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Rockingham County Department of Public Health offes free flu vaccine

admin — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 07:36:48 +0000

Published: February 21, 2009
The Rockingham County Department of Public Health will offer free flu vaccinations through the end of the month. The vaccinations are being offered in response to the recent widespread flu activity throughout the state.
“Normally, flu does peak during the month of February,“ said Glenn Martin, director of the Rockingham County Department of Public Health. “It’s been relatively mild until we got into the month of February.“
Influenza-like illnesses accounted for 2.55 percent – 434 out of 16,979 – patient visits to North Carolina health providers that regularly report data to the Centers for Disease Control in the week ending Feb. 14. For the same week, influenza-like illnesses represented 6 percent of hospital emergency department visits.
Martin said the health department wants to target children, because when children get the flu, the illness sometimes leads to “tragic outcomes.“ Children younger than 9 receiving the vaccine for the first time or who received the vaccine for the first time last season but received only one dose should receive two doses, at least four weeks apart.
Martin said the predominant isolate strain this flu season is the A/ H1 virus, which has shown some resistance to the antiviral drugs that physicians normally give flu patients.
“That just reinforces the importance of getting the flu shot,“ Martin said.
Martin said it takes two weeks after receiving the vaccine to get full immunity from the flu. Even if a person is exposed to the flu virus within two weeks of receiving the vaccine, the vaccine can lessen the severity of symptoms, said Susan Joyce, clinical supervisor for the Rockingham County Department of Public Health. She said the vaccine contains a dead virus, so it shouldn’t cause flu-like symptoms. Typical side effects from the flu shot are redness and soreness at the injection site.
Flu symptoms begin suddenly and may include fever, severe headache, body aches, sore throat and cough. According to Martin, the best way to avoid the spread of the flu is to stay home from school or work while sick, cover coughs and sneezes, and wash your hands.
Flu vaccines will be available between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday at the department of public heath on N.C. 65 in Wentworth.
or 349-4331, ext. 35.

LA County rehired convicted rapist after firing him

admin — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 11:50:23 +0000

The Times reported Saturday that Beasley — whose name became public when he appealed his initial termination — was hired by county officials a decade ago despite disclosing his convictions for rape.
Beasley pleaded no contest to raping two women under color of authority while on duty and in uniform as an LAPD officer in the early 1990s. His actions cost the city of Los Angeles $290,000 in civil settlements for his victims.
Beasley’s initial firing came a month after The Times first reported that an audit had found widespread criminal histories among workers at Martin Luther King Jr.- Harbor Hospital.
His second firing came just hours after details of his case were discussed at Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting.
What board members did not know at the time was that even as they met to publicly address his employment history, Beasley was at work at the East L.A. clinic, which provides primary and specialty services for 21,000 patients annually.
It was not until late Tuesday afternoon that Health Services Interim Director John Schunhoff learned that Beasley was still working for the county and ordered him fired again, Molina said.
In the letter terminating Beasley in August, Christopher Arevalo, then-interim chief executive at King-Harbor, said his very employment “may very well potentially expose the county to liability and unnecessary scrutiny . . . and could jeopardize our health facilities’ licensing/accreditation.”
Arevalo — who acknowledged in the letter that Beasley had no documented disciplinary problems in his record — said that county officials had repeatedly erred in overlooking Beasley’s criminal history. In addition to issues with his criminal history, the letter noted that Beasley had worked for several days in July 2008 despite having let his license as a radiological technologist expire.
County officials said Wednesday that Beasley returned to the county through an outside contractor who provides temporary employees. Los Angeles County’s chief executive, William T Fujioka, declined to name the agency.
“I have a three-person team over there investigating,” Fujioka said, declining to provide additional details. “I have to get all the facts together before I start talking about this.”
Molina said the investigation would focus on the outside contractor who provided Beasley’s name to the county for temporary employment, the county officials who apparently failed to ensure that his criminal history was checked and security officials who may have issued him a badge to enter the Roybal clinic.
Supervisor Mike Antonovich said, “County staff who knowingly approve hiring without criminal background checks — in direct violation of the procedures adopted by the Board of Supervisors — are jeopardizing the public’s safety and should be fired.”
It was not immediately clear if Beasley disclosed his criminal history to the agency that placed him in the county health center. It was also not clear when he began working at Roybal.
Beasley’s attorney, Marvin Mathis, declined to respond to a request for comment Wednesday.
In an earlier interview, he said Beasley was pursuing an appeals procedure to be reinstated to his permanent position with the county because of his positive work evaluations.
“It’s just a tragedy. He was a go-to person for the department. They knew about his history. Every time he was promoted or transferred, he filled out an application and disclosed it. There was a discussion each time,” Mathis told The Times.

