|
|
|
Summer safety important
for fun
As Michigan residents enjoy camping, swimming and fresh homegrown food
this summer, health officials are reminding everyone to reduce their
risk of exposure to bacteria and viruses that can cause illness.
The Marquette County Health Department kicked off a month-long awareness
campaign on July 1 to inform local residents about what they can do
to prevent illness and what the health department is doing to protect
the health of Marquette County residents and visitors.
“Be aware of potential infection from various sources during the
summer months, but do not let it keep you from enjoying the many activities
that the county has to offer for fun and recreation,” said Fred
Benzie, environmental health director. “You can protect yourself
and your family by taking special precautions.”
Michigan residents should be aware and protect themselves from illnesses
such as Lyme disease, rabies and West Nile virus. Lyme disease is a
bacterial infection resulting from the bite of an infected deer tick.
If left untreated, it can cause a skin rash, chills, fever, headaches
and muscle and joint pain.
Although the risk of developing Lyme disease is minimal in Michigan,
residents should be aware of their risk of infection and seek medical
care if symptoms develop. Mosquito or tick repellent is effective. For
clothing, you should wear long-sleeve shirts and pants that are tucked
into socks or boots. One should wear light-colored clothing so that
you can see the tick on you before it attaches itself. Ticks are best
removed as soon as possible, because the risk of disease transmission
increases significantly after twenty-four hours of attachment. The use
of a blunt, medium-tipped, angled forceps offers the best results.
Rabies and West Nile virus are both viral infections. Rabies is contracted
through a bite or scratch from an infected animal. It also can be transmitted
if saliva from an infected animal gets into an open wound or into a
person’s eyes, nose or mouth. In Michigan, rabies has been reported
most often in bats. There is no effective treatment for rabies once
a person or animal shows signs of the disease, so reducing your exposure
is crucial. Geographically, bat rabies generally is wide-spread
across the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, although cases do occur in the
Upper Peninsula, with the last case in Marquette County reported in
2004.
West Nile virus is spread to humans primarily by the bite of an infected
mosquito. A mosquito becomes infected by biting a bird that carries
the virus. Most people who are infected with West Nile virus either
have no symptoms or experience mild illness such as fever, headache
and body aches. Benzie reports that West Nile is endemic in the state,
so there is no longer a need to test for the disease in dead birds.
The best protection is to avoid mosquito bites by having repellent applied.
Not only should you be aware of potential illness from animal and tick
bites during the summer months, but also illness from consuming contaminated
food and beverages.
Here are some precautions you should take to protect yourself and your
family from food-borne illness:
• When carrying food to another location, keep it cold to
minimize bacterial growth. Cold food should be held at or below forty
degrees Fahrenheit. Pack food right from the refrigerator into the cooler
immediately before leaving home.
• When using a cooler, keep it out of the direct sun by placing
it in the shade or shelter. Avoid opening the lid too often, which lets
cold air out and warm air in.
• Be sure there are plenty of clean utensils and platters.
To prevent food-borne illness, don’t use the same platter and utensils
for raw and cooked meat and poultry. Harmful bacteria present in raw
meat and poultry and their juices can contaminate safely cooked food.
The mission of the Marquette County Health Department is to serve people
by assessing, promoting and assuring health within our community. The
Division of Environmental Health helps control those elements, which
have the potential to negatively impact health and well being. For more
information regarding exposure to bacteria and viruses through environmental
sources, visit www.mqthealth.org or call 475-4195.
—George Sedlacek
UPHAC recognizes eight
heroes
Every year, generous individuals and institutions in the U.P. make a
difference in opening doors to health care for thousands of uninsured
residents—their family, friends and neighbors.
At the community level where need is crucial, these volunteers work
with five local access-to-health-care coalitions of the U.P., enrolling
and providing medical services and prescription drugs for low-income,
uninsured residents.
“These ‘Heroes for the Uninsured’ provide exemplary assistance
on a regular basis and, for the most part, their service goes unheralded,”
said Bill Reid, president of the Upper Peninsula Health Access Coalition.
“During national Cover the Uninsured Week 2007, we [were] pleased
to honor contributions of eight exceptional ‘heroes’ as we
recognize the work of hundreds of others who partner with our Local
Access Coalitions to serve the uninsured.”
Honorees for 2007 included:
• Ruthann Davey of Calumet, a volunteer enrollment counselor
and office assistant with the Western Upper Peninsula Healthcare Access
Coalition (WUPHAC) in Hancock since 2005. She was honored as an “Above
& Beyond Hero” for her enrollment work in three of the five
western counties served by WUPHAC and for educating about the coalition’s
services.
