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The Tennessee Department of Health is creating an Office of Healthy Aging with the goal of expanding dementia care and services statewide.

We'll have more details.

Plus, we'll sit down with an Alzheimer's specialist to discuss early signs and symptoms, treatment options, and resources available for families with an Alzheimer's diagnosis.

The holiday season is upon us, and with it comes food, food, and more food.

We'll cover some food safety guidelines that will keep you off Santa's naughty list and ensure a safe and enjoyable Christmas.

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 Chan.. a show that focuses on the health of our community.

This show will provide education and resources on health and wellness issues facing West Tennesseans.

First, here are our health headlines.

CDC continues to respond to the public health challenge posed by a multi-state outbreak of avian influenza virus, or H5N1 bird flu, in dairy cows, poultry, and other animals in the United States.

Since April 2024, CDC, working with state public health departments, has confirmed avian influenza virus infections in more than 50 people in the United States.

The vast majority of those cases have been associated with farm workers who were exposed to virus-infected poultry or infected dairy cows.

At this time, the risk to the general public from H5N1 bird flu remains low, but people with exposure to infected animals are at higher risk of infection.

Those who have job-related contact with infected animals should always wear appropriate personal protective equipment.

In other news, there were an estimated 10.3 million cases of measles worldwide in 2023, a 20% increase from 2022.

That's according to new estimates from the World Health Organization.

Inadequate immunization coverage globally is driving the surge in cases.

Measles is preventable with two doses of the measles vaccine, yet more than 22 million children missed their first dose of the measles vaccine in 2023.

The new data also show that an estimated 107,000 people, mostly children younger than 5 years of age, died due to measles in 2023.

Although this is an 8% decrease from the previous year, far too many children are still dying from this preventable disease.

This slight reduction in deaths was mainly because the surge in cases occurred in countries and regions where children with measles are less likely to die due to better nutritional status and access to health services.

Even when people survive measles, serious health effects can occur, some of which are lifelong.

Infants and young children are at greatest risk of serious complications from the disease, which include blindness and pneumonia.

A new data report suggests this country's STI epidemic may be slowing.

The number of sexually transmitted infections remains high in the United States, with more than 2.4 million reported in 2023.

However, the latest data from CDC shows a glimmer of hope.

In 2023, gonorrhea cases dropped for a second year, declining 7% from 2022 and falling below pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels.

Overall, syphilis cases increased by just 1% after years of double-digit increases.

Primary and secondary syphilis cases, the most infectious stages of syphilis, fell 10%, the first substantial decline in more than two decades.

Good food is part of the holiday cheer, but the joy can quickly change to misery if it makes you or others sick.

Sure no one's giving our kitchens a letter grade or writing a make-or-break review on our Facebook pages, but that doesn't mean our cooking spaces don't need a once-over, especially as we prepare to host special parties, family dinners, or other Christmas gatherings this season.

To help provide some food safety pointers in today's one-on-one checkup is Shane Lee, Director of the Environmental Health Pro.. at the Jackson-Madison County Regional Health Department.

Shane, thanks so much for being with us.

-Oh, thank you for having me.

All right, so Shane, as a public health inspector, you spend a lot of time in kitchens.

What's something people doing or maybe even hear people doing in their kitchens that you really wish we would put a stop to?

Right.

Cleaning is a big thing in kitchens.

You want to start with clean hands.

You want to make sure you're washing your hands before prepping any foods.

You want to make sure you're washing your hands between raw foods and preparing ready-to-eat foods.

You want to make sure you're washing down and cleaning your countertops, making sure you're washing with hot, soapy water on those between, again, raw foods, ready-to-eat foods.

Going from one thing to another and not cleaning in between, we want to make sure people are doing that.

That's a big no-no.

You want to stay away from that one, right?

-Yes, for sure.

All right, so you mentioned clean hands, clean surfaces.

Those are obvious ones.

Are there places in the kitchen that may..

Right, yes, after maybe you've handled some raw animal foods or something like that, and then you've touched the refrigerator handle, door, drawers.

-Yes, I didn't think about that.

Yes, salt and pepper shakers, spices, things like that.

Those are things if you've wiped down with cloth towels or sponges, those things, you want to make sure they've been cleaned and sanitized too.

Those are good ways to spread germs, bacteria, that kind of thing.

-All right, so lots of touch points.

That's right.

That's right.

Especially if you've been handling that raw..

I know, of course, in restaurants you have to wear gloves when preparing food.

Do you recommend that at home?

