Leah Northrop began her career in government service with the California State Auditor, conducting program evaluations, compliance audits and fraud investigations. Her time with the State Auditor was followed by various positions at different state agencies, including policy analysis, legislation and grants administration. Prior to coming to Sutter County in 2018, she coordinated department-wide initiatives and served as the Executive Director for the California Conference of Local Health Officers at the California Department of Public Health. Her broad experience in government service has prepared Leah for her role as Public Health Branch Director for Sutter County.

Leah has Masters degrees in Public Administration and International Studies from the University of Washington, and Bachelor’s degrees from UC San Diego.

• SCPH Data and Reports
• Emergency Preparedness - Plan to be Safe
• Emergency Preparedness-Factsheet
• Protect Against Wildfire Smoke
  

The Sutter County Public Health Division is committed to promoting healthy environments for our community to live, work, and play. The healthcare costs of chronic disease, including heart disease, diabetes, and obesity continues to rise across the nation and in Sutter County alone the cost of chronic disease is nearly $120 million per year. That equals $1,300 per resident annually! One goal of the Sutter County Public Health Division is to prevent the community from developing such chronic diseases. A greater impact can be made with your collaboration.

As the Sutter County Public Health Division works towards “Creating a Healthier Sutter,” the Public Health Division would like to encourage the community to promote and implement healthy policies surrounding tobacco, electronic nicotine products, food and beverages distributed at community events, workplace, meetings, and schools. The Sutter County Public Health Division believes that “Making the Healthy Choice the Easy Choice” will enact positive change surrounding health behaviors in the community.

Click the links below for promotion materials, tools and resources to make simple policy changes at your organization, worksite or home. If you would like technical assistance implementing any of these changes at your organization or worksite please contact us.

Help spread the message. Order any of these prints at no cost for your business, worksite or organization.

• Canvas Order Form 
  

Worksite / Organization Resources

Below are links to sample language and policies that can be modified for your worksite/organization:

• Healthy Food and Beverage Events/Worksites 
• Healthy Meeting Resource Guide 
• Implementing, Smoke and Tobacco and Nicotine Free Campus 
• Unified Community Messaging: Canvas Order Form 

Fact Sheets

• Sutter County - Life Expectancy Just the Facts 
• Sutter County - Smoke-Free Housing - Just the Facts 
• Sutter County - Tobacco - Just the Facts 
• Sutter County - Tobacco Retail Licensing - Just the Facts 
• Sutter County - Youth Access to Tobacco -Just the Facts 

Join Us! Creating a Healthier Sutter Collaborative

The Creating a Healthier Sutter Collaborative (CAHSC) was established in Fall of 2015 under leaderships of the Sutter County Health and Human Services – Health Division in order to facilitate cross-sector collaboration with community partners working to address population health. The CAHSC is comprised of four coalitions, the Sutter County Nutrition Action Plan Team, Healthy & Safe Neighborhoods Coalition, Student Advocates for Sutter County, and Tri-Counties Breastfeed Alliance, who each meet separately on a monthly basis and come together quarterly as the CAHSC for the following purposes:

1. Identify and understand how social, environmental and economic factors are associated with population health and health equity
2. Understand how each member/coalition plays a role in preventing and addressing health inequities
3. Provide support, resources, and opportunities for mutually reinforcing activities and projects
4. Support advocacy work and educate policy makers . Currently, the CAHSC is in the development phase of increasing membership with cross-sector partners and seeking grant funding to support CAHSC activities

If you are interested in joining the community collaborative please attend one of our quarterly meetings or Contact Michael Kinnison M.D., Interim Health Officer. Meetings are held on a quarterly basis the second Thursday every January, April, July and October.

• Creating a Healthier Sutter Collaborative Flyer 

Collaborative Chair: Michael Kinnison M.D.
Phone: (530) 822-7215

When McDonald's opened its doors in 1955, the original fast food meal came in one size and contained 590 calories. Today, the average fast food meal is about 1350 calories. It's not only fast food portions that have gone wild, it's seen in all food types. From sodas to muffins to bagels to smoothies and coffee drinks, our food portions have grown exponentially in the last 20 years.

Learn about Controlling Your Portion Sizes.

In an effort to prevent unplanned pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections, our population needs access to adequate reproductive health services. Finding coverage for or locating access to these services can be difficult. Please review the resources provided on our Reproductive Health page.

