51ÁÔĆć

Future education model program in nutrition and dietetics

Zilber School of Public Health building

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee has applied to the Accreditation Council for Education in Nutrition and Dietetics (ACEND) to open a new and innovative program to prepare Registered Dietitian Nutritionists in Fall 2023.

51ÁÔĆć’s eligibility application was accepted by ACEND* and we are in the candidacy process for our proposed Future Education Model Graduate program: Master of Public Health — Nutrition and Dietetics track. The program is not accepting applications at this time but will do so upon successful completion of the eligibility application process if the program receives candidacy for accreditation status from ACEND.

You can read more about 51ÁÔĆć’s efforts to improve nutrition education here.

Contact Lori Klos, lklos@uwm.edu, 414-251-8220 for more information about the program.

*The Accreditation Council for Education in Nutrition and Dietetics (ACEND) released the Future Education Model Accreditation Standards for programs in nutrition and dietetics (see ). These accreditation standards integrate didactic coursework with supervised experiential learning in a competency-based curriculum designed to prepare nutrition and dietetics practitioners for future practice.

With hospitals full, doctors and scientists beg Wisconsinites to stay home for Thanksgiving

Images of two coronaviruses. Balls with spiky protrusions.

By Daphne Chen and Madeline Heim
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
November 23, 2020

Doctors and health experts are no longer asking people to stay home for the holidays.

They are begging.

Across Wisconsin, overflowing hospitals and spiking case rates are causing panic among health care workers and public health officials who are sounding the alarm that the state is about to enter the most dangerous period of the pandemic yet.

“The timing and confluence with what’s happening in Wisconsin, I don’t think could be worse,” said Amanda Simanek, epidemiologist with the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

For health experts, Thanksgiving is a nightmare scenario in terms of respiratory disease transmission.

The holiday combines people gathering indoors for prolonged periods of time, eating and drinking for hours on end and shouting at the football games on TV — all likely without face masks.

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As COVID-19 cases rise, Gov. Evers urges state residents to stay home

Governor Tony Evers

By J. Carlisle Larsen
Wisconsin Public Radio
November 11, 2020, 3:30pm

Gov. Tony Evers urged Wisconsin residents to stay home and maintain social distancing as the number of COVID-19 cases rises in the state. We talk to a political reporter about his prime time address and a public health expert about his administration’s recommendations.

Host: Rob Ferrett
Guest(s): Laurel White, Amanda Simanek

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U.S. coronavirus cases surpass 9 million with no end in sight

Images of two coronaviruses. Balls with spiky protrusions.

Covid-19 cases are rapidly increasing in more than 20 states in a dangerous surge one governor described as an “urgent crisis.”

By Mitch Smith, Simon Romero and Giulia McDonnell Nieto del Rio
New York Times
October 29, 2020

CHICAGO — The United States, which reported its first known coronavirus case in Washington State 282 days ago, surpassed nine million total infections on Thursday, including more than half a million in the past week, as Covid-19 spiraled out of control in the lead-up to Election Day.

Across the country, alarming signs suggested the worst was yet to come: The nation reported more cases on Thursday — more than 90,000 — than on any other single day. More than 20 states reported more cases over the past week than at any time during the pandemic. Patients were sent to field hospitals in El Paso and the Milwaukee suburbs. Growing outbreaks led to new restrictions on businesses in Chicago. Exactly zero states reported sustained declines in cases.

“There is no way to sugarcoat it — we are facing an urgent crisis and there is an imminent risk to you, your family members, your friends, your neighbors,” said Gov. Tony Evers of Wisconsin, where hospitals have been strained, case numbers have exploded and more than 200 coronavirus deaths have been announced in the past week.

With the presidential election days away, the country is now averaging more than 75,000 new cases daily, the worst stretch of the pandemic by that measure. Deaths, which lag behind cases, remain far below their spring levels but have ticked upward to about 780 each day. More cases have been identified in the United States than in any other country, though some nations have higher per capita infection rates.

“This surge is larger than any other wave or surges that we’ve seen yet,” said Amanda Simanek, an epidemiologist at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee school of public health, who said she was especially worried to see case numbers spiking just as colder weather forces more people indoors, where the virus can spread easily. “This is the pattern that may continue to happen if we don’t suppress the infection down to levels that are manageable.”

