January 31, 2007 – Gwen Skinner, Director for the Georgia Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Addictive Diseases, will join government leaders from across the country in Washington, D.C. next week to recommend national strategies to reduce violence against women with mental illness and to increase awareness of this issue.
January 26, 2007 – Changes to the way restaurants are graded and the way those grades are posted were approved by the Georgia Department of Human Resources (DHR) Board on January 17, 2007. The changes to the food code are comprehensive. One of the changes is that a letter grade and a numeric score from the latest, as well as the two most recent restaurant inspections, must be posted.
January 25, 2007 – This month the Office of Child Support Services began applying new guidelines that take into account the combined income of both parents in order to determine child support payments . In addition to combined income, the new guidelines also consider health insurance and work-related child care costs.
January 19, 2007 – The Office of Child Support Services (OCSS) has added text and voice message services to help clients get information about their cases. This Short Message Service (SMS), also known as text and voice messages, has been added to the case alert options available to all clients.
January 19, 2007 – Many people don’t think about long-term care during their young adult and mid-life years, but they should. To help educate individuals and families around the nation, the federal government is working with states to kick off a national long-term care campaign.
January 16, 2007 – (Editorial) I was sadden by the death of two Polk County residents from carbon monoxide poisoning as reported in Heath Hooper’s article in the Rome News-Tribune January 3 ("Officials: Heating care urged especially carbon monoxide safety"). Some safety tips and information on heating can help our older adults stay safe and healthy this winter.
January 16, 2007 – The Georgia Department of Human Resources (DHR) Division of Aging Services (DAS) is urging seniors to remember safety and keep warm this winter. Older adults and families should check their smoke alarm batteries and keep electric and kerosene heaters away from flammable materials.
January 2, 2007 - Hurricane survivors located in Georgia will have until February 28 of next year to receive support for emotional distress through the Department of Human Resources’ (DHR) Project Hope (1-800-273-TALK), a program funded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
January 2, 2007 - Nearly 90 percent of Georgia women are taking action to prevent cervical cancer, according to the latest report from the Georgia Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), the state’s primary source of information on major health risk behaviors. This means that last year, 3,430,000 Georgia women over the age of 18 were tested for cervical cancer, while 343,000 were not.