Conejos County hosts health fair this Saturday

admin — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 06:03:50 +0000

Posted: Monday, Feb 9th, 2009
LA JARA Conejos County residents are invited to come and find out their risk for heart disease at the Love Your Sweet Heart, Lower Your Risk for Heart Disease family health fair. The health fair is Saturday, Feb. 14 (Valentines Day) from 7 a.m.- 12 p.m. noon at the La Jara Elementary School.
Free screenings will be offered, and include cholesterol, blood sugar, blood pressure, Body Mass Index (BMI) and blood oxygen level. Lab results will be available within minutes while participants wait. For optimal results, fasting past midnight is suggested. Educational booths and fun, healthy activities for children are also available, so bring the family.
The Conejos County Commissioners have made a resolution proclaiming February 14 as Love Your Sweet Heart day.
This free Colorado Heart Healthy Solutions program is sponsored by the Cancer, Cardiovascular Disease and Pulmonary Disease Grants Program at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, the SLV Area Health Education Center and the Colorado Prevention Center.
Please call Charlotte Ledonne, SLV AHEC, at 589-4977, or Rodney Sandoval, 580-1588 for more information.

New bill could allow Methodist’s DeSoto County hospital

admin — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 18:10:49 +0000

to build a proposed $151 million hospital in Olive Branch, Miss. has been introduced in the Mississippi Legislature and is making its way through the committee system.
Mississippi state Sen. Merle Flowers (R-Southaven) is the bill’s sponsor and he introduced it when the legislature convened earlier this month. The bill has passed the Senate’s Public Health and Welfare Committee and has been referred to the Appropriations Committee.
The bill would amend Mississippi code from 1972. It would direct the Mississippi Department of Health to issue a certificate of need “for the construction of acute care hospital beds in DeSoto County to any hospital which has continuous participation in the Mississippi Trauma Care System plan.” The bill does not name Methodist specifically.
The Memphis-based hospital system pulled its certificate of need application from the MSDH in November. In a report last year, Mississippi health officials said the project was not needed and questioned Methodist’s financial viability to build it.
These latest moves come after a new, two-year push to build a four-story hospital in Olive Branch. This project comes after the MSDH rejected Methodist’s plans to build a 30-bed hospital in 1999.
The major roadblock to the plan is the portion of the state health plan that designates a hospital bed-to-population ratio for hospital service areas. According to a MSDH staff review published in August 2008, DeSoto County’s service area has 14 hospitals and has 553 too many beds.

DuPage County narcotics team seized $5.5 million in drugs in 2008

admin — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 00:04:40 +0000

The DuPage County Sheriff’s Department tactical narcotics team arrested 106 people and seized $5.5 million worth of drugs last year, the department announced.
Most of the drugs were seized at one time when detectives grabbed 33 pounds of cocaine worth $4.5 million and arrested five people at a home in Aurora that police said was a distribution point for large cocaine sales in Kane and DuPage Counties.
In all last year, the task force confiscated more than 35 1/2 pounds of cocaine, nearly 4 pounds of marijuana, a half-pound of methamphetamine and 675 Ecstasy pills as well as some GHB, heroin, and hallucinogenic mushrooms.
“This has been a successful year for our task force,” Sheriff John Zaruba said.