In restaurants, they don't need to touch ready-to-eat foo.. At home, I would say using gloves along with hand washing would be a great way to keep bacteria from spreading.

Yes, and maybe particularly if you're having a company coming over.

If you don't want to touch food that they're going to eat, making salad, things like that, then, yes, definitely you can use gloves.

Now, I know you talked about this a little bit, but what are some tips preventing that cross-contamination?

I would say, it starts at the grocery.

When you go out and you're buying raw animal foods, when you keep those separate in your buggy, keep them separate in your refrigerator.

When you're starting to prepare the food, you want to make sure, a good way to do is have a separate cutting board.

If you've got a cutting board for your raw animal foods, then you've got cutting boards for your vegetables, that kind of thing.

Yes, and different utensils and ..

Absolutely.

-Yes, definitely.

Washing the countertops, surface areas, make sure you're washing all your utensils, not using the same ones for the different food items.

Right.

Okay, so I know I've got to tag along on s..

I know when you're doing a restaurant inspection you're paying really close attention to food temperature.

How can we be sure at home that our foods are actually done to the proper temperature?

Oh, yes, definitely.

You need to have a food t.. a probe thermometer, to check the internal temperature of the food.

Whatever cooking temp that food needs, then you can check the temperature of it going to the thickest part of the food and make sure it's gotten to the proper temperature.

Absolutely.

Just because it's brown doesn't mean it's good.

That's right.

Definitely.

Oh, hey, let's talk about leaving food out.

If you have people over, especially if you're serving buffet style, how long is too long to leave that food out?

The quicker the better when you're trying to cool things down, for sure.

Before two hours anyway.

If you hadn't put it back up in a couple of hours, you probably needed to throw it away.

Yes, and then leftovers too, what's the safe time with leftovers?

Are you talking about for how many days?

You can keep them in the fridge or whatever.

Yes, three or four days, and then you probably need to toss it out.

Most times they don't last that long anyway.

[laughs] -Yes, no doubt, no doubt.

Especially with holiday food.

When we're thinking about holiday food because it's a little different.

We eat a little differently this time of year.

Are there some special holiday foods maybe that we need to take a little more care with?

Yes, say Thanksgiving, you've got your turkey and everything, you don't want to be washing it.

We've got a lot of people that wash chicken, wash raw meat, wash, poultry and things.

If you're washing it, then you take more of a chance of spreading those bacteria around the kitchen.

In your sink, on your countertops, that.. -Don't wash your meat.

-That's right.

What about some typical symptoms of foodborne illness?

Vomiting, diarrhea, flu-like symptoms.

They can happen within just a couple of hours or a few days.

You never know.

Different types of-- I guess it is really hard to know exactly what gave you food poisoning in some places.

-Oh, definitely.

Unless several of you had sat down in a m.. it's going to be pretty difficult to decide what actually made you sick.

I know you and your team inspect restaurants here in Madison County, as well as hotels, daycares, tattoo parlors.

Am I leaving something else?

Oh, schools.

We're into schools.

Yes, for sure.

Yes.

Just tell us a little bit about that.

Maybe what's the common question you get in your role in some spaces?

Yes, people will know actually what we're looking for when we're going in there, and it's a lot of the stuff that I just went over.

We're going in, checking cook temperatures.

We're checking holding temperatures.

We're making sure they're cooling down properly, the foods.

We're making sure there are foods from a safe source, contaminated surfaces, washing dishes, that kind of thing, washing hands.

We're doing a lot of training on those things, too, as we're seeing things.

Making sure there's no ill food workers in the establishment.

Do you get the question, where should I eat, where should I not eat?

[laughs] -Yes, quite a bit.

Yes, quite a bit.

You answer that diplomatically, I'm sure.

Yes, for sure, for sure, yes.

A lot of good places here to eat.

We post our restaurant inspection scores.

They're linked on our website.

You can go to Tennessee Department of Health's website, find all of that.

-That's right, yes.

All that stuff can be found, public knowledge.

Shane, I really appreciate you coming and talking about this.

I hate for you to get out of here, though, before I ask you about your favorite holiday food.

Is there a holiday dish you like to eat or eat around this time of year?

-Yes, definitely.

Chicken and dressing that my mom makes.

Yes, homemade chicken and dressing from my mom is definitely my favorite.

Hey, bringing that up, because that's another good one.

We eat dressing in the South.

Some people may like stuffing.

I've never cared for it.

That's one of those things you need to be a little careful with.

Yes, definitely, yes.

You want to cook the dressing, too, up to the proper temperat.. which is going to be 165.

