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Get immunized
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Dear Editor:

 

It’s normal for us to fear what we don’t understand, and the recent public anxiety over the "Super Bug" is a good example. In the last few weeks, as news reports emerged about a type of staph infection that has grown resistant to some antibiotics (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus or MRSA), the Bryan County Health Department’s telephones lit up with calls from anxious school personnel and panicked parents. MRSA can be deadly, and we should all take precautions, but the amount of fear generated about this illness has at times been disproportionate to the risk.

If we had a vaccine to prevent MRSA infection, which we don’t, I would expect long lines of people filling our health department clinics and local doctors’ offices, begging for vaccination. The Centers for Disease Control predicts 19,000 people will die of MRSA each year in the U.S.

But compare that number to the more grim predictions for seasonal flu. Each year, about 36,000 people die from the flu, nearly twice as many as MRSA. And we have a vaccine, yet we often struggle to get our residents immunized. We’ve grown familiar with the flu, and unfortunately, many have also grown complacent.

The good news is that some of our recommendations for combating the two illnesses are similar. Good public health practices are key: wash your hands and don’t share personal items. While people are focused on good hygiene to combat MRSA, perhaps flu prevention will also be an unintended, but positive result.

But vaccination is still the best way to prevent seasonal flu infection. We have vaccine. Flu isn’t new, but that doesn’t mean it’s not serious. Do the right thing - get immunized to protect yourself and your family.

 

Doug Skelton, M.D. and Diane Weems, M.D.

Skelton is health director and Weems is the chief medical officer of the Coastal Health District.

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Showing gratitude for service
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Dear editor: Another election cycle is finally over and the voters of Bryan County have spoken. We will have three new county commissioners in January 2011.
My congratulations go out to Jimmy Henderson of District 5, Carter Infinger of District 4 and Wade Price of District 2. I look forward to working with them as we continue to take care of the business of the county.
All three races were contested, which gave the voters a choice of who they wanted as their commissioner. Those who did not prevail in this election are to be applauded for offering themselves as candidates.
Our county owes a debt of gratitude to retiring commissioners Rick Gardner with eight years of service, Blondean Newman with eight years of service as a commissioner and 30 years as tax commissioner, and Toby Roberts with 18 years on the county commission.
These three spent many hours establishing policies and procedures for our county government and many meetings with state and local officials to achieve the best possible outcomes regarding our county on numerous issues. Their many years of experience will be sorely missed.
I well remember the first time I ran for public office and lost. Sometimes those who are not elected are the winners because they don’t have to go to all the meetings – that is said with tongue in cheek, of course.
After my loss, someone sent me the following quotation from President Theodore Roosevelt, which I keep on the wall in my office:
“It is not the critic who counts, not the one who points out how the strong man stumbled or how the doer of deeds might have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred with sweat and dust and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotions and spends himself in a worthy cause; who, if he wins, knows the triumph of high achievement; and who, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”
And my wish for all the citizens of Bryan County is to have a truly blessed Christmas and a prosperous and happy New Year’s.

Jimmy Burnsed
Chairman
Board of commissioners

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