Morgan County Jail Diet beats NutriSystem

admin — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 23:23:19 +0000

January 12, 2009 08:59 am
Who says eating corndogs three meals a day isn’t “nutritionally adequate?” You got your two food groups — bread and meat — right there on a handy stick. Slap a little ketchup on it, and you’ve got your veggie serving for the day.
Y’all, I could have saved all that money I just spent on NutriSystem — it would have been much cheaper to go on the Morgan County Jail Weight Loss Plan.
In fact, I think the governor should name Sheriff Greg Bartlett to head Scale Back Alabama, the statewide initiative designed to rid us Southerners of our fried-chicken-fattened hindends.
The only roadblock is that Bartlett was jailed for contempt Wednesday, accused of starving his prisoners for profit. Before you go all Hollywood-human-rights indignant, keep in mind what Bartlett’s doing is legal — at least here in Alabama, where a prisoner is still a prisoner, unless he’s a politician.
Under a Depression-era law, Alabama sheriffs get to keep any surplus of the $1.75 per inmate per day allocated for meals by the state. And Bartlett did — to the tune of some $600,000 over six years.
But a judge ruled that Bartlett violated a 2001 court order to provide “nutritionally adequate” meals after prisoners testified they were eating sandwiches with peanut butter spread so thin it looked “sprayed on” and that corndogs purchased in 18-wheeler bulk became a mealtime staple for weeks.
Who says eating corndogs three meals a day isn’t “nutritionally adequate?” You got your two food groups — bread and meat — right there on a handy stick. Slap a little ketchup on it, and you’ve got your veggie serving for the day.
Prisoners who testified at Bartlett’s hearing were described as “skinny,” one of my very favorite adjectives.
One inmate quoted by the Associated Press said in testimony that he lost 35 pounds in the five months he’s been incarcerated.
The best part of the Morgan County Jail diet is being locked away from the fridge and office snack machine. Sounds better than having your jaw wired shut.
Oh, what I wouldn’t give to be in one of those prison jumpsuits, but they need to make the stripes vertical. Everyone knows horizontal stripes add 10 pounds. They might also add a colorful belt, maybe studded with a few rhinestones.
While we could let this be another one of those stories that makes us embarrassed to be from Alabama, I choose to think of the positives: We can forget all those workouts and counting calories. Now all we have to do to reach our ideal weight is get arrested in Morgan County. I wouldn’t want to go all “Weeds” and sell drugs from my kitchen but I’m sure I could think of something illegal to do. Isn’t driving barefoot still against the law here?
Shoot. I could be in a bikini by summer.
In Morgan County Jail, the only thing getting fatter is Bartlett’s wallet.
Here in Limestone County, Sheriff Mike Blakely appears to be keeping prisoners well-fed, although there was that incident last week when an inmate bit off the tip of a fellow prisoner’s ear.
Hmmm.

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Healthy Smiles for Kids of Orange County Hosts Third-Annual “Your …

