Orange County HCA February 2020 Newsletter

What’s

Up

FEBRUARY 2020 Newsletter

American Heart Month

Peer-to-Peer

Director’s Message If you get prescribed opioids, you may end up wishing you hadn’t. Opioid misuse and addiction can affect anyone; fortunately, there are other ways to help manage pain. That’s the message behind a new OC Health Care Agency (HCA) campaign that launches this week. Pointing people to the educational website – WrongForYou.com – the HCA wants residents to understand the risks associated with taking opioids like hydrocodone, oxycodone and fentanyl. The United States is experiencing an opioid crisis, and unfortunately Orange County, California is no exception. We learned from the HCA’s ‘2017 Opioid Overdose & Death in Orange County’ report that opioid overdose deaths here are more . . . continued on page 3

FEATURED ARTICLES Sheriff’s Housing Unit for Vets. . . . . . . . 2 Be Well OC Action Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Flu Surveillance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 CalOptima Board Recruitment. . . . . . . 6 New and Retired Email Signatures . . . 9 Zest for Health. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Maria Soza

Returning the Favor As a daughter of immigrants, Peer-

assistance allowed us, for the most

to-Peer recipient Maria Soza, Senior

part, to overcome what we faced. Be-

Public Health Nurse, Communicable

cause of the public health programs

Disease Control, said it was her

that I benefited from and that I saw

experiences while growing up that

working in people’s lives, I came to

motivated her to start her career in

understand the importance of public

public health. “My family, loved ones

health in serving communities.”

and friends encountered challenges

Her parents came to the US from

that required assistance from community clinics and programs. That

Nicaragua. Maria said her family had much to learn when it came to their health care needs. “There were many times we were not aware of or didn’t understand the resources that were available. Having learned from personal experiences, I wanted to ‘return the favor’ and help those in need of assistance. Helping others was one of the biggest motivators for me to go into public health and it’s what encourages me on a daily basis.” Maria said working in Public Health Services (PHS) gives her the opportunities to understand the health challenges facing the Orange County (OC) . . . continued on page 12