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Show Vernal Express Wednesday, March 19, 2008 B5 Friday is last clay to order antiviral ?5 V "ri-r.-,-." ,; ... .... . , V V 7 Tamiflu, an antiviral medicine that can slow or block the multiplication of viruses and reduce symptoms of a viral illness, is produced in packs of 10 capsules meant to be taken one a day by an infected person, or as a way of protecting against catching an illness. The TriCounty Health Department is calling for businesses and other organizations to buy discounted Tamiflu through the department to be stored in case of a local outbreak of pandemic flu. By Preston McComme Uintah Basin News Service Businesses, government offices, of-fices, churches and other organizations orga-nizations in Daggett, Duchesne and Uintah counties have until Friday to notify the TriCounty Health Department if they want to order medicine that may protect against a possible and increasingly in-creasingly likely flu pandemic. In a second round of surveys sent out March 14 to many area offices, Tri-County Health Department Director Joseph Shaffer said that for a short time the Utah Department of Health is making the antiviral medicine Tamiflu available at a negotiated discount of $15 per 10-capsule course. In order to meet the state's April 1 order date, survey forms stating the number of Tamiflu courses, including how many are for adults and how many for children, must be mailed or faxed to the TriCounty Health Department by Friday. Although in a past survey Shaffer had indicated organizations organiza-tions could stockpile Tamiflu for use to prevent catching a virus, he said it is not practical to do so because an effective preventive regimen would require between eight and 10 courses and cost at least $165 per person. Just to stockpile one course for every Uintah Basin resident will cost $1.6 million today, he said - already al-ready far more than the department, depart-ment, with its $3 million annual budget, can afford. "The state has essentially told local agencies we're on our own," Shaffer told Duchesne County commissioners March 3. "They've dropped the ball, so it's up to us to pick it up and protect ourselves." While it is possible no pandemic pan-demic would occur before the Tamiflu's seven-year shelf life expires, Shaffer said, "I'd rather have egg on my face in seven years because we bought the antiviral and nothing happened than in three years to have a pandemic break out and we didn't do anything to prepare when we could have." According to Shaffer, fear of pandemic flu is high right now because of a deadly strain of bird flu in Southeast Asia that kills between 40 and 60 percent of its victims. The virus does not normally affect humans and is not easily transferred either from birds to humans or from human to human. But experts fear that if there is a mutation, the virus could begin easily attacking humans hu-mans and spread swiftly around the world, affecting possibly hundreds of millions in the time it would take to develop a vaccine. vac-cine. Therefore Shaffer said the only preparation against the virus is for people to learn and practice good hygiene, such as "sneezing into their elbows and washing their hands with soap and water as much as they can stand without making their skin fall off," and stockpiling virus-inhibiting virus-inhibiting medicine that can save the lives of a percentage of infected persons. Tamiflu works by inhibiting infected cells from emitting new virus particles, allowing the body's immune system more time to fight the infection. While taking tak-ing it before becoming infected can be more effective than taking it afterward, its effect quickly wears off after it is taken, and to build up any significant temporary tempo-rary immunity requires about 10 courses, or 100 doses. Therefore the medicine will only be issued if an outbreak actually occurs, and organizations will have to agree to administer it only to infected persons. Tri-County's environmental health director, Sharon Weyland, said the department cannot order or store Tamiflu for individuals because "it would be too cumbersome." cumber-some." "When the time comes to distribute this it will have to be distributed comparatively quickly," she said. To download a survey form and reserve a Tamiflu order for your business or organization, see the link below this story at www.ubstandard.com. look Who's Turning 50! If; I f ' r? ft r, Aire sap.. )Muti)Artl!iXgiir i LordyLordy. Look Who's . J Happy Birthday Cindy Rose ; from the girls at Western Petroleum! St. Paul's Episcopal Church 226 West Main St. 789-1806 Schedule for Palm Sunday, Holy Week and Easter Palm Sunday - Blessing of the palms and procession to St. Paul's from Cobblerock Park Wednesday 7:30 am Morning Prayer Maundy Thursday - 6:30 pm Holy Communion with foot washing Good Friday Noon services for Good Friday Easter Sunday 6:00 am the lichtine of the New Fire and Easter Vigil, Holy Communion 10:00 am Services of Holy Communion Regular x; Services of Holy Communion 1 Sunday School 10:00 am Sundays Understanding the Terms Endemic means a communicable illness that is commonly found in an area and sometimes during a particular season, but that does not spread rapidly. A disease that is rarely seen in an area and soon dies out is not endemic. Thus malaria is endemic to much of Africa but not to England, because Europe has no mosquitoes to carry the disease and it is less common for it to spread from one human to another. In virtually all parts of the world the common cold is an endemic virus, and although it may spread more rapidly during winter when people stay indoors and breathe stale air, if cold viruses do not infect an abnormal number of people they are not considered epidemic. Under normal endemic conditions, the illness spreads at the same rate as victims recover from it, but remains a "background" illness that is always circulating but not growing significantly. Epidemic means any communicable illness that spreads faster than people can recover, causing it to overtake a larger and larger part of the population, but without spreading beyond a comparatively small region. An outbreak of cold that overtakes half the population of a town would