That's going to be the same temperature that you're going to need to b.. the turkey too.

Yes, it's a big thing to make sure you get into the proper temperatures on all your foods.

All right, and the food thermometer is t.. -Oh, no doubt, no doubt.

-Where can we find one?

Oh, you can go to Walmart or anywhere like that.

-It doesn't have to be expensive.

-No.

The digital ones are better.

They're quicker, than the old-timey ones with the-- We've got several around our house, and they're always good to use.

I'll make sure my mom has one of those things.

[laughter] -Before she makes that dressing.

-That's righ.. Oh, okay, well, great.

Yes, it's probably a lot of pressu.. to eat, I guess.

-Yes.

Going back to cross-contamination on that, on your probe thermometer, make sure you're washing and cleaning that, too- Okay, yes, good point.

-between each, food item that you're us.. Good point.

Okay, so if you're inviting Shane to your holi.. then what to expect from him.

-That's right.

You're out here.

Is it hard to go to people's kitc.. not look for some things?

-Yes, definitely.

Yes, that happens.

People say stuff to me, "Hey, watch out, he's the food inspector."

We get that.

We appreciate you sharing some good information, and thank you so much for being with us.

-Oh, thank y'all.

Hope you enjoy your chicken and dressing this Christmas.

Yes, thank you, thank you.

December is the month when respiratory viruses typically begin to peak.

Respiratory viruses include the flu, COVID, and RSV.

A common question we receive at the health department is how long should I isolate when I have COVID?

The current recommendations call for staying home and away from others if you have symptoms.

These symptoms can include fever, chills, fatigue, cough, runny nose, and headache, among others.

You can go back to normal activities when, for at least 24 hours, your symptoms are getting better overall, and you have not had a fever and are not using fever-reducing medication.

Both of these statements need to be true before you can resume normal activities.

Keep in mind that you may still be able to spread the virus that made you sick even if you are feeling better.

You're likely to be less contagious at this time depending on factors like how long you were sick or how sick you were.

If you develop a fever or you start to feel worse after you have gone back to normal activities, stay home and away from others again until, for at least 24 hours, your symptoms are improving overall and you have not had a fever.

Then take added precaution for the next five days.

National Influenza Vaccination Week is December 2nd through the 6th.

This week is a critical opportunity to remind everyone six months and older that there's still time to protect themselves and their loved ones from flu this flu season by getting their.. if you have not already.

CDC data shows that flu vaccination coverage was lower last season, especially among certain high-risk groups, including children.

When you get a flu vaccine, you reduce your risk of illness and flu-related hospitalization if you do get sick.

This week is meant to remind people that there is still time to benefit from the first and most important action in preventing flu illness and potentially serious flu complications.

Give us a call at the Health Department if you need a flu vaccine.

Last month, the Tennessee Department of Health announced the creation of an Office of Healthy Aging to better support the well-being of the state's 1.6 million adults age 60 and older.

This rapidly growing group is now one-quarter of Tennessee's population.

At its outset, TDH's Office of Healthy Aging is prioritizing two key areas to support older Tennesseans, creating age-friendly public health systems and expanding the infrastructure supporting dementia care and services statewide.

To address the growing public health challenge of dementia, including support for the state's 129,000 residents with Alzheimer's, the Office of Healthy Aging is implementing several initiatives to include pursuing federal funding to strengthen Tennessee's dementia care, establishing a new state dementia director position to coordinate efforts across agencies, training health care providers in early dementia detection and diagnosis, and establishing the Tennessee Dementia Navigator Program with local health departments.

In last month's show, we discussed Alzheimer's awareness and prevention, but several viewers had additional questions, particularly concerning early signs and symptoms of Alzheimer's, and resources available for those living with an Alzheimer's diagnosis, as well as their caregivers.

To help us best answer your questions, we've invited the Regional Director for Alzheimer's Tennessee, Amanda Barlow Leitch, to join us.

Amanda, thank you so much for being with us.

Yes, thank you for having me.

We were talking before the show started, and you were telling me you've been with this organization for 19 years.

This coming year, it will be 19 years.

That's amazing.

What got you to want to join in with Alzheimer's?

Why is that your passion?

Actually, I tell the story that I think Alzheimer's found me.

I am a Middle East Tennessee girl.

I went to Tennessee Tech University.

When I graduated, I had to find a job.

I actually had the opportunity to go work at a local assisted living that had a memory care facility attached to it.

I really think that I fell in love with that demographic of individuals.

In 2005, Alzheimer's Tennessee came to Cookville, and they wanted to open up a regional office.

