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Memorial Hospital Reminds Parents to check Children’s Immunization Status
NORTH CONWAY, NH – The COVID-19 pandemic has led many families to postpone regular activities. For many families keeping up with immunizations and health visits for their children was one of those activities.
Dr. Wenda Saunders, a pediatrician at Memorial Hospital’s Mt. Washington Rural Health Care is encouraging families to get caught up with immunizations. “There has been a world-wide drop off in childhood immunizations and regular well-child visits because of COVID-19,” she says. “It is important for keeping your child healthy and for the health of your child’s classmates, day care mates, and friends.”
The Hospital and the Rural Health Center reduced access to hospital services during the early stages of the pandemic, including postponing some check-ups and other visits not deemed critical. Saunders notes that as the hospital has begun increasing access for patients, clinicians are making well-child visits and immunizations a priority. “We’re calling parents whose child had a visit affected by the hospital’s temporary reduction in services. To help schedule everyone we’ve added evening and weekend appointments to make it easier for parents to bring in their children.”
The Centers for Disease Control lists fourteen diseases preventable through vaccinations. These include the familiar measles, mumps, pertussis (whooping cough), and meningitis. Also on the list is polio which, though uncommon in the United States, is still seen in Africa, Asia and other areas of the world. While younger children receive most vaccines, Saunders also recommends the vaccination for the human papillomavirus, or HPV, for both girls and boys. The HPV vaccine is given in two or three doses beginning as soon as age 11. “The HPV vaccine reduces the risk of multiple types of cancers later in life, including cervical in females and oral cancers in males and females.”
Mt Washington Rural Health Practice Manager Lucy Williams says promoting health and preventing disease is the practice’s core mission, and her team has been working for several weeks to reschedule postponed appointments. “Reducing in-office appointments during the early stages of COVID-19 was the right thing to do to ensure patient safety. When we were able to increase access to services, we placed a high priority on well-child visits and immunizations as well as patients who missed appointments for chronic conditions.”
Health care providers, Williams says, learned more about the virus and how it spreads and made necessary adjustments to operations to safely increase access to in-person services. “We have transitioned our efforts to focus on preventive healthcare and have placed a high priority on routine well-child visits and immunizations.”
Williams adds that Mount Washington Valley Rural Health also expanded access by adding evening and weekend hours, and is now open seven days a week for appointments. Appointments can be requested through MyChart or by calling the office 603-356-5472.
New Hampshire to Receive $28 Million in Funding for First Year of Two-Year State Opioid Response Program
Concord, NH – The New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) has received an award notification for the second phase of the State Opioid Response (SOR) Program. The U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) will provide the first year of funding as part of a two-year, $56 million award to New Hampshire to continue the successes achieved during the State’s first two years of SOR funding, which launched the Doorway system and increased rural access to care.
New Hampshire received more than $55 million during the initial phase of SOR funding. Over the past two years, New Hampshire has rapidly deployed SOR funding to establish a sustainable access and delivery system to ensure better outcomes for residents with an opioid or substance use disorder. The Doorways-NH launched on January 1, 2019, to provide comprehensive, 24/7 statewide access to services and ensure that no one in New Hampshire has to travel more than 60 minutes to begin the process toward recovery.
“We are grateful for additional support from our federal partners to continue the success of all of the programs that have been stood up and enhanced, including the Doorways program,” said Governor Chris Sununu. “Since the Doorways launched, about 15,000 residents have received a clinical evaluation, referred to treatment or received naloxone. The system works, and this funding will be used to continue to ensure that these critical services will be available to help any resident seeking help for their substance use. Anyone who is experiencing substance misuse is encouraged to call 2-1-1 to get connected to people who can help.”
“According to a recent CDC survey, about 13% of adults have increased their use of substances during the COVID-19 pandemic. Here in New Hampshire, the Doorways have remained a valuable resource for individuals and families struggling with substance misuse,” said DHHS Commissioner Lori Shibinette. “The Doorways continue to see increasing requests for services, with almost 1,000 residents seeking help last month alone. Our State is fortunate to have this system in place to be able to offer around the clock access to anyone in need.”