• Reproductive Health
• Information For Teens and Young Adults

In the United States, approximately 3500 infants die annually from sleep-related infant deaths, including Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), accidental suffocation and strangulation. SIDS is the sudden death of an infant under one year of age which remains unexplained after a thorough case investigation, including performance of a complete autopsy, examination of the death scene and review of the clinical history of the family and infant. View the full article below.

• Safe Sleep for Your Baby

• Bed Bugs Color Flyer 
• Bed Bugs Fact Sheet - English 
• Bed Bugs Fact Sheet - Spanish 
• Bed Bugs - Pesticide Hazard Alert 
• CDPH Bed Bugs

SACRAMENTO - California Department of Public Health (CDPH) Director and State Public Health Officer Dr. Karen Smith is urging Californians to protect themselves against mosquito bites if traveling to Mexico or Latin America, where there have been increased reports of the mosquito-borne diseases chikungunya and dengue. Travelers should also be aware that there is currently transmission of dengue on the Big Island in Hawaii, and precautions against mosquito bites are advised; there are no reports of dengue transmission on the other Hawaiian islands.

“We want all Californians to be extra careful when traveling to these regions and take steps to avoid mosquito bites,” Dr. Smith said. “The mosquitoes that transmit chikungunya and dengue are aggressive daytime biters.”

Chikungunya is a viral disease characterized by acute onset of fever and severe joint pain. Dengue, another viral disease, is characterized by high fever, severe headache, muscle and joint pain, rash, and in severe cases bleeding manifestations. For both, treatment is supportive, the disease is not contagious person to person, and there is no vaccine.

A Portrait of Sutter County: 2015 Children's Health Report was released today by Sutter County Public Health. The report summarizes how well Sutter County's children and families are doing on key indicators that are predictors of health and well-being. The report identifies positive trends in reducing rates of child abuse and neglect, decreasing high school dropout rates and juvenile arrest rates and also identifies areas in need of improvement. The Children's Health Report does not make recommendations but instead is intended to encourage policy makers, community members, health care providers and others to use the information to consider creative solutions to help children grow and develop in healthy ways.

The Child Health and Disability Prevention (CHDP) program provides access to complete health assessments and services for low income children and youth in California. Periodic, comprehensive health assessments are important for the early detection and prevention of disease and disabilities. CHeck out the link below to view our quarterly newsletter for information in the Sutter County CHDP Program and other ideas for healthy children and families.

In Sutter County, more than 400 animal bites are reported every year. Animal bites can cause very serious injuries and may require costly treatment to prevent rabies. Half of the animal bites in the United States are to children. Most bites are preventable. It is important to know how to prevent animal bites and to teach children how to be safe around animals.

California law requires that all animal bites be reported. Report bites in Sutter County to: (530) 822-7375

For more information:

• Sutter Animal Services
• Kids and Rabies. CDC web page for kids
• Dog Bite Prevention. CDC web page for adults
• California Department of Public Health. Rabies. See "Information for the General Public"

If you are in a situation where you believe there is no way you can care for your baby, now there’s a way to safely surrender your baby. California law permits the parent or person with legal custody to safely and confidentially surrender a baby within three days of birth.

The law requires that the baby be taken to a county designated site such as a hospital displaying this logo.

Designated Safe Surrender Site for Sutter County:

• Rideout Emergency Department,
  726 4th Street, Marysville, CA 95901

For more information, please visit:
http://www.babysafe.ca.gov/

Or call: Toll free 1-800-371-3177
Toll free access provided by Sutter County Maternal, Child and Adolescent Health Program

Shaken Baby & Shaken-Impact Syndrome are serious and often fatal forms of abusive head trauma. These brochures explain the damage caused and provide strategies for parents and caregivers who are frustrated with a baby's crying.

• Shaken Baby Brochure - English version 
• Shaken Baby Brochure - Spanish [Español] version 
• Shaken Baby Brochure - Punjabi version 

Medical care in the first three months of pregnancy plays an important part in having a healthy baby. These brochures explain why and contain information about accessing pregnancy-related Medi-Cal insurance and finding a prenatal provider.

• Early Prenatal Care Brochure - English version 
• Early Prenatal Care Brochure - Spanish [Español] version 

Public Health Emergency Preparedness is a combined effort to enable emergency responders from federal, state, and local agencies to work together more effectively and efficiently to manage incidents no matter what the cause, size, or complexity. Emergency preparedness program involves planning, training, and collaborating with local health agencies and preparing community members respond to public health emergencies of natural and manmade disasters, emergencies, and terrorism events that impact the public's health.

