Weekly Insights

All Wake County buildings will be smoke-free starting January 1, 2008. The ordinance, recently approved by the Board of Commissioners, includes all buildings owned, leased or occupied by the County, including the courthouse and parking decks.

In addition, Human Services will implement a “100 percent tobacco-free campus” policy for staff, clients and visitors at all 14 Human Services buildings and surrounding property starting January 1, 2008. This means employees and visitors will not be allowed to use tobacco products on the grounds of Human Services buildings.

Employees who need help to stop using tobacco are invited to participate in free smoking-cessation classes. The classes will be held once per week for six weeks.

Dates: 12/6, 12/13, 12/20, 1/3, 1/10

Times: 8:30 a.m., 11 a.m., 1 p.m., 5 p.m.

Locations: The 8:30 a.m., 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. classes will all be held in Room 106 at the General Services Center (401 Capital Blvd). The 5 p.m. classes will be held in Room 344 of the Sunnybrook Bldg (10 Sunnybrook Road).

Contacts to sign up:

Ronda Sanders, Project ASSIST Coordinator
919.212.9292
ronda.sanders@wakegov.com

Robin Cassidy, Employee Health Coordinator
919.212.9498
robin.cassidy@wakegov.com

E-Mail Scams on the Rise

If you have recently used e-mail, you have probably seen the plethora of unsolicited e-mails known as spam circulating the Internet. Users of the County’s Lotus Notes e-mail system are not immune, even though steps have been taken to limit these scams and nuisances.

In recent months, County employees have no doubt noticed several scam e-mails relating to incredible stock tips, fake banking notifications, or other e-mail scams that attempt to trick the e-mail user.

“We are seeing an increase in e-mail scams that cleverly try to fool the users into performing tasks such as logging into fake banking websites and entering personal information (Phishing), or fake financial offers donating millions of dollars from other countries,” says Dean Mitchell, security officer in Information Services. “The anti-spam system used by Wake County Information Services is currently stopping over three million incoming spam e-mails per month, but unfortunately a small number of unwanted e-mails get through to our users.”

Mitchell stated that the following guidelines should be used to avoid problems resulting from these e-mail scams:

Good Spam and Hoax information sites:
http://spam.abuse.net/
http://hoaxbusters.ciac.org/HBHoaxIndex.html
http://www.scambusters.org/

Univision TV Awards Human Services Program

Human Services’ Latino Depression Support Group, Mamás Apoyando Mamás (Mothers Supporting Mothers), was recognized by Univision TV on October 25 with its "Orgullo de Nuestra Comunidad" (Pride of Our Community) Award. The award is given to prominent Latinos working in the Latino community each year. Public Health Educator Maria Ines Robayo accepted the award on behalf of the Wake County program.

Wake County Human Services began the support group for Latina mothers experiencing postpartum depression in September 2006. Mamás Apoyando Mamás meets twice a month and typically involves 12-15 participants. The women have group discussions about; their challenges; learn coping, anger and stress management skills; build self esteem; and support each other.

Many participants report being able to fully enjoy their lives after joining the group, and a number of women appear to have fully recovered from depression. Since September 2006, more than 200 women have been referred to the group by public health center staff. On average, women attend 8-10 sessions.

Wake County Electrical Inspector Jerry Burch was named North Carolina Electrical Inspector of the Year by the North Carolina Ellis Cannady Electrical Inspectors Association on November 5.

Jerry has worked with Wake County Inspections since June 2004. He provides electrical, plumbing and mechanical inspections to citizens in Zebulon and Eastern Wake County, working out of the Eastern Regional Center.

The North Carolina Ellis Canady Electrical Inspectors Association has more than 1000 electrical inspectors statewide.

North Regional Library has earned a Sir Walter Raleigh Award for Community Appearance. The annual award honors projects, groups and individuals that have made a difference in improving the visual and natural environment of the City of Raleigh. To qualify, applicants must exhibit exemplary design, environmental stewardship, community involvement, and preservation of natural features or historic resources.

A total of 17 award winners were recognized at a public ceremony on Tuesday, November 6, 2007, at the Fletcher Opera Theater in the Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts. The recipients were selected by independent jury from a field of more than 48 nominees, the largest number of entries in the award program’s 25-year history.

Wake Walking Winners

Wake County's walking incentive program, dubbed Wake County High Rollers, is "off and running." The October winners were Team Villa Roma from the Eva Perry Library. The team -- lead by captain Lynn Wolfgram -- walked 3,009,403 steps, which is equal to about 1,505 miles.

The walking program was developed to improve the health and wellness of Wake County employees. Each division of the County was invited to create walking teams and recruit up to 10 members. Teams may walk as a group or individually to accrue as many steps/miles as possible. The program began on October 1, 2007, and will end January 18, 2008. One team will be chosen as the winner each month.

Other members of the Villa Roma team are Linda Berner, Joyce Bingham, Laura Harpham, Mary Marks, Carol McCollum, Debbie Shreve, Connie Simmons, Maryellen Staats and Teddy Witherspoon.

PAO Brings Home State Awards

The Wake County Public Affairs Office (PAO) team brought home three statewide Awards of Excellence from the North Carolina Association of Government Information Officers’ annual seminar November 13.

The PAO won for “Roads to Hope: our ten-year journey,” the history of Human Services; the “Ready Wake!” community preparedness and emergency response campaign; and the “Ready Wake” Web site for quick community access.

The PAO competed with hundreds of state and local governments across North Carolina. All these award-winning materials are accessible on WakeGOV.com.

Combined Campaign Raises $87, 979.80!

Thanks to each employee who attended a kick-off party, swung a baseball bat or golf club, or purchased a hot dog to raise money for local organizations and families in need -- we exceeded our Combined Campaign 2007 goal by more than $7,900! Overall employee participation increased, from 7.2% in 2006 to 10.4% in 2007.

Caring Heart Team Wins State Award

The Wake County Human Services Maternity Care Coordination (MCC) Team received the Caring Heart Team Award from the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services at the 17th Annual Baby Love Awards Ceremony on August 27.

The Caring Heart Team Award is for excellent service, outreach and innovative practices that benefit pregnant women and families. Many team members are trained and certified in DOULA (labor support), breast-feeding education, nationally certified child passenger safety practices, SIDS counseling and BESST (Baby Easy Safe Sleep Training). The Wake MCC team was one of 11 groups from across the state nominated for this year’s recognition.

Exploring the World in a New Way

Dozens learned how Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are being used to map crime, manage coastal areas, and protect public health at the Capital Area GIS Showcase on Wednesday, November 14. The free event was held on Bicentennial Plaza, across from the North Carolina Museum of History.

Festivities included interactive exhibits, trivia questions and a map contest. The map winner was a 3D map of the state's topography.

The Capital Area GIS Showcase was a collaborative effort among Wake County, the City of Raleigh and the State of North Carolina, and provides an opportunity for those curious about GIS to see its applications in our local community.

GIS is a computer-based mapping tool that takes information from a database about a location, such as streets, buildings, water features and terrain, and turns it into visual layers. GIS is used every day to direct the power supply to buildings, delivery trucks on the road, and patrol cars and fire trucks that keep neighborhoods safe.