Baltimore County, MD Hello Baltimore County, 21 Dec 2018

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From YouTube: What's Up, Doc?

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Baltimore County's top doc, Dr. Gregory W. Branch explores environmental health issues like the cleanliness of restaurants, public pools and more.

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Greetings: everyone!, I'm dr. gregory branch,, and thank you for tuning into what's up doc?, where we teach, talk and tackle today's pertinent health, issues.

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Have you ever suspected a restaurant was dirty and unhealthy?.

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Have you ever wondered about the smell of chlorine in a swimming pool??

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Have you ever had concerns about standing water in your community?.

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All of these areas fall under the jurisdiction of baltimore county's environmental health, services.

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Let's go find out: more.

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(upbeat music).

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What's up doc?.

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Joining me today is ann bostic,, the chief of environmental health services at baltimore county.. Thank you for joining me. Today.

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[Ann]. Thank you. Dr. branch for inviting me.

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And so you know, what, environmental health services has so much under it,. Give me an overview.

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Yes, we have numerous programs that we're involved in.. We have a little over 15 programs that we are responsible, for. and our main program is our food service. Program.

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We inspect all the retail food establishments in baltimore county,. We have approximately 3600 of these facilities.

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Some of the other things we do,, we do plans review of these establishments.

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And we also do swimming pools plans review,, so we're constantly busy. we, during for the summer, months, are responsible for water sampling,.

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Our recreational waters, which includes the freshwaters and tidal waters that the citizens of baltimore county recreate in.. We also inspect the indoor, outdoor swimming pools.

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And we have over 600 of them in baltimore, county.

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So,, our staff is busy everyday.

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So you do pools,, you do waters,, you do restaurants.. What is it that you don't do?.

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Well, we have a sister agency so,, they take on all rental property.

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Any complaints that the citizens would have.

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or,, we also, we do not do the building of wells and septic systems.

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Again,, that's groundwater, management.

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Okay,, you talked about restaurants.

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If I wanted to open a restaurant, up,.

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What you have me to do?.

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Well, you would,. First, we would advise you to go on our website.

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And that's at baltimorecountymd.gov/ehs.

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And you would go into the food and related resources.

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And in that section, we have some informational, material., also there's other sections that just is plans review., but you could,. You are certainly welcome to always call our office, and discuss it with someone on duty.

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We always have a plans review expert on duty, that you can discuss what type of restaurant you would open and things you may need to do.

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All right then.! So if I'm a person who's a consumer at a restaurant, and I have a concern or a complaint., what would I do?.

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The first thing you would do is either call our office and tell them you have a complaint.. You can call 410-887-3663.

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And we have staff there to answer the phone, and tell them you have a complaint. let, they'll, give you the questions to ask you to get the information. or we,. You can also email us at ehs@baltimorecountymd.gov.

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So once you put the complaint in, once you email us,, then you go into action from there?

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Depending on the type of the complaint it is,, we immediately go out within 24 hours.

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Now talking about complaints, standing, water.

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Some people are very, very concerned about standing, water, and others. Say, "I, don't even know. What" "their issue is with standing water!".

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Is there an issue with standing water, and how would you call that complaint in?.

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Again, calling the complaint in is the same format.

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You would either,, you can call it in,.

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Email it in,, you can walk it in. any way you want,. We will take all complaints when it comes to standing water.. Our biggest concern is naturally in the summer months,.

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When you have mosquitoes. so, you know,, we react to that,, we have a mosquito control program..

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We contact the department of agriculture.

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If it's a serious problem,, but anytime there is standing water in swimming pools, in the backyards or anything,. We will go out to investigate.

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So if you have standing water,, it's important to call us, because we want to make sure there is no standing water. That's going to be there. because we do not want to have the mosquitoes breeding,.

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That's what you're saying?.

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Yes,, that is correct.. Okay then.. You also mentioned water sampling,.

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In the pools and different things like that., so tell me about the water sampling,. Why is that important?.

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Okay,, when it comes to the swimming pools,, we don't actually actually sample the water,. We test the water., it's testing really., because we're testing for the ph and the total coliform. That's in the water,.

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And we don't do that only in the beach water. okay,. So when you say the ph,.

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That's if it's acidic, or if it's basic. yes.

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And you're talking about coliform,.

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You're talking about the amount of bacteria, that's in the pool., so tell me about the other recreational water sampling.! That's what I'm saying.

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The recreational water is where we test for e. coli and enterococci., and both of those are in,. The enterococci is an indicator of.

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Bacterial growth in the water.

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so,, that's what we do during the summer, months.

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From may to september is when we do the recreational waters, 'cause. That's the most, oftentimes is that we have citizens in the water.

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Okay, then. and it's so important that we don't have that bacteria when people are swimming. correct,, if you have open wounds or anything,.

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We post signs if we do have high counts of anything.

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We post the sign, and let everyone know that it's at your own risk to go in this water.

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Alright then, well, thank you, ann for joining us today., and I want to thank everyone for joining us at. What's up doc? and we'll see you the next time.

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(Dramatic music).

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(upbeat music).