• Jeannette Hauver of Marquette, an enrollment and Pharmaceutical
Assistance Program volunteer with the Medical Care Access Coalition
(MCAC) of Marquette, Schoolcraft and Alger counties since 2002. A “Personal
Touch Hero” awardee, she has drawn on her experience as a registered
nurse and mental health professional, extending a caring, compassionate
hand to residents she enrolls and matches to appropriate medical and
community resources.
• OSF St. Francis Hospital and Medical Group of Escanaba whose
multi-million-dollar charity care program benefiting area residents
has supported the mission of the Medical Access Coalition of Delta and
Menominee Counties (MAC-DMC) and allowed it to focus its efforts on
meeting prescription needs of the uninsured. A founding member of MAC-DMC,
OSF was one of four “Most Valuable Partner” Hero awardees
for 2007.
• Kevin Piggott, MD, of Marquette, a family care physician
instrumental in establishing MCAC as the first access-to-health-care
program in the U.P. and an advocate for health care reform nationally.
He is the MCAC volunteer medical director who oversees the MCAC volunteer
clinic and sees patients in his own office. He was recognized as an
“Above & Beyond Hero.”
• Portage Health System’s Financial Assistance Program
of Hancock, honored as a “Most Valuable Partner” awardee for
providing more than $1,202,000 in quality health care services free
or at reduced cost to more than 500 low-income uninsured residents of
four counties served by WUPHAC since the assistance program began in
2003.
• Steve Roell and TDS Pharmacies of Iron Mountain and Norway,
partnering with the Dickinson-Iron Medical Care Access Coalition (DIMCAC),
pioneered local effort to make prescription drugs affordable for the
uninsured through a $4 co-pay plan at TDS Pharmacies. This arrangement
has saved the coalition thousands in pharmacy program costs and rivals
widely known programs of national retailers; it was recognized with
an “Innovation Hero” award.
• Upper Peninsula Association of Rural Health Services, Inc.
of Marquette, a “Most Valuable Partner” awardee, has been
active in the access-to-care movement of the region through connections
between local access coalitions and its six Federally Qualified Health
Centers at Crystal Falls, Engadine, Ewen, Menominee, Sawyer and Spalding;
its centers in Crystal Falls and Spalding serve as primary health care
providers at no cost to DIMCAC enrollees under a model contract believed
to be unique in the nation.
• War Memorial Hospital of Sault Ste. Marie, a “Most
Valuable Partner” honoree for working closely with the Community
Health Access Coalition (CHAC) of Chippewa, Luce and Mackinac counties
to provide CHAC enrollees free or low-cost laboratory and X-ray, in-patient
and clinic services through its charity care program.
“Hero for the Uninsured” awards are presented annually by
the Upper Peninsula Health Access Coalition in conjunction with the
five Local Access Coalitions to recognize excellence in service that
advances their shared mission of achieving 100 percent access to quality
health care with dignity for residents of the Upper Peninsula.
The five access coalitions work with local health care providers, pharmacies
and prescription services, doctors, hospitals and clinics, and individual
volunteers to give uninsured residents of the region opportunities to
receive basic health care services, prescriptions and medical testing
free of charge or at low cost.
Services are available to U.P. residents between the ages of nineteen
and sixty-five who are uninsured, do not qualify for state or federal
health care programs and whose household income is below 200 percent
of the federal poverty level. For a single person, that annual income
figure would be $20,420 or less; for a family of four, the annual figure
would be $ 41,300 or less.
For more information or to apply, contact the local access coalition
in your area:
• Community Health Access Coalition serving the eastern three
counties, in Chippewa—635-7483; in Mackinac—643-7253; in Luce—293-8355.
• Dickinson-Iron Medical Care Access Coalition in Dickinson
County—774-3980; in Iron County—265-4044
• Medical Access Coalition of Delta and Menominee Counties
in Delta—789-1627, and in Menominee County—863-4051.
• Medical Care Access Coalition in Marquette/Alger counties—226-4400;
in Schoolcraft County—341-1312
• Western Upper Peninsula Healthcare Access Coalition serving
the five western counties of the region, at Hancock—482-7122; at
L’Anse—(877)482-7122; at Bessemer—667-0200, ext. 126.
More about local health care access programs is available online at:
• www.upchac.org for residents of Chippewa, Luce and Mackinac
counties.
• www.dimcac.org for residents of Dickinson and Iron counties
• www.phdm.org for Delta and Menominee residents.
• www.upmcac.org for residents of Marquette, Alger and Schoolcraft
counties.
• www.wuphac.org for the western five counties of the Upper
Peninsula (Baraga, Gogebic, Houghton, Keweenaw and Ontonagon counties).
—Nancy Mathews
|