I applied, and long story short, started in 2005 as their regional director.

We started that office and opened it.

Long story short, it's brought me to West Tennessee.

Yes.

You spent most of your career at Cookville, but you're here now.

-I did.

We're glad to have you here in West Tenn.. My heart got found by a West Tennessee boy, and that's what brought me here and realized that we were almost a desert of services here.

Went back to Alzheimer's Tennessee, and I said, "I really think that this region of the state needs to have a resource office."

In 2020, of course, the magic year of COVID, here we go.

We provided a lot of services, door to door, on phone, meeting folks where they are as drop-off stations.

Then we were able to open up our office.

That has brought us here.

Our feet are on the grounds in West Tennessee.

That's great.

We're so fortunate to have you.

Do you know roughly how many West Tennesseans are affected by Alzheimer's?

I do not know West Tennessee, but I know that we minister to over 120,000 individuals that are across the state.

We've got six regional offices.

Our main office is in Knoxville.

We have an office in Johnson City, Tallahoma, Cookville, and Nashville, and then here.

One in three are caregivers.

If there is an individual that has a diagnosis of Alzheimer's or dementia or related dementias, we want to walk that journey.

I think just getting connected is where we are.

It's all new here.

It's new under our belt, so.

Yes.

Of course, some of our viewers really wanted to know about what those early signs and symptoms.

What should we be looking for in an elderly parent or maybe even ourselves to be on the lookout for as far as Alzheimer's is concerned?

I think that, like we were talking before, there's things that you want to weed out.

If someone starts to have Alzheimer's, someone starts becoming forgetful, maybe not making appointments, maybe daily hygiene, maybe getting things confused, getting lost, not being able to navigate their way through daily living or daily activities.

We want to make sure that we're weeding out things.

Do we have vitamin deficiencies?

Is there something that's going on with medications?

Is there dehydration?

Is there mini strokes?

There's so many things that can be underlining issues.

I tell people.

Go and be proactive, go and share those concerns with your physician and just say, "Hey," it could even be medication.

there's so many things before we want to say, okay, I need the mini-cognitivity test.

I need you to do some blood work.

I need you to do some imaging.

Let's weed out those things first before we start labeling.

Absolutely be proactive, don't just say, "Oh, it could be my diet."

It could be something.

We do need to be taking note of that and then doing something about it.

Who's most at risk?

We think of elderly, but are there other factors that put people at risk?

-I think that aging is our biggest.

We're living longer, but I don't think there is an age.

I remember years and years ago, I heard a neurologist speaking.

We had some, it was 25 and he unfortunately was in a severe car accident.

He had severe head trauma and he lasted two years.

Then you look at someone like Coach Pat Summitt or you look at people that have something that's called early onset Alzheimer's in that 45 to 55 range.

Then you have people that are in their older years.

I hate to say it's the hand that you're dealt, but it just depends on there's so many comorbidities and so many things that are going on that could affect.

Do we have a good grasp on what's causing this?

Because like you said, it affects a wide gamut of people.

Are there lifestyle things that we are doing that are putting us at risk?

Is it strictly genetics?

I'm sure that's a tough one.

-I think there's a lot.

I think there's a lot that you look in.

Yes, there's a part of genetics.

Unfortunately, some things we cannot control.

There is a lot of things with diet.

I always tell things that's good for the brain, it's good for your heart, good for your heart, good for your brain.

Safety, make sure you wear that seatbelt, protect your head.

All those things are smart.

That's the things to be proactive about.

I tell my story of my dad.

He was 54 and had three heart attacks within the hour.

He was a shop floor, he's a tool and die engineer.

Long story short, he's fine.

He just turned 70.

He has no issues.

The doctor, the neurologist told us that his cardiologist, you were a prime candidate for vascular dementia because you had a heart issue dealing with the heart attack.

You think about strokes, heart attacks, vascular.

I've even had people that say, okay, well, we've got Parkinson's disease.

Parkinson's disease falls under the umbrella of dementia.

If you look at the dementia umbrella, there's about 120 different types of dementia from Lewy body to Pick's disease to Huntington's disease to Alzheimer's, which is about 65 to 75% of the leading form of dementia.

There's just so much that's why I tell folks, go and have conversations with your doctor.

Let's see what's going on.

Yes, what's good for your brain is good for your heart, the same thing.

Mind diet, the way we eat, staying hydrated.

You hear sometimes top three diabetes.

You're looking at gut health is very important.

All of that plays a part in your overall well-being.

Thinking about that, are there treatment options for those that are diagnosed, or maybe some coming up on the horizon?