The new SOR funds will allow the State to enhance existing investments to build capacity even further with the goal to establish stability and sustainability in the long term. The Doorways will be expanding in-person 24/7 coverage in high volume regions through this funding and additional needs will also be addressed, including overnight respite, stimulant misuse and expanding recovery support services.
For more information, and to view the State’s proposal submitted to SAMHSA, please visit https://www.dhhs.nh.gov/dcbcs/bdas/sor.htm. For more information on SAMHSA’s SOR funding announcement, please see https://www.samhsa.gov/sites/default/files/grants/pdf/fy-2020-sor-foa.pdf.
DRIVE TIME: Mount Washington Valley Promotions – Damsel Scramble – August 28th, 2020
Mount Washington Valley Promotions – Damsel Scramble – Friday August 28th, 2020
Census Takers are Easy to Spot Across New Hampshire
WASHINGTON — The United States Census Bureau is actively conducting Non-Response Follow Up operations across every city, town, and municipality in the state to ensure a complete and accurate count of everyone living in the United States. By law, the Census Bureau must provide the first results from the 2020 Census by December 31st. To provide complete and accurate results by that deadline, we are doing everything we can to collect a response from every household by September 30th. We are urging households to respond, maximizing staff and production hours, and ensuring data quality along the way.
Following Health & Safety Guidelines
To ensure safety of all employees and residents, census takers are wearing masks and following social distancing guidelines. In most cases, census workers will make up to six attempts at each address to count possible residents—this is the same number of attempts we have been planning all along. Census takers will still visit homes during the originally planned hours—between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m., local time, including on weekends, to reach people when they are more likely at home. Census takers are also calling some households to help them respond to the census, providing one more way to count hard-to-reach communities and people who have not yet responded.
We continue to urge households to respond through our multilingual advertising campaign and through the efforts of nearly 400,000 partner organizations. We urge everyone to respond now or when a census taker comes to your door—and to encourage everyone you know to do the same. We are even mailing an additional paper census questionnaire to many households that have not responded yet in low-responding areas.
Identifying Census Workers
The Census Bureau is attempting to complete data collection as quickly and safely as possible, while ensuring a complete and accurate count as it strives to comply with law and statutory deadlines. Identifying a Census Bureau employee can be accomplished by checking their ID badge, which includes:
Measuring Quality of Work
The United States Census Bureau has created a group of experienced field experts to closely monitor, evaluate, and resolve quality issues. Because census takers are using mobile devices instead of paper, we have a great deal of data about how long the census takers spend interviewing each respondent andwhere they physically were when the interview was conducted. We are carefully monitoring this information and using it to identify outliers. Based on those outliers, we may re-interview a portion of the census takers’ work to verify quality standards are met. The best way to avoid a visit from a census taker at home is to complete the 2020 Census online at www.2020census.gov.
About 2020 Census
The U.S. Constitution mandates a head count, every ten years, of all residents living in the United States and its territories. Census counts determine how many seats each state is allocated in the U.S. House of Representative as well as how over $675 billion in federal dollars in distributed annually. Individual responses are protected by federal law, never to be shared with any other department, court, or law enforcement agency. Responding to the 2020 Census is easy with four ways to respond: online, by phone, by paper, or with the help of a census taker.
Medical Emergency Rescue near Peaked Mountain in North Conway
North Conway: On Thursday, August 27th shortly after 1:00 PM New Hampshire Fish and Game was notified that a hiker was in distress on the Middle Mountain Trail in the area of Peaked Mountain in North Conway. The hiker was Theodore Clancy, 76 of Lake Hopatcong, NJ. Theodore was hiking with his son, daughter in law and grandson. After hiking for about an hour Theodore began having chest pain and they phoned 911 for assistance. They were about a mile and a half from the trailhead.
