What is public health? Students in the UGA Health & Wellness class are here to help you find out! They have strategically identified examples in the Athens community that they feel represent public health in action. This blog is dedicated to explaining, understanding, and discussing what their interpretations of public health, as well as their reactions to learning about topics of health and wellness.

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Aspen Heights Poop Stations

 
 

The second location we chose to place our ‘This is Public Health’ sticker was at Aspen Heights. The picture above is a poop station for pet owners within the Aspen Heights community. The above picture represents public health because it allows residents the opportunity to keep the grounds clean and the ability to reduce exposure of parasitic organelles. We chose poop stations as a mean of public health because people may not know the harm they are causing pets, pet owners and non-pet owners. Failure to clean up after your dog, exposes everyone to 'disease-causing bacteria' such as E. coli, salmonella and giardia. It is important that others consider poop stations public health because these bacteria / parasites can be transmitted by people, who may step in it and track it in home or common surfaced areas. Younger children who may play in the yard/playground would be more susceptible of being effected. 

Haley McBay
Michael Clark
Meg Collins


2 comments:

  1. Our group feels strongly that this is also a public health issue that needs to be addressed. Other apartment complexes, such as The Exchange, also had these recepticles for owners to dispose of their dog's business. Two members of our group lived in The Exchange, and we were very angered about the situation. Literally no one (at least around my aparment in particular) picked up after their dog. The Exchange even attempted to punish people by charging $100 for each pile left in the grass, but it did not help anything. People still would not pick up after their dogs. Not only was it annoying, it was disgusting. I couldn't walk to my house without worrying about stepping in it. If I had stepped in it, it definitely would have tracked that bacteria into my apartment, which is something that would have been very unsanitary. We had people all the time come over and sit on our carpet floors, and if they had been exposed to the bacteria it could have made them seriously ill. One of our group members now lives in Aspen Heights, and we hope that the residents there take this seriously and clean up after their animals so that no one is affected by these bacteria.

    Michelle DeMasi
    Blayne McDonald
    Erin Deitrich

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  2. My group also agrees with the importance of these poop stations. If a person plans on having a pet in a housing complex like this, they really do need to clean up after them. Some people just walk around outside in their front yard with no shoes on and if fecal matter stays in the grass, bacteria and worms can begin to spread. This is an important example of TIPH because it is to prevent the spread of bacteria just by picking up after your pets. Just be considerate of others.

    Ben Bissell
    Lydia Simms
    Alexis Diamond

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