Meriden and Wallingford CT Local News & Events August 2010

About The People's Press We are a community newspaper and a viewspaper serving Wallingford, Meriden and all of Central Connecticut. It's your write to express yourself. That's right; The People's Press is made up of submissions by YOU! It's all about your LocalMotion. You can submit a photo, a story, a poem, a recipe, community and local news or whatever you would like. That's what makes us a viewspaper and a newspaper! It's not about us, it’s about you! You can email us all of the above at andy@peoplespressnews.com . You will also find information from the Wallingford and Meriden Mayors, the Wallingford and Meriden Public Libraries, the Wallingford and Meriden Senior Centers, the Wallingford and Meriden Health Departments, other various town and city departments and events as well as information about the wonderful groups and civic organizations that help Wallingford, Meriden and all of Central Connecticut to be a better place. We list news and events before they happen and not after they happen so you can be a part of them. You will also find only LOCAL BUSINESSES in our paper! We invite you to join us by becoming a part of the family of our submitters and sharing your news, stories, photos and views that matter most to Wallingford, Meriden and Central Connecticut. We are YOUR newspaper. The People's Press - Your Town, Your News, Your Views! Visit http://www.peoplespressnews.com/ to read the entire paper in image or pdf form. Plus there is local links, coupons and more! School Child Care The Wallingford Family YMCA is accepting registrations for the before and after School Child Care Program. Before and After Care programs are held at all Wallingford elementary schools. Children attending Holy Trinity can attend the Moses Y Beach school site. Holy Trinity offers transportation to the program. Children attending Magnet Schools can be bused to their neighborhood school. With the elementary school reconfiguration, some sites are filling more quickly than others. Pick up your application at the Wallingford Family YMCA, or call Jane Rynaski at 203 697 2383 for more information. Total Metabolic Transformation New England Naturopathic Center is now offering Total Metabolic Transformation. Get a FREE 15 MIN CONSULTATION Tuesdays and Thursdays through September. Call to reserve your spot today! A therapeutic lifestyle program called “Total Metabolic Transformation” is now being offered at the New England Naturopathic Center. The National Institute of Health and Center for Disease Control both recommend therapeutic lifestyle changes such as diet, nutrition, and exercise to address the underlying cause of many chronic illnesses. TMT is a 12-week program that includes an initial comprehensive assessment of body composition using bioimpedance analysis technology and a metabolic health profile questionnaire. A specialized diet is prescribed along with medical grade food supplementation and a recommended exercise plan. This type of therapeutic lifestyle program, with its associated improvement in body composition, may have a beneficial effect on a variety of health parameters. Patients will often experience lower blood pressure and improvement in cardiovascular health profiles, lower blood sugar and/or blood lipid levels, a balance of hormonal-related symptoms, a decrease in arthritis aches and pains and overall feeling of sustained energy. Contact: Jason M. Belejack N.D. Call (203) 271-1311 and visit our website at www.nenaturopathic.com "LET'S TALK"...About Your Health By Chris More, RN Public Health Educator Wallingford Health Department Let's talk about "West Nile Virus." A few years back, West Nile Virus dominated the CT Public Health headline. So what happened to WNV? The CT DPH is no longer testing individual birds (we know it’s in the bird population) but mosquito surveillance is on going, and Wallingford has 2 locations with mosquito traps. Is WNV still a public health issue? Yes! A quick refresher: West Nile Virus is transmitted by mosquitoes, and affects the nervous system. West Nile has been found in humans, birds, horses, and other animals in all parts of the U.S. The virus exists in nature through a transmission involving mosquitoes and birds. Mosquitoes become infected when feeding on infected birds. Infected mosquitoes can then transmit the virus to humans and animals when feeding, and so the cycle continues. People infected may or may not have symptoms, these symptoms may appear anywhere from 3 to 15 days after initial infection. So what are the symptoms? Symptoms are usually mild, fever, headache, body aches, occasionally skin rash or swollen glands. In some cases you may develop more severe symptoms, and need to be hospitalized, and carefully monitored. People who spend a lot of time outdoors are at higher risk of being bitten by an infected mosquito. Not all mosquitoes carry the WNV, so the mosquito surveillance program is important. What do I do if I think I have WNV? There is no specific treatment at this time. Contact your health care provider, they will treat symptoms as needed based on severity of the symptoms. As always, PREVENTION is the best protection. PREVENTION involves using some good old common sense. Stay indoors at dawn and dusk (that’s when mosquitoes are feeding the most), wear