admin — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 06:44:11 +0000

GARDEN GROVE, CA –
In celebration of community leaders who
lend support for children’s oral health, Healthy Smiles for Kids of Orange
County will present “Your Smile Matters: An Evening Honoring Leaders in
Oral Health,” with generous funding by Diamond Level sponsor Wanda Claro,
DDS, of Irvine Orthodontics. An anticipated 200 community leaders will hear
the Fullerton College Student Jazz Quartet perform while dining at the
Anaheim White House, a historic national landmark celebrating its 100th
anniversary.
“February is designated as National Children’s Dental Health month, and our
event will raise awareness about the oral health crisis affecting Orange
County children,” said Marla Merhab Robinson, chair of the 2009 Leaders in
Oral Health event and founding partner of Merhab Robinson & Jackson, APC.
“We are fortunate to be supported by some incredible community leaders, who
take action every day to improve children’s oral health.”
Hugh McCutcheon, former men’s Olympic volleyball coach, will deliver the
keynote address at the event. McCutcheon and his team brought home the gold
medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics despite inconceivable hardships. During
the Olympics, his family was attacked; his father-in-law was killed and his
mother-in-law was seriously injured. He will share his experiences in
leadership and overcoming adversity.
Among those being recognized will be Dr. Richard Udin, associate professor
of clinical dentistry at the USC School of Dentistry and director of
Healthy Smiles’ Residency Program, who will receive this year’s Richard P.
Mungo DDS Leadership in Children’s Oral Health Award. Also honored: the
National Children’s Oral Health Foundation and Dr. Cherilyn Sheets. The
foundation and Dr. Sheets are resource providers for not-for-profit
pediatric oral health facilities and have contributed to eliminating
pediatric oral disease and promoting the health of disadvantaged youth.
Funds raised from “Your Smile Matters” will benefit the USC/CHOC/Healthy
Smiles Advanced Pediatric Dental Residency Program. Additional sponsors
include Dr. and Mrs. John Aschieris; the Richard and Kirsten Mungo family;
Merhab Robinson & Jackson; Northern Trust; Gary Van Arnam; Dottie and Frank
Andrews; Elizabeth Dunne; Kevin Hszieh, DDS; The Lam Family; Mark and Donna
Merhab; Jack Shaw and Ellen K. Shockro, Ph.D; St. Joseph Hospital; Pacific
Club IMPACT Foundation/Ronnie Lott Award; Angels Baseball Foundation; 3M
ESPE; Eric & Tapan Feldhaus and SafeGuard Dental & Vision, a MetLife
Company.
“Your Smile Matters” will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 24,
2009, at the Anaheim White House, 887 S. Anaheim Blvd., Anaheim. Tickets
are $75 each and sponsorship opportunities are available. Contact
714-537-0700, ext. 7930, or .
Healthy Smiles for Kids of Orange County is an independent non-profit
organization dedicated to improving the oral health of children in Orange
County through collaborations directed at prevention, education, treatment
and advocacy. With the support of the Children & Families Commission of
Orange County, and in collaboration with the USC School of Dentistry &
CHOC, Healthy Smiles helped establish the first-ever Pediatric Dental
Residency Program in Orange County in 2006. Through its Seals on Wheels
school-based prevention program, family outreach and healthcare-provider
education programs, Healthy Smiles also collaborates extensively with other
community-based providers to decrease the staggering disparities in oral
health among Orange County’s children. Learn more at
.
Contact:
WunderMarx|PR
Breanna Cohen or Cara Good
+1 714 862-1112
Email ContactEmail Contact