Along with Conservation Officers members of North Conway Fire and Conway Fire departments responded. Paramedics were able to assess Theodore, provided treatment and monitor his condition. He was placed in a litter and carried to the trailhead. He arrived at the trailhead shortly after 4:00 PM and was transported by ambulance to the Memorial Hospital in North Conway. Ultimately he was transported by DHART to the Maine Medical Center for additional care.
Source: NH Fish and Game Press Release
WHO Says Test, Despite CDC’s Recent Flip Flop
LONDON (AP) —The World Health Organization says countries should actively test people to find coronavirus cases, even if they are mild or don’t show symptoms. That’s despite the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recently switched guidance to say asymptomatic contacts of cases don’t need to be tested. Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO’s technical lead for the coronavirus, says when officials are investigating clusters of COVID-19, “testing may need to be expanded to look for individuals who are on the more mild end of the spectrum or who may indeed be asymptomatic.” She says testing and tracing is “really fundamental to breaking chains of transmission.”
For more information click here.
DRIVE TIME: M&D Playhouse – Summer Slam Series – August 26th, 2020
M&D Playhouse – Summer Slam Series – Wednesday August 26th, 2020
Update: Fatal Accident in Conway – Victim Identified
On Monday, August 24, 2020, at approximately 10:30 pm officers from the Conway Police Department, along with Conway Fire and Rescue and Conway Ambulance, responded to a report of a pedestrian who had been struck by a motor vehicle on East Main Street near the intersection of Odell Hill Road. When officers arrived, they observed a male lying in the eastbound breakdown lane. The male, a 59 year-old from Conway, was found to be deceased as a result of injuries sustained from being struck by a vehicle. The victim’s name is Phillip Martin, known by his friends as Phil or PJ. He was an aspiring chef who loved photography and has a daughter named Megan who is a sophomore at Plymouth State University.
The vehicle that struck Martin was identified to be a 2016 Buick SUV operated by a 58 years-old female from Florida named Susan-Rachel Hebert. Hebert did not suffer any injuries in the collision. The Conway Police Department Accident Reconstruction Team was called out to investigate the crash. The preliminary investigation revealed that the male pedestrian was struck in the eastbound travel lane of East Main Street a short distance east of the intersection of Odell Hill Road. It appeared that Hebert attempted to avoid the collision by swerving into the opposite lane of travel but was unable to avoid Martin who was in her lane of travel. Martin’s bicycle was found on the opposite side of the roadway in the breakdown lane of the westbound lane. The bicycle was not involved in the crash. This portion of East Main street is not serviced by street lights and it was raining with low level fog in the area.
Immediately following the crash, this portion of East Main Street was shut down for approximately 3 hours to allow the Conway Police Department Accident Reconstruction Team to document the scene. The road was re-opened at approximately 1:40 am. This accident remains under investigation but speed and driver impairment and/or distraction do not appear to be a factor in the crash. Anyone who may have witnessed the crash is asked to contact the Conway Police Department at 603-356-5715.
The Conway Police Department would like to offer their condolences to Martin’s family and friends for their loss.
Christopher Mattei
Lieutenant
08/25/20
Source: Conway Police Department Press Release
New Hampshire Launches “Save Your Breath” Anti-Vaping Campaign
Concord, NH – The New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services’ (DHHS) Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Program has launched a year-long social media campaign aimed at increasing awareness of the health impacts of vaping among young people. The campaign, Save Your Breath, urges youth to make the right choices by providing information on the negative consequences of vaping such as physical and mental health, money and time.
In 2019, 34% of New Hampshire high-school aged youth reported using an electronic tobacco vapor product (including e-cigarettes, e-cigars, e-pipes, vape pipes, vaping pens, e-hookahs, and hookah pens), as compared to 20% nationally.
“Vaping is putting a whole new generation of New Hampshire youth at risk for a lifetime of tobacco use addiction. Tobacco use, including vaping, is unsafe for youth and young adults and can harm their developing brains,” said Dr. Sai Cherala, Bureau Chief of Population Health and Community Services in the DHHS Division of Public Health Services. “The campaign encourages young people to look past the flavors, choose not to vape, and save their breath.”