protective clothing, apply insect repellant with DEET to exposed skin (always READ the package instructions), and parents, use no more than 15 percent DEET on children or check with your child's health care provider for advise on repellants. PREVENT and remove standing water from around your home, clean gutters, pool covers and change the water in the bird bath at least weekly (plus what birds doesn’t like clean water!). This was a quick reminder to PREVENT West Nile Virus, for more information, visit www.cdc.gov/westnilevirus or call the Wallingford Health Dept. at 203-294-2065. Stay healthy and “LET’S TALK… About Your Health” again next month. Read The People’s Press in image form, pdf form and more at www.peoplespressnews.com We are Meriden and Wallingford Connecticut’s Community Newspaper and News Source. Meriden Health Department – Keeping You Healthy in August! School Readiness Accepting Fall Registration The Meriden School Readiness program is now accepting applications for Fall 2010. This affordable quality preschool program is open to 3 and 4 year old children who live in Meriden (child must be 3 years of age by September 1, 2010). Full time, part time and extended day child care is available. Weekly fees are done on a sliding fee scale based on family size and annual income and how many children in the family need child care services. For more information, call Jessica Stewart, School Readiness Facilitator, at 203-630-4236. Meriden Health Department Seeks Walking Route Ideas The Health Department wants to know your favorite walking routes! We are in the process of developing walking maps for Meriden. Your suggestions are encouraged and welcomed! We hope to include points of interest and historical information with the maps for a “scavenger hunt” contest – any info you have about landmarks, building, or signs is appreciated. Please submit any ideas and suggestions to Lea Crown, Community Health Educator, at lcrown@ci.meriden.ct.us or call 203-630-4238. “Know Your Numbers” Health Screenings Do you “know your numbers”? The Meriden Health Department is now offering a comprehensive health screening for Meriden adults. The screening is only $10.00 per person (cash only, please) and includes: • Blood glucose (sugar) testing • Total cholesterol • Blood pressure • Height, weight, body mass index (BMI) • Vision and hearing We’ll give you a tracking card with all your results and educational materials as well. Screenings are held at 165 Miller Street. To make your appointment with one of our nurses, please call the Clinic office at 203-630-4234 today! Back To School Physicals Back to school physicals for school-age Meriden residents will be done the week of August 23 at the Meriden Health Department, 165 Miller Street. The cost of the physical is $20.00 per child, $50.00 for 3 or more children. Payment for the physicals is cash only. Your child's immunization record is needed at the time of the physical. School physicals are required to enter Pre-K, Kindergarten, 6th grade and 10th grade. Call the Meriden Health Department Clinic Office at 203-630-4234 to make your appointment. MidState Medical Center Announces 2010 Cancer Survivors’ Day The Cancer Center at MidState Medical Center announces its annual Cancer Survivors’ Day to be held on Sunday, September 12, 2010, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. at Meriden’s own Hubbard Park. This day is dedicated to honoring the lives of our cancer survivors, especially those treated at MidState Medical Center. The theme of this year’s event is “The Magic of Survivorship.” Cancer survivors are encouraged to bring their family and friends to share in the day. Activities for children include face painting, balloon animals, and caricature drawings. Survivors can treat themselves to a relaxing chair massage; and of course, musical entertainment and refreshments can be enjoyed by all. Featured musicians this year are Kelley and Sean Moore. Both survivors and caregivers will share how cancer has changed their lives and offer inspirational messages and words of wisdom to others. Last year Cancer Survivors’ Day attracted nearly 300 people. For more information or to register for Cancer Survivors’ Day, please contact the Cancer Center at MidState at 203-694-8353. Registration is preferred. "The Facts about Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue! Some things on the web just aren't true" By Kimberley Linstruth-Beckom I came across a rather upsetting Tweet this afternoon about Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue. It was a shock to read and even scared me a bit, but before I go into great detail about the actual tweet, let me delve a little into what I think a responsible journalist is. I’ve touched on this subject in my book Fibro and Fabulous The Book for a very important reason. You see, the internet has change the way people get their information. This can be a very wonderful and positive thing because many average joes have been able to publish articles or blogs. That’s a great positive because you get fresh perspectives on subjects and most of the time these perspectives are not biased due to adverting. There is a down side, however, and this one can cause a major problem in society to the point of chaos if we as a people don’t do something about it. The down side is misuse of information due to lack of research. A journalist who taught one of my journalism classes once said, “You could be the best writer in the world, but if you don’t research your subject, you will look like a fool.” I took that statement to heart because misuse of information can cause panic in a society, especially when it comes to health matters. If you misinform a group about a health issue, you can cause a lot of panic and undue stress. Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, let’s get into the Tweet. The Tweet was about how Canada will not take donated blood from people who suffer from Fibromyalgia. Being the Fibro and Fab gal that I am, the Tweet got my attention. I clicked on the link and was directed to a blog that informed me of a particular study that was done finding a link between a retrovirus (XMRV) and Fibromyalgia. The virus is apparently related to the AIDS virus. That’s some scary information for a Fibro sufferer to hear, wouldn’t you think? I mean, does this mean that Fibromyalgia is fatal? Can this beast now be linked and passed onto my children? The answer is no. There is still no conclusive evidence linking Fibromyalgia to fatality, in fact, they can’t even link Fibromyalgia or Chronic Fatigue to this “AIDS like” virus. An editorial (http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/340/feb25_1/c1099) published on February 25, 2010 from BMJ, a publication that boasts “helping doctors make decisions”, explains a new study that failed to find a link between the virus and Chronic Fatigue. Most retrovirologists, as the editorial states, are used to seeing a study in its infancy linking a virus to a disease only to fail once additional testing is done. This link is now no different. The editorial goes further in explaining that two additional studies, one from the UK done by BMJ with 168 participants, and one Dutch study with a few participants, also found no conclusive evidence linking Fibromyalgia or Chronic Fatigue to XMRV. There have only been a total of four studies done on this to date and the latter three are in conflict with the original study done on patients from the 1980’s in the Lake Tahoe area of New York. There are several more tests to be done before XMRV is ruled out, however, the prognosis so far does not look good for the little theory. What’s sad is that Canada and Australia have decided to forgo blood donations from those who have Chronic Fatigue (http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2010/04/07/blood-donations-chronic-fatigue-virus.html). This news is sad because this one study that isn’t even conclusive has really caused a lot of fear. The caution that the Canadian Red Cross is doing is for good reason. During the 1980’s tens of thousands of Canadians were infected with either HIV or Hepatitis C after receiving blood from the Red Cross. Perhaps some of you out there are a little too young to remember the tremendous blood scare the HIV virus caused, but it’s one I remember. I personally wouldn’t mind the ban for a little while if it makes people safe. After all, that’s the true reason why we donate blood to begin with. Whether Canada is truly right in the ban is really a mute point at this time since there isn’t any unequivocal evidence stating that this ban isn’t needed. What this is showing, however, is that people need to be very careful as to what they print. People, and now, even countries may depend on it. ALLOW ME TO AGE WITH GRACE AND DIGNITY PLEASE DON’T BE IMPATIENT WITH ME WHEN: I repeat myself BUT REMEMBER WHEN: Your favorite work was “why?” PLEASE DON’T BE IMPATIENT WITH ME WHEN: I tell the same story I just told a few minutes ago BUT REMEMBER WHEN: I read you the same story over and over each night PLEASE DON’T BE IMPATIENT WITH ME WHEN: I cannot remember your name BUT REMEMBER WHEN: The only name you could say was mine PLEASE DON’T BE IMPATIENT WITH ME WHEN: I move with a slow and unsteady gait BUT REMEMBER WHEN: I held both of your hands as you tentatively took those first steps PLEASE… PLEASE DON’T BE IMPATIENT WITH ME WHEN: I have stains on my clothes after a meal BUT REMEMBER WHEN: Taste and texture were explored as you learned to feed yourself PLEASE DON’T BE IMPATIENT WITH ME WHEN: Hygiene matters are not always within my control BUT REMEMBER WHEN: Patience, praise and encouragement helped you to conquer “potty training” PLEASE DON’T BE IMPATIENT WITH ME WHEN: A special diet requires extra time and planning BUT REMEMBER WHEN: Formula gave way to baby food and later to cutting table food into tiny pieces PLEASE DON’T BE IMPATIENT WITH ME WHEN: Taking me with your requires extra equipment BUT REMEMBER WHEN: Playpens, highchairs, strollers and a diaper bag were all a necessary part of any outing PLEASE DON’T BE IMPATIENT WITH ME WHEN: I express fear and anxiety in unfamiliar places and circumstances BUT REMEMBER WHEN: I watched with a lump in my throat as you were introduced to all of the important “firsts” PLEASE DON’T BE IMPATIENT WITH ME WHEN: I plead with you not to be left alone BUT REMEMBER WHEN: Leaving you with a caretaker was cause for tears for both of us. FROM COMFORT KEEPERS IN WALLINGFORD, CT Read The People’s Press in image form, pdf form and more at www.peoplespressnews.com We are Meriden and Wallingford Connecticut’s Community Newspaper and News Source.