We have hope.

We have hope for a cure.

There is medications.

Medications have been around for some time.

We have a new medication that's an infusion drug, the Lecanemab, that has come out that has been approved to the earlier part of the diagnosis.

We use those terms of 8 to 20 years, okay, is where we're at.

If you have just that glimmer of hope, that's what cancer patients tell us all the time.

We just want hope.

Alzheimer's patients want hope too.

We're hoping this new infusion drug will slow that process down.

The medications are to slow it down as well.

Aricept, Namenda, and Exelon, that's the three drugs that we've heard for years.

We're hoping that maybe one day I won't have to sit and educate and tell people about a diagnosis that I consider a thief.

You're stealing away from people.

We know what starts it.

We know what slows it down, but we cannot stop.

Let's talk a little bit about Alzheimer's Tennessee, because I know- -Yes.

That's my favorite.

-y'all have a lot of gre.. For those with a diagnosis, their caregivers, how can you help them and what can they get from you?

We're just excited.

We moved into a brand new office, the same location, but a new suite.

We are at 38 Old Hickory Cove, an..

I say E for education.

Education is power.

We want folks to build their toolbox.

If that is anywhere from attending a support group, today we actually had our support group.

We meet on the third Wednesday of every month in our office at ten o'clock.

That's one thing that we talk about.

We even talk about a dementia caregiver podcast that we have.

I think we've got up to 20 episodes.

If you're someone that is interested in podcast and learning about caregiver tips, that's a great information.

Our website is alztennessee, spell out Tennessee.org.

It's got something called Caregiver Academy, which has a wonderful wealth of videos from anywhere from challenging behaviors to communication, to bathing tips, to when do we take the keys aw..

There's so many of those things.

Silver Alert, we've got a safety kit.

I can go on and on about everything that we do.

I tell people, we are a tree.

It's the easiest way to see it.

If you are a strong tree, we are deeply rooted across the state of Tennessee.

When you look at those branches, that could be advocacy.

We go to Nashville every year and we work with our senators, our representatives, governor, our Speaker of the House is a dear friend of mine.

We want to go and have appointments.

We care advocates, because what better to share the voices of the folks that we advocate for every day?

We do advocacy.

We do law enforcement training.

We are certified through the Tennessee State Academy to do two hours of their certification every year.

We work with our churches to make sure our churches are dementia-friendly congregations.

We have a help and hands kit that we provide.

Anything from brochures to resources to caring and coping workshops to conferences to Silver Alert, we actually partner with TBI.

We talk a little bit more, hopefully, about the Silver Alert.

They can get the kits with us and what that safety looks like.

We have so much that we can sit down and visit with families at the table.

That's wonderful.

I know we're going to put your information up here on the screen so everybody can get that and know how to get in touch with you.

We're about to run out of time, but I guess just, our population is aging.

This is obviously going to be something that becomes more important.

What is just something, a takeaway point that you want people to know as we move forward?

What do we need to be doing better?

Be proactive.

Don't wait until it's too late to seek help and services.

See your physician.

Make sure that we are dealing with what we're de.. Stay hydrated.

Sleep well.

Sleep is so important.

Your brain is only clean when you exercise and you sleep.

Get connected to Alzheimer's Tennessee if we can help and be a part of any of those conversations that we need to have at your table.

-Yes.

Amanda, thank you so much for being here.

-I appreciate it.

Thank you.

-It's just wonderful information, and I'm sure a lot of our viewers are very interested.

Of course, reach out to Amanda if you have more questions and find you any time there at your office.

They can.

They can call and make an appointment.

Unfortunately, I have the huge territory.

I serve all 21 counties of West Tennessee.

They can call us at 731-694-8065, or I can come to them or they can come to me.

-Okay.

Thank you so much for being here.

-Thank you so much for having me.

Before we leave, a few reminders from our show.

Don't let a respiratory virus keep you away from the people and activities you love this holiday season.

Getting a flu shot and the updated COVID vaccine can protect you and your loved ones.

If you need an appointment, call 731-423-3020.

If you need COVID tests, each household can order four free COVID tests by going to covidtests.gov.

Remember, health educators offer free classes for kids and adults that cover important health issues.

If you would like to schedule a class for your group, or if you just need information or resources, reach out to the health promotions team by calling the health department.

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

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

That email is 11checkup@westtennesseepbs.org.

We want to thank our guests, Environmental Health Director Shane Lee and Regional Director for Alzheimer's Tennessee, Amanda Barlow Leitch, for being with us today.

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.