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Home My WebLink AboutThe Lucknow Sentinel, 2015-02-18, Page 22 Lucknow Sentinel • Wednesday, February 18, 2015 Grey -Bruce on Measles Watch Scott Dunn Owen Sound Sun Times Doctors across Grey - Bruce have been advised to watch for local cases of mea- sles in light of a handful of confirmed cases in Toronto and Niagara Falls of this highly contagious disease. Sarah Ellis, manager of vaccine -preventable dis- eases at the Grey Bruce Health Unit, said the pre- cautionary measles alert advises health care profes- sionals to watch for signs and symptoms of measles, how to report cases and what are the immuniza- tion guidelines. Vaccination rates in M Grey -Bruce are high but Ellis said people should check with their health care provider about their immunization status. Those at greatest risk of contracting the disease are unimmunized and under -immunized popu- lations, which includes those who can't get immu- nized for medical reasons or they're too young to get the vaccine. The last reported case in Grey - Bruce was in 1996 and it involved an unvaccinated nine -month-old child. "So the potential for those groups to experi- ence an outbreak of mea- sles is high, especially given the current situation in the Greater Toronto Area of having cases of measles," Ellis noted. The aim of immunizing everyone who can be given the shot is to protect those who received it, pre- vent the disease from spreading and to protect those who can't be immu- nized, Ellis said. To achieve this "herd" immu- nity, 95% of the popula- tion must be immunized, she said. Toronto has seen six con- firmed cases, while 2 have been reported in Niagara Falls. By Feb. 6, there were 121 cases reported in 17 states in the United States, more than 100 cases stem- ming from an amusement park outbreak in California in December. Consequently, if people are planning to travel to or through the United States, they should get vaccinated, she warned. Adults are entitled to receive two free shots, she said. It takes about two weeks for the body to develop immunity to the disease after the vaccine is administered, so March Break travellers needing a shot should get one now, she said. Most people who get measles recover fully within three weeks. But in some the disease can cause brain swelling or encepha- litis and death. Signs and symptoms appear most of the time after 10 to 14 days from exposure. They include fever, cough, runny nose, red eyes, sleepiness and irritability. Three to seven days after symptoms start, a red, blotchy rash appears on the face and spreads down the body. White spots may appear inside the mouth and throat. Ellis said student moni- toring in publicly funded schools shows 93% of seven -year-olds are vacci- nated against measles, as are 96% of 17-year-olds, who by then would usually have received two shots. That vaccination rate of 17-year-olds "gives a good indication for the number of adults that are also covered." Once someone receives two shots, they're pro- tected for life with few exceptions, she said. She said the efficacy rate for someone who receives one dose of vaccine is 85% to 95%, while two doses are "almost 100%" effective. The first measles shot is normally given at one year and older, while the sec- ond dose is given between ages four and six years, Ellis said. ental Health Awareness Locally Mary Golem QMI Agency New participation and fundraising records were set during the fifth annual "Bell Let's Talk Day" on January 28 as people nationwide joined in the one -day awareness cam- paign focusing on mental health. A record-breaking 122 million tweets, texts, phone calls and Facebook shares were made that day, setting a new Bell donation record of $6.1 million dollars. With its original Bell Let's Talk donation of $50 million in 2010 and the results of the last five Bell "Let's Talk Days", Bell has now com- mitted over $73.6 million to raising awareness, sup- porting programs and breaking the stigma sur- rounding mental health. "There's no doubt the Bell "Let's Talk Day" initi- ative has certainly got people talking about mental health issues," said Jackie Ralph of the Grey - Bruce Branch of the Cana- dian Mental Health Association. But what is equally as exciting as the national results, Ralph said in an interview in her Owen Sound office on Monday, "is what is happening right here in Grey Bruce." In an effort to promote the national awareness campaign, staff at the Owen Sound office started their own "Bell Let's Talk" event on the Association's Facebook page "as a way to help promote the event locally. Obviously, the more interactions we can help generate, the bigger the pot of money that we can potentially apply for to support our own com- munity funded programs," Ralph said. But what we didn't expect was the over- whelming support, she said, adding "our little event page went viral." Over 28,000 people `attended' the event, Ralph said, meaning that as a friend of the Associa- tion's Facebook page, those 28,000 people knew about the initiative and wanted to raise awareness of it by `attending' and then sharing it with their friends. "At one point in the afternoon, we were reaching over 1.2 million people," Ralph said, excit- edly, adding the "incredi- ble response" was far more than staff were expecting, or even pre- pared for. "However, hands down, the best part of the day was in the posts them- selves," Ralph continued. "If I had a dollar for each post that started out "in honour of Bell Let's Talk day I have decided to share my story for the first time here ..." then we would have raised even more." "What was so incredible was seeing the outpouring of likes and comments in return for the other attendees. It truly was remarkable," Ralph said, adding the Owen Sound's office small group of awareness staff "were get- ting a little anxious think- ing how were we going to moderate such a big group?" But, as Ralph and the other staff soon found out, the group moderated itself "and with respect, support and downright love. It was touching to read the com- ments, to see the support, to witness the sharing." Although there can be risk for disrespect and negative attitudes on such sites, such was not the case on the Grey -Bruce site, in fact, if anything, Ralph says, it was exactly the opposite. "Some of those who posted comments have dealt with some form of mental health issues, either personally or with a loved one ... by sharing their story, or encourag- ing others who were shar- ing theirs, it was such a self-esteem boost to our volunteers. You could lit- erally read their confi- dence and self esteem growing with each person they were able to encour- age and support as the day went along, Ralph said, adding that adding that amount of confidence boost would have taken weeks of programming and support groups to achieve." With one in five people expected to deal with some sort of mental health issue, including anxiety, in their lifetime, Ralph says the more that can be done to raise awareness and increase support to loved ones who are also affected, "the bet- ter things will be." Ralph hopes CMHA Grey -Bruce can now apply for funding through the Bell Let's Talk initiative to continue on-line counselling support such as the local staff witnessed last week and to promote other programming and fundraising efforts, such as the second annual "Ride Don't Hide" com- munity cycling event, sponsored by the CMHA Grey -Bruce which takes place June 21 at Kelso Beach, as well as the Kids Help Phone Walk in Harri- son Park on May 3. Ralph said over 9,000 calls are made from our area to the provincial Kids Help Phone Line each year. "There's still much more to do to fight the stigma and help people with mental health issues get the help they need," Ralph said. For more information about what help that is available, contact the Canadian Mental Health Association - Grey Bruce Branch by calling 519-371-3642 or visit the website www.gb.cmha.ca www.lucknowsentinel.com