Santa Clara County DA stands behind troops as withheld-evidence …

admin — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 07:35:54 +0000

Even as controversy rages over a series of incidents in which local prosecutors appear to have withheld evidence, Santa Clara County District Attorney Dolores Carr has adopted a combative response that appears to strain her campaign vow to end a “win at all costs” office culture.
Carr responded to outside criticisms of prosecutors’ conduct, including state disciplinary attention, by assuring a gathering of county prosecutors last week that none of them was going to be “thrown under a bus” and that she was actively trying to limit the state bar’s authority to punish errant prosecutors.
Her comments, recounted by prosecutors who were at the session, are the latest indication that Carr has made a priority since taking office in 2007 of showing support for staff members whose conduct draws criticism. Her address to the staff came amid continuing questions about whether prosecutors are fulfilling their legal duty to make sure defense attorneys know of any potentially helpful evidence.
Carr insisted in an interview that she is setting a high standard of conduct by providing skilled training and supervision of her prosecutors. She said many of the problems of attorney misconduct predate her office. And, she said, many of the instances involve simple mistakes rather than intentional misconduct.
Nevertheless, the controversy is mounting. Last week, for the second time in recent months, a new hearing was ordered that jeopardizes a child-sex
abuse conviction because of the belated discovery of a videotape of the medical examination of the victim. Potentially hundreds more convictions are in danger as prosecutors continue to sort through the trove of tapes made over the years by hospital staff, but never revealed to defense attorneys. Carr and many other top prosecutors have received subpoenas to testify next month about who in the office knew the tapes existed.
State bar officials are expected to rule in the coming days on what, if any, discipline should be imposed on Ben Field, a high-profile deputy district attorney accused of withholding evidence and other suspected misconduct. That follows the public rebuke last month of another veteran deputy, Peter Waite, for withholding an expert’s conclusion before a 1999 trial — the first ever public discipline of a Santa Clara County prosecutor. Other members of the office recently have been notified of bar inquiries into their past conduct.
Carr told prosecutors gathered in the county auditorium last week that one of her goals this year is to essentially curb the power of the bar to discipline attorneys. She told the audience that she has pushed the powerful California District Attorneys Association to sponsor a bill that would severely restrict how long the bar would have to bring misconduct charges from the time of the suspected offense.
Her effort outraged outside legal experts, including Golden Gate University law Professor Peter Keane, who said the proposed legislation amounts to “institutionalizing a legal cover-up.”
He added, “The only real teeth you have to get an attorney to disclose everything in evidence is the threat of a misconduct case. Her taking that away makes all public assertions about cleaning up the office ring hollow.”
Carr insisted in the interview, conducted before her speech to the office, that she has taken steps to change the culture of the office and ensure that prosecutors comply with their obligation to turn over evidence. She could not be reached for further comment after the Mercury News learned of her comments to the staff.
Under the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Brady v. Maryland, prosecutors must turn over any material evidence that may be helpful to the defense — regardless of whether it is requested. During the interview, Carr called that obligation a “very important issue” for all prosecutors and said she has increased training and supervision to ensure her attorneys understand and comply with the law.
She said that many of the cases at issue date back before she took office.
San Jose attorney Jim Roberts agrees that the ethical issues go back for years, leaving Carr in a difficult position. “It’s a tough act to walk,” Roberts said. Carr “inherited a lot of existing problems and is trying to accommodate the needs of the people who work for her.”
Her responses do not satisfy Michael Kresser, who as director of the Sixth District Appellate Program has represented a series of convicted defendants in cases that involve withheld evidence.
“There is a real problem and there has been for about 15 years,” Kresser said. “She could cure this problem, but it would take a major, major initiative, and without it, I’m afraid these problems will keep on happening.”
Many outside critics agree that the ethics of most local prosecutors are beyond reproach, but express concern that Carr needs to act more forcefully against errant conduct.
The office is now in the spotlight over who knew about the videotaping of medical exams of alleged child sex-abuse victims dating back to 1991. Already, one child sex conviction has been overturned, after the 6th District Court of Appeals ruled that the prosecution had improperly withheld a videotape that a defense expert said raised doubts that any abuse occurred. The defendant, Augustin Uribe, has issued several subpoenas to Carr and others — hoping to bar retrial by proving at an upcoming hearing that the evidence was intentionally withheld.
Carr said they were not, characterizing the issue instead as “a breakdown in communication” between her office and the staff at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center.
Initially, prosecutors flatly denied that anyone in the office knew about the tapes, and Carr’s chief assistant called physician’s assistant Mary Ritter untruthful for testifying in a lawsuit that certain prosecutors had long been aware of the practice. The office has since recently backed away from that position and has said it is conducting an internal investigation into who knew of the taping.
“We’ve taken responsibility for this breakdown in communication between the VMC folks and our office,” Carr said. “I’m still trying to find out what happened.”
Carr also blamed a “breakdown in communication” for another recent case of suspected withheld evidence, involving the December conviction of an Army veteran for using a gun in a menacing manner in the robbery of a Mountain View pharmacy. At issue in that case is whether a crime lab examiner told Deputy District Attorney Deborah Medved mid-trial that he was unable to detect a gun in crime scene surveillance photographs.
The examiner, who works for Carr, testified after the conviction that he had told Medved of his findings prior to her closing argument; she insists she did not recall him telling her of his conclusion until after the verdict.
“The way I see it,” Carr said, “is they had a breakdown in communication,” partly because the crime lab examiner did not prepare a written report until after the verdict.
Gerald F. Uelmen, a Santa Clara University law professor who recently directed a statewide commission exploring causes of wrongful conviction, said he is disheartened by what he sees as a trend.
“A succession of cases like this where Brady obligations have been overlooked suggests at least that there’s a lack of comprehension within the DA’s office of what Brady obligations mean,” Uelmen said. “It certainly doesn’t increase public confidence.”
or (408) 278-3482.