Save Your Breath will run for a year reaching youth, young adults and families in New Hampshire through several social media channels including Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube, Spotify, and the website https://saveyourbreathnh.org/.
New Hampshire also offers My Life, My Quit, a tobacco cessation service for teens who want to quit using any tobacco product. My Life, My Quit, provides free and confidential services to answer any questions and to help teens quit. Participants can enroll online at https://mylifemyquit.org/ or by calling or texting “Start My Quit” to 1-855-891-9989.
The DHHS Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Program is here to provide resources and education on vaping products to anyone. For more information, contact the NH Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Program at TPCP@dhhs.nh.gov or (603) 271-6891.
New Hampshire Joins $85 Million Multistate Settlement Agreement with Honda For Concealment of Defective Airbags
Concord, NH – Attorney General Gordon J. MacDonald announces that New Hampshire has joined an $85 million multistate settlement with American Honda Motor Co., Inc. and Honda of
America Mfg., Inc. (collectively “Honda”), over allegations Honda concealed safety issues related to defects in the frontal airbag systems installed in certain Honda and Acura vehicles sold in the United States. The systems were designed and manufactured by Takata Corporation, a long-time Honda supplier, and were first installed in Honda vehicles in the 2001 model year.
The settlement, reached between the attorneys general of 48 states and jurisdictions and Honda, concludes a multistate investigation into Honda’s alleged failure to inform regulators and
consumers that frontal airbags installed in certain Honda and Acura vehicles posed a significant risk of rupture, which could cause metal fragments to fly into the passenger compartment. The ruptures have resulted in at least 14 deaths and over 200 injuries in the United States alone.
The states have alleged that Honda engineers suspected that ammonium nitrate, which was used as a propellant in the airbags, could burn aggressively and cause the inflator to burst. Despite
these concerns, Honda delayed warning consumers or automobile safety officials, even as it began partial recalls of affected vehicles in 2008 and 2009. Further, despite these concerns,
Honda continued to represent to consumers that its vehicles, including its airbags, were safe. Since 2008, Honda has recalled approximately 12.9 million Honda and Acura vehicles equipped
with the suspect inflators.
The states have alleged that Honda’s actions, and its failures to act, as well as its misrepresentations about the safety of its vehicles, were unfair and deceptive, and that Honda’s
conduct violated state consumer protection laws, including New Hampshire’s Consumer Protection Act, RSA 358-A.
Under the terms of the consent judgment, which will be filed in Merrimack County Superior Court, Honda has agreed to strong injunctive relief, including:
~ Taking steps to ensure that future airbag designs include “fail-safe” features to protect passengers in the event the inflator ruptures;
~ Adopting changes to its procurement process for new frontal airbags to ensure that its suppliers have the appropriate industry certifications and satisfy key industry performance standards, as well as improve record-keeping and parts tracking;
~ Implementation of recurrence prevention procedures designed to prevent a tragedy like this from ever happening again, such as requiring that Honda approve all new frontal airbag designs before the company will consider them for use in new Honda vehicles;
~ Prohibitions on misleading advertisements and point of sale representations regarding the safety of Honda’s vehicles, including the airbags;
~ Making improvements in critical areas such as risk management, quality control, supplier oversight, training and certifications, and implementing mandatory whistleblower protections.
Honda has agreed to pay the participating states more than $84 million, of which New Hampshire’s share is $1,013,119.81. Honda has also agreed to pay $1 million to the National Association of Attorneys General, which facilitated and assisted in this multistate investigation.
Consumers who own a Honda or Acura vehicle are strongly encouraged to visit Honda’s airbag recall website at https://hondaairbaginfo.com, or call its Customer Service toll-free number at
(888) 234-2138, to see if their vehicle is subject to a recall. Consumers may also check for open recalls by going to Safercar.gov. All safety recall repairs are free at authorized Honda dealers.