Emergencies Happen!
Ready Sutter: You can do this! Collect these nine essential items to help you shelter-in-place in the event of an emergency.

• Emergency Preparedness - Plan to be Safe
• Emergency Preparedness-Factsheet
• Protect Your Lungs from Wildfire Smoke 
• Stay Cool Sutter - English 
• Stay Cool Sutter - Spanish 

Protect Against Wildfire Smoke

• Smoky Air Tips 
• Wildfire Smoke is a Health Hazard, Protect People at Risk 
• Wildfire Smoke Estimator Tool 

General links:

• Sutter County Emergency Preparedness: www.bepreparedsutter.org
• California Department of Public Health: www.bepreparedcalifornia.ca.gov
• California Office of Emergency Services: www.caloes.ca.gov
• CDC Emergency Preparedness: https://emergency.cdc.gov/

Public Health Laboratory Services

Sutter County Public Health (SCPH) provides access to the specialized testing of public health laboratories in partnership with local health care providers and public services for the residents of Sutter County. Testing services include animal rabies testing, human diagnostic testing, and information about other testing services available to the community. The information generated by this testing is provided to the person’s healthcare provider to assist in diagnosis and treatment and, under certain circumstances, information may be shared confidentially with to other agencies as required by law and/or for the purpose of monitoring and limiting infectious disease outbreaks and environmental threats to the public's health. For more information please visit the Public Health Laboratory Services web page:

Public Health Laboratory Services

Health Education and Promotion
Health Education and Promotion Unit plays a key role in addressing serious health issues responsive to evidence-based health education interventions, and takes the lead in managing and evaluating programs whose focus is behavior change, community education, community empowerment, professional education and training, and/or institutional or public policy change. The unit's current programs include: tobacco control, childhood lead poisoning prevention, emergency preparedness, risk communication, media relations, injury prevention, chronic disease prevention/management and employee wellness.
For further information regarding Health Education and Promotion, call: (530) 822-7215.

Public Health Nursing
Public Health Nursing is a specialty that focuses improving population health by emphasizing prevention and attending to the multiple determinants of health. Services include limited immunizations, TB testing, communicable disease prevention and control, Child Health and Disability Prevention Program (CHDP), California Children’s Services (CCS), Jail Medical, and Maternal Child Adolescent Health.

For further information regarding these services call: (530) 822-7215 or the toll-free line (800) 371-3177*
*Toll-free access provided by Sutter County Maternal Child Adolescent Health Program.

For California Children's Services (CCS) direct number, please call: 822-5987.

Women's, Infant, Children Supplemental Food Program (WIC)
WIC provides nutritional counseling and education to eligible clients in addition to provision of supplemental food coupons for specific food items.
For further information regarding services call: (530) 822-7224 or visit the WIC website

THIS BRANCH DOES NOT PROVIDE SERVICES REGARDING ENVIRONMENT HEALTH ISSUES OR ANIMAL BITES. PLEASE CONTACT THE SUTTER COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNITY SERVICE AT (530) 822-7400 FOR INFORMATION ON THESE TOPICS.

Vital Statistics
The Health Division holds only current year and prior year Birth and Death Certificates for all births and deaths occurring in Sutter County. For all other years, Birth and Death Certificates and by-mail requests for certified copies please contact the Sutter County Clerk-Recorder’s Office at 530-822-7134 or visit the Clerk-Recorder's website.

Because of the increased occurrence of identity theft, new laws were passed to protect birth and death records from misuse. The steps necessary to obtain Birth or Death Certificates have changed significantly. View detailed information on the new procedures and requirements for Birth and Death Certificate Requests .

Fees for Certified Copies

Birth Certificates	$25.00
Death Certificates	$21.00
Fetal Death Certificates	$18.00
Burial Permits	$12.00

• Check or Cash ONLY and NO bills larger than $20 are accepted methods of payment

For all other information regarding Vital Statistics please call 530-822-7215

• Child Death Review
• HIPAA Notice of Privacy Practices (NPP) 
• HIPAA Notice of Privacy Practices (NPP) - Español 
• HIPAA Notice of Privacy Practices (NPP) - Punjabi 
• Healthcare Professionals