Amherst County rates for emergency medical transports rise

admin — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 19:40:17 +0000

Published: December 26, 2008
The rates that Amherst County charges for emergency medical transports have increased for the first time in nearly six years.
Higher fuel costs and the need for more career personnel at the Pedlar Volunteer Fire Department and Rescue Squad sparked the additional expenses. The Board of Supervisors approved the rate changes last week.
The rate for basic life support transports jumped from $300 to $350 — those with advanced life support climbed from $400 to $500 except in one case when a higher level of such service increased from $550 to $600.
A mileage fee also increased from $8.25 to $9.25. Revenue from the changes totals close to $248,000, according to figures from county officials.
Gary Roakes, the county’s public safety director, said any money left over at the end of the fiscal year would go to local rescue squads.
Since supplementing local emergency volunteers with paid career personnel nearly six years ago, Roakes said the number of paid employees jumped from five to 14, including three positions that are expected to start in 2009.
“We recognized an 11 percent call volume increase in the past year,” he said. “We’re staying busier.”
Amherst County was among the first localities in Central Virginia to use paid personnel.
Campbell, Nelson and Bedford counties have begun similar practices in recent years.
The county staffs career personnel full time at the Monelison Rescue Squad and Pedlar Fire and Rescue, and from Monday through Friday at the Amherst Life Saving Crew.
The Amherst County Combined Emergency Services program is offered to people who aren’t covered by insurance. A household pays $75 in annual fees and gets covered in any amount of transports, Roakes said. “It covers anyone who is in that household.”
For more information, call the Public Safety Department at (434) 946-9307.

Merced County raids net drugs, guns, cash

admin — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 01:21:37 +0000

last updated: January 28, 2009 06:02:43 AM
Merced County sheriff’s officials arrested five people and seized drugs, guns and cash while serving search warrants at four Delhi homes Tuesday morning as part of a narcotics trafficking investigation. Members of the Sheriff’s Tactical and Reconnaissance team arrested Eduardo Valle Mariscal, 19; Reyna Mariscal, 50; Jorge Valle, 23; Griselda Barajas, 28; and Alberto Moreno, 24, said deputy Tom MacKenzie, a sheriff’s spokesman.
The suspects live at the Delhi homes that were searched. With help from other sheriff’s officials and state parole agents, the sheriff’s tactical team served the search warrants simultaneously shortly after 10:30 a.m., MacKenzie said. In two homes in the 16000 block of Darren Lane, the investigators found 14.5 ounces of methamphetamine, 1.5 ounces of cocaine, a revolver, a .22-caliber semiautomatic pistol, scales and packaging material for drug sales and more than $65,000 in cash, according to MacKenzie.
In a home in the 16000 block of Oak Road, investigators found a kilogram of cocaine, 3 ounces of meth in a shed, meth lab waste, a stolen .45-caliber semiautomatic handgun, a .22-caliber revolver, a 9 millimeter semiautomatic handgun, a 12-gauge shotgun and more than $2,000 in cash, according to MacKenzie. In a home in the 16000 block of Butternut Court, investigators found 5 grams of meth, a .45-caliber semiautomatic handgun, six rifles, a shotgun and more than $10,000 in cash, according to MacKenzie.
The homes are connected by family relations and suspected drug trafficking, MacKenzie said. He said the suspects were booked at the Merced County Jail on charges including possession of narcotics, possession of narcotics for the purpose of sales, possession of an illegal weapon, possession of stolen property and possessing weapons.