The Lucknow Sentinel, 2015-08-05, Page 5Public Health
Matters: Tick Talk
Dr. Jan Owen
Medical Officer of Health for
Huron County
Hello Huron County resi-
dents, my name is Dr. Jan
Owen and I am the new
Medical Officer of Health for
Huron County.
In this regular column I
will explain how public
health helps you and other
Huron County residents.
First, let's talk about how
public health is different
from a visit to your health-
care provider's office.
As a Medical Officer of
Health, I act as a public
health physician. Outside of
my MOH role, I am also a
family physician. What's the
difference between the two?
As a family doctor, I see
individual patients in my
office. We talk about any
health issues they are having
and I try to provide help and
information about their con-
cerns during their visit. As a
patient, you visit your doctor
usually for a specific concern
about your personal health.
A Medical Officer of
Health, however, considers
their "patient" to be the
entire population of an
area. As your Medical
Officer of Health, I don't
work with an individual
patient's health but rather
the health of Huron County
as a whole. I have a team of
dedicated public health
professionals to help me do
this.
To see how public health
works, let's talk about ticks,
something we have to watch
out for at this time of year.
Blacklegged ticks, which
have been found in Huron
County, are more common
in spring, summer and fall
months in wooded areas and
areas with tall grasses.
Letter to the Editor
Forest fires and photo -ops
Mr. Harper had a
photo -op with forest fire
fighters as background.
One newspaper refused to
mention his name and
referred to him as "a man
in a blue suit': Although I
question the ethics of this
photo -op I am much more
concerned about what he
said. To paraphrase,
"These forest fires maybe
caused by climate change.
We may have to consider
increasing our forest fire
fighting capability!' To
those who do not track
climate change closely the
above statement may
seem reasonable. As for
myself I have been track-
ing climate change for
over 30 years and my pre-
ferred statement would
be, "Our current forest fire
tragedy is directly linked
to climate change. We
need to bring together
experts in forest manage-
ment along with climatol-
ogists to discuss and
develop a long term strat-
egy to deal with the fate of
our forests."
Mr. Harper's statement
reveals a lot more than
one would think. Firstly,
the "maybe" shows a lack
of knowledge on the
effects of climate change.
It has been known for
decades that northern for-
ests in Canada and Russia
are at risk due to rising
temperatures in northern
regions. In fact both Can-
ada and Russia have wit-
nessed a doubling of the
area burnt yearly since
the 1970s. The burning of
the town of Slave Lake,
just a few years back,
should have set off alarm
bells. In fact we should
not have even waited for
this event to occur to take
action. So the current
government of Canada
has been negligent in not
responding to this now
present crisis.
Harper's response to
increase fire fighting
capacity also shows a lack
of knowledge and a knee
jerk response.
Some blacklegged ticks
may carry Borrelia burg-
dorferi bacteria, which
causes Lyme disease. As
Medical Officer of Health, it
is my job to make sure the
Health Unit has an idea of
how many of these ticks
might be out there, whether
ticks are carrying the bacte-
ria that causes Lyme dis-
ease, and if local doctors
are seeing cases of Lyme
disease. We call this
"surveillance':
It is also the Health
Unit's role to make sure
the public knows how to
prevent getting bit by a
tick, what to do if they do
get bit, and what symp-
toms to watch for. I do not
see or treat individuals
who have found a tick on
themselves or have symp-
toms that might be Lyme
disease, however.
If you find a tick on
The solution to our forest
crisis is not that clear. For
those of you who are not
following this issue the
crisis can be described as
"Eventually, the whole of
Canada's northern forests
will burn away. There will
be no more northern
coniferous forests." Some
researchers say we should
just let it burn because it
will be impossible to stop.
The coniferous forests will
be replaced by aspen for-
ests, hopefully. We would
need to protect northern
towns and infrastructure
from the fires but that
would be it. Unfortu-
nately, this may increase
the speed at which the
permafrost melts which in
turn will also burn. Can-
ada will no longer be able
to use our forests as a car-
bon sink to offset our car-
bon emissions. Instead
the forests become a lia-
bility. Unfortunately
under the current federal
government scientists
have been silenced and I
Wednesday, August 5, 2015 • Lucknow Sentinel 5
Tips to beat
the heat
Huron County
Health Unit
yourself, use tweezers to The heat is on across
grasp the tick as close to your southern Ontario, but the
skin as possible. Pull it Huron County Health Unit
straight out, gently but says you can stay cool
firmly. Save the tick in a jar despite the high temperature
or screw-top bottle if you can and humidity.
and take it to the Health It's up to individual
Unit. We will send it away for municipalities to decide
identification and testing if whether to open up cooling
necessary. centres, but you can get into
If you have been in an cooler air for a while by visit -
area known to contain ing libraries, local shopping
blacklegged ticks, or have centres or going to the
been bitten by a tick, watch movies.
for headache, fatigue, Public Health
muscle weakness or a skin Nurse Donna Parsons says
rash that grows larger than it's important to wear light,
5 cm and may or may not
resemble a bull's eye. If
you start experiencing
these symptoms, speak
with your healthcare pro-
vider. Tell them if you had
a tick on you or if you live
or traveled to an area
known to have ticks. Learn
more at www.huron
healthunit.ca.
know some climate scien-
tist have left Canada
under such a hostile gov-
ernment. So here we are,
8 million acres burnt so
far this year (way above
the average) and no real
direction to head for
because our current gov-
ernment does not under-
stand the implications of
climate change. Russia
has also failed to respond,
as I understand it. The
Arctic Counsel should
have this as a top
priority. Apparently,
Harper only sees it as a
photo -op. The solutions
are not yet evident so we
need a government that
recognizes a true threat to
our safety, security and
prosperity.
Hopefully, this short
letter gives the reader a
small insight into the
complexity of the situa-
tion and the urgency of
the threat.
Dan Taylor
Clinton, Ontario
loose clothing and to
keep yourself hydrated with
water or juice.
Alcohol and caffeinated
drinks are not a good idea,
because they cause you to
lose more fluid from your
body.
Parsons also advises you
to stay in the shade,
and to limit outdoor
activities to the early morn-
ing and late evening hours.
If you don't have air
conditioning at home you
should use a fan, keep
windows open
slightly but cover the
windows with curtains or
a shade, and keep any
lights
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