October 25, 2011

Today turned out to be a very productive day, if I don't say so myself.  We had the training at the Cape Girardeau County Health Department.  It is a beautiful building with a state of the art conference room.  We had around 20 attend and they were a great bunch.  Lots of good questions and we had some great information to give to them.  I had never been to the extreme southeast part of the state and it was so nice to hear the southern drawls.  One of the HIV Case Managers took us to a little mom and pop restaurant called Patty Lou's.  Todays special happened to be pan fried chicken and can I say OMG!!!  That was the best restaurant pan fried chicken I think I had ever eaten.  They fried it in lard so you know how heart healthy that was!!!  I had their seasoned cabbage and that was another OMG with cornbread.  Better than my Jiffy cornbread mix that I use and I really, really like the Jiffy cornbread mix!!!  This little fat girl died and went to kitty heaven.  The case manager said to come the day they have homemade chicken and dumplings!!! Not sure I could handle it or not.  LOL. 

You can tell by the fall foilage that they have gotten alot of rain down here.  They had  flooding down in this area earlier this year, but there are no dead leaves on trees down here.  It is all color and green.  I've said it in other posts but this is beautiful.  I hope to be able to get some pictures tomorrow if I can.  Today I saw them while driving 70 mph down I-55 and 60 highway.  Not many places to pull over but like I said, I am going to have to see what I can do before I leave Poplar Bluff tomorrow to get some pictures to post. 

The cotton fields are also being harvested right now with miles and miles of white.  It's really cool.  My son Josh took his college classes in John Deere Technology and was always telling me about the John Deere cotton picker combines.  I couldn't believe it and to see bales of cotton like our big round bales of hay we have up north.  Looked like the other fields were soy beans and maybe rice fields.  I'm not sure but am going to talk to my co-worker from down here and see what the other agriculture is.  Another thing is they are burning off the fields right now and I can't figure that one out either.  I know that in the Spring time we burn off fields so the grass will come in.  It is really, really smoky and I can even smell the smoke in the hotel room.  The air is hazy.

They have prediction of 80% rain tonight and tomorrow and I know that is why the farmers are in the fields right now, trying to get the cotton harvested.  It surprised me when they were burning off the fields because the wind was blowing as hard down here as what you guys are talking about.  A couple of times it about blew my 2011 Ford Focus off the road.  I had to keep both hands on the wheel. 

I am so interested in the different cultures in the different areas of the state.  I have worked the Northwest section of the state all the way up to the Iowa/Nebraska border and now am working the southern section to Arkansas, Oklahoma border and people are so different then up north.  It's hard to explain unless you have worked public health or had any dealings with any type of public contact.  It is so, so interesting to me.  I was raised in the public because of mom and dad working restaurant work and then when I was old enough to work mom taught me all she knew.  Waitressing.  I waitressed for about 15 years or so until I got into Public Health.  I was bookkeeper before I got into my current career.  People fascinate me.

We were talking in our meeting today about STD's because that is what our job is. Dr's offices and labs are mandated by law to report communicable diseases and the communicable diseases that we deal with is Gonorrhea, Chlamydia, Syphilis and HIV.  In the 90's there was an outbreak of Syphilis and the United States has gotten the numbers down within the last couple of years but the rates are starting to go up again.  St. Louis with the highest numbers right now.  We are prediciting with the World Series  in St. Louis we will be seeing an increase in our case numbers within the next 3 months.  That's not unusual because disease ALWAYS spikes 3-6 months after a major event.  That is the incubation period for HIV and Syphilis.  Gonorrhea and Chlamydia is 60 days.  With that said, we are expecting to get real busy here pretty fast.  And our lovely politicians are complaining, why do we need people like myself out in the field.  What are we actually doing to stop the spread of disease.  We are getting partners, contacts, social networks and getting them tested, treated or preventively treated for a disease that can be deadly or cause life long complications. Plus education.   Even though there is no cure for HIV it is not the death sentence it use to be.  In the State of MO there are over 10,000 people living with HIV and that is only the ones that know it.  Not the ones that have never been tested.  1 out of 4 people will have an STD or HIV or both and never tell you.  Not because they don't want to tell you, because they have never been tested and don't know it themselves.  If you have had unprotected sex one time in your entire sexual history you should get tested.  It only takes one time!!! 

Okay, I'm off my soap box.  I love my job and love educating people.  If you ever need a speaker for a group of yours let me know.  I can do it or hook you up with someone that will.  Prevention is the key.  Spread the word, not the infection.

Well, you guys are lucky.  I am almost done with this little trip.  Tomorrow is it and then I am off to Springfield.  I have one day in the office and then am taking Friday off because a co-worker of mine is retiring after 19 years with the State.  I am so happy for her but am going to the retirement celebration.  That will be fun.  It's always fun to see people you have worked with in the past.  Plus if you know me, you know how I love seeing old friends and keeping in touch with them!!!

Will talk to you later, hey gas is cheap down here too.  It is like $3.09, am wondering how much I am going to have to pay once I get back.  $3.19 or $3.25???.  Good question.

TTYL or as my favorite character in the whole wide world would say TTFN!!