What
time is it? No, it’s not Howdy Doody time, but time for the start of the inevitable
flu season. And since seasonal flu
outbreaks can happen as early as October, the Center is again offering flu shots in cooperation with Rite-Aid
on Wednesday, September 25th from 10:00 until 2:00. You can call the
Center to reserve one of the 5-minute time slots or you can just drop in.
The
flu vaccine is the best way to avoid the flu and avoid becoming one of the over
200,000 Americans who are hospitalized with the flu every year. For the vaccine to be the
most effective, the flu vaccines are updated before each flu season to protect you
against the flu viruses that research indicates will be most common during the
upcoming season. But even in a
well-matched year, the flu vaccine is only 60 to 90 percent effective.
Therefore, you should take
these additional steps to help protect yourself from the flu and other viruses.
1. Wash your hands
often and thoroughly with soap and water and use an alcohol-based sanitizer on
your hands if soap and water aren't available. 2. Avoid touching your eyes,
nose or mouth whenever possible. 3. Avoid crowds when the flu is most prevalent
in your area. 4. Sneeze into your elbow not your hands. 5. Practice good health
habits: get plenty of sleep, exercise
regularly, drink plenty of fluids, eat a nutritious diet and manage your stress
- which are also the basics for good heart and brain health.
If you do start experiencing flu
symptoms, seek medical advice quickly to determine if you need treatment with antiviral
drugs since they should be administered early.
But
how do you know if you have the flu or just a cold? It is hard to tell because
colds and flu share many symptoms: fever (but not always), cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose,
body aches, headache, chills, fatigue; and some people may also have vomiting
and diarrhea. But the primary difference is that cold symptoms are generally milder than the
symptoms of flu.
And
no, you can’t get the flu from a flu shot. But after receiving you flu
vaccination, you could develop flu-like symptoms: low-grade fever, headache and muscle aches. There
are several possible reasons. You may have a cold and not the flu. You may have
caught the flu during
the two weeks before the flu shot took effect. Or the flu virus you picked up
is not one of the influenza viruses used for the vaccine.
The flu vaccine will not totally eliminate the
possibility of the flu, but it will lower your risks. And that’s a big deal now
that we are older. Some ailments we once
thought were just inconvenient can have serious health implications.
Since I am writing about preventive vaccines, don’t
forget to get your Shingles vaccine especially now that the newer more
effective vaccine is available. And make sure you are up to date with your pneumococcal
vaccination since one of the flu-related complications that can cause death is
pneumococcal pneumonia.
The
name of the sport that was popular in the late 50’s and 60’s (and is
experiencing a revival with our own Gorge Roller Girls); consisted of two teams that included jammers, blockers
and a pivot for two minute periods called "jams"; and competed on an
oval track was Roller Derby. I received correct answers from Carol Earl, Cheri
Brent, Lana Tepfer, Jerry Phillips, Barbara Cadwell, Julie Carter (who
remembers her mom cheering on the Bay Area Bombers), and several other who told
me the correct answer, but I failed to write down their names. And this week’s
winner of a quilt raffle ticket is Rhonda Spies whose grandmother took her to see
Roller Derby live at the Armory in Salem.
There
were many memorable TV jingles introduced in the 50’s and 60’s. For this week’s
“Remember When” question, the TV jingle first introduced in the early 60’s that
went “Plop, Plop, Fizz, Fizz” advertised what product? Email your answer to
mcseniorcenter@gmail.com, leave a message at 541-296-4788 or send it with a recording
of “The Red Rubber Ball” sung by The Cyrkle whose band member Tom Dawes wrote
the jingle.
Well,
it’s been another week, trying to stay awake at 3:00 pm. Until
we meet again,
do
you ever feel you can recall more of what happened in your dreams than what
happened last week?
“We
are on earth to fart around. Don’t let anybody tell you different.” Kurt
Vonnegut, writer
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