Lead exposure increases in Milwaukee during pandemic

Three Milwaukee neighborhood homes with a blue sky.

By Mary Sussman
Shepherd Express
October 28, 2020

While the pandemic rages on, with more than 28,000 confirmed cases of and 300 deaths from COVID-19 in the City of Milwaukee so far this year, the city’s youngest children continue to be exposed to unsafe levels of lead in their homes.

Lead poisoning is a nationwide scourge and a stubborn local enemy. Children under the age of six are the most vulnerable to lead poisoning that can cause permanent neurological damage leading to learning disabilities and behavior problems. But testing can lead to prompt medical and environmental intervention and reduce toxic blood levels in children.

A 2019 study done at 51ÁÔĆć’s Joseph J. Zilber School of Public Health found that in Milwaukee more than half of the people involved in gun violence—perpetrators and victims—had elevated blood lead levels as children. The study used public health, education and criminal justice data for 89,000 people born in Milwaukee between June 1, 1986, and December 31, 2003, who had been tested for lead exposure before the age of six.

Testing Declines in 2020

Ten thousand fewer children were tested in the first nine months of 2020 than in the first nine months of 2019, according to data supplied by the Milwaukee Health Department. The decline in testing has left some children with elevated lead levels unidentified because they are missing wellness exams. Some children who had elevated blood lead levels have not had follow-up visits because their families have relocated, and health department officials have been unable to find them.

Because of school closures, children are spending more time at home, increasing their exposure to potentially dangerous lead sources. In addition, disruptions in insurance and housing insecurity brought on by the pandemic are putting more children at risk of permanent damage from untreated lead poisoning. Kaiser Health News (KHN) reports that a drop in testing was widespread nationwide this year.

Though testing slowed in 2020, some good news emerged from the 2019 data. Nineteen percent fewer children under the age of six had elevated lead blood levels in 2019 compared to 2018, according to Wisconsin Department of Health Services data. In addition, 7.8% of the children tested had elevated blood levels in 2019 compared to 9.2% in 2018. But even with lead poisoning down in 2019, 1939 children in the City of Milwaukee under the age of 6, had elevated blood lead levels.

Helen Meier, associate professor of epidemiology at 51ÁÔĆć’s Zilber School of Public Health said there are different standards for case management in Milwaukee than in Madison. “In Milwaukee, case management and environmental assessment are only provided to children who have blood lead levels >20 µg/dL,” Meier said. “In Madison, for example, case management and environmental assessment are provided to all children who have blood lead levels >5 µg/dL.”

$3.55 Million Budget for Increased Testing Proposed

MICAH’S Coalition on Lead Emergency (COLE) wants to change that. It recently asked the Milwaukee Common Council and Mayor Tom Barrett to provide the Milwaukee Health Department with $3.55 million in its 2021 budget to cover the costs associated with increased testing and assessment for all children who have elevated blood lead levels.

On October 29 and 30, the Finance and Personnel Committee will consider a budget amendment to fulfill the $3.55 million COLE request. The budget amendment is sponsored by Common Council President Cavalier Johnson, Finance and Personnel Committee Chair Ald. Michael Murphy and other co-sponsors. The $3.55 million would result in environmental testing and trigger more home abatement orders for  more than 1,900 children who have elevated blood lead levels >5 µg/dL. Currently, only the homes of slightly more than 100 children who have blood lead levels > 20 µg/dL are inspected for lead contamination.

Poverty and Low Levels of Home Ownership Affect Lead Exposure
Meier recently published a paper which found “the risk of elevated childhood blood lead levels is greatest in majority non-White Milwaukee County neighborhoods with high poverty and low home ownership.”

“Not only do we have inequities for risk for children in Milwaukee, but that’s been compounded by a lack of access to services for children whose blood lead levels fall between 5 µg/dL and 20 µg/dL,” Meier said. “If  these children lived in Madison, they would get services, but because they live in Milwaukee, they don’t. Meier also found that approximately 10,000 children between 2014-2016 would have received case management for their elevated blood levels if Milwaukee used the Madison standards. She hopes that the $3.55 million requested by COLE will address that inequity.

“The 3.55 million that COLE is requesting will not solve the entire lead problem in Milwaukee, but it would be an important step down that road,” said Rev. Dennis Jacobsen, the COLE chair. “The City has made a lot of progress on lead since the 90s, but I think it’s been kind of stuck in the last few years…”

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