now, during the day, that is a school.

After hours, during severe weather, that will become a public safe room.

Anyone in any county, really, could come there.

-Could come there.

-It's specifically for Madison County residents.

We do have a plan to also put one in Midtown and South Jackson.

That's just going to take some time.

Those are mitigation projects.

It requires a lot of money.

Those are on grants.

Our future plans are to do that in Midtown and South Jackson as well.

-All right.

I want to thank you both for coming in.

I think we are out of time, but appreciate it.

Any final words with severe weather preparedness that you'd like to share with our audience?

-Just know that we are always out there.

Anytime there's severe weather, we have a group of folks that hours and hours before a storm even gets here, we're already at the Operations Center working, just in case.

-Right.

We appreciate you all being here.

-Absolutely.

Thank you.

-Thank you.

That's going to wrap it up for this show.

We're glad you joined us today.

Don't forget, if you have questions about public health matters or services offered at the Health Department, we'd like to hear from you.

Send us your questions, and we'll get them answered in our Checkup Q&A.

That email is 11checkup@westtennessepbs.org.

We want to thank our guest, Kristin Bodiford with the School-Based Dental Health Program, Madison County EMA Director Jason Moore, and Emergency Preparedness Director Lynn Mooney.

Finally, we'd like to thank you for joining us on this episode of Channel 11 Checkup.

I'm Ginger Rowsey.

Thanks for being with us, and we'll check in next time.

[music] -The program you've been watching was made possible through the generous financial support of West Tennessee PBS viewers like you.

Please visit westtnpbs.org and make a donation today so that we can continue to make local programs like this possible.

Thank you.

[music] -It's all about home.