be an epidemic. Epidemics are limited by how fast an illness runs its course and how long it can remain contagious in people without making them too ill to travel. Ebola is a communicable disease that kills its victims so swiftly that it has never spread much beyond a single town, therefore remaining an epidemic. Technically speaking, epidemic refers only to communicable diseases, so although there may be a growing number of people dying from heart disease or cancer, referring to an epidemic of these conditions is only symbolic. Pandemic means a communicable illness that spreads so quickly that it jumps borders and take root' in many areas, affecting different countries and perhaps the entire world. The last worldwide influenza pandemic, in 1918, killed between 50 million and 100 million people worldwide, including approximately 400,000 in the United States. Because of modern travel methods it is believed a new and deadly influenza virus could spread much faster than the Spanish flu of 90 years ago. April is child abuse prevention month Promote Healthy Families in Your Community W hat You Can Do Protective factors increase the safety and well-being of children and families: O Nurturing and Attachment Encourage parents to play and talk with their children. O Knowledge of Parenting and of Child and Youth Development Talk about what parents can anticipate at different ages. O Parental Resilience Offer healthy ways to cope with stress. O Social Connections Connect caregivers with others for support. O Concrete Supports Help families access needed resources. Protecting Children Promoting Healthy Families Preserving Communities Find out more! Vr;r iU: PiiVnt'on sii'dirm of lh- Chiki Welfare fnfoinut'on Gt-iU''A.rv vvhiK? at Vvww ch!M Jvp!f;ii'e.gopreventing "SChlld Welfare a t Information Gateway ' ,i (if WS sutonji BCff (tr foi Ummufuty-Smd -vr el n OWn-i i Blithe AO-f U Dwu-i el lm and Xnmin S-vt ft'Jte'WNtiWKifl tiS0Vj'itfidAvtjr SUV frgrti.1 ftoot Washington DC 70024 rWTT'ii'alc.i lor iheTi jrW Fjovm 800 Un ;wrw Op;. Suite IDS Crw HJI, NC ITiH 70.5 it", ' S6S or BOO i 3 31 Etnt.1 in(oJirl"(j;i!art V Wwnutci on ilWen, IDuin nd f jmUe J'Hi SS" www (tuldwtl jo CMUii-n i flj'Mu www trientJjwt oro "" "hi 90vprogimtVtb 1 J 2008's child abuse prevention poster reminding parents and caregivers to cherish the well-being of children and promoting healthy families. Call for art entries The 6th annual American Indian Art Show to be presented by the Western Heritage Museum is calling for artwork entries. Art medium in painting, beadwork, woodwork or leather work can be entered. Bring artwork to the museum at 328 E. 200 S., Vernal by March 31. Artwork will be on display from Tuesday April 1 through Friday April 25. A reception with light refreshments refresh-ments will be presented to meet the artists at the museum on Thursday April 3 from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Contact Mariah Cuch at the Ute Bulletin at 722-8541 or the Chris Smith at Western Heritage Museum at 789-7399, for more information. Jenae Pike, of the Bureau of Indian Affairs social services, brought a resolution to be signed by Uintah County Commissioners Commission-ers on Monday March 10 in support of child welfare. April is child abuse prevention month and Pike spoke in behalf of families fami-lies to access the social resources available. "We represent tribal, county, state and federal agencies who have teamed up to prevent child abuse," Pike explained. "We offer of-fer assistance in the counties of Uintah and Duchesne and on Tribal lands to help build healthy families." Tribal elders and commissioners commission-ers in three counties were asked for their support in signing a resolution that promotes April as child abuse prevention month. Uintah County commissioners approved the resolution and read the document into the record. It reads, Whereas, as citizens we recognize recog-nize that the raising of children is the entire community; and Whereas, child abuse and neglect has been increasing in our community; and Whereas, the effects of child abuse and neglect are felt by our entire community; and Whereas, finding solutions to child abuse and neglect depends upon the involvement of all the people living in the community; and WTiereas, the effective child abuse and neglect prevention programs require that all citizens become involved in supporting parents to raise their children in a safe and nurturing environment; and Now Therefore, be it resolved that we proclaim April as Child Abuse and Prevention Month, and pledge our support of and our participation in the effort to prevent child abuse and call upon all citizens, community agencies, religious organizations and medical facilities businesses to join us thereby strengthening the communities in which we live. I (fw Li U I For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, bat have everlasting life. John 3:16 Happy Birthday in Heaven, Kevin. We love you so much. Love, Your Eternal Family FindlL, CLASSIFIEDD iX - ; 'A in n n tn n U a h r, n n rah mm V " . ( (OH I! WD nn Mn?iho ft LLJL A J,' J -J r . . i TIP i A m LiVV 7' : Royalty Contestants - Application deadline is March 31, 2003. Young ladies wanted to participate as DRR Royalty Contestants. For application and information please contact Kimmie Wall 722-3746 SponSOfS - Is your business interested in becoming a sponsor for this year's Dinosaur Roundup Rodeo? Many different sponsor packages arc available! For more information call Christi Griffis 790-4720 Trade fair - The Dinosaur Roundup Rodeo is designed to provide alternative ' entertainment before, during and after the rodeo. There are exhibition booth and spaces available for such entertainment, these booths and spaces are in close proximity to the rodeo arena and the main traffic areas and can accommodate large vending trailers anyone interested in being a vendor at the Trade Show please contact Dan Orr 828-3316 for more information. Concessions - Looking for interested parties, clubs, groups, churches, teams or businesses who would consign out a concession stand at the DRR. This is a great fund raising OR MONEY MAKING OPPORUTNITY. Contact Dennis Mott & 789-7555. IV Hi jf ift 1( lift..!; A. 4 Si iiJi , .1 |