Code Red Issued For DC Region On Tuesday

The Metropolitan Council of Governments has issued a Code Red for Air Quality for Tuesday, August 31, 2010, which means the air will be unhealthy for everyone.

We all should limit strenuous outdoor activity.

Other suggestions from the Montgomery County Department of Environmental Protection include:

• Carpool, telecommute, or take mass transit to work
• Limit driving and combine errands
• Refuel after dark
• Avoid using gasoline-powered lawn equipment, including mowers
• Wait for a cooler day to use oil-based paints or switch to non-solvent or low VOC-based paints
• Avoid using aerosols and household products that contain solvents
• Avoid mid-day driving
• Conserve energy at home and work to reduce power demand.

There is one category worse than Red and that’s Purple which is “Very Unhealthy” for everyone.

We’ve detailed long-term actions in a previous post, What You Can Do About Poor Air Quality Days.

The County’s Department of Environmental Protection describes the problem and what our local government is doing to correct it:

As part of the region’s Air Quality Action Day program, Montgomery County takes voluntary actions to reduce its emissions of smog-forming chemicals, including ozone, and particulate matter. These voluntary actions include refueling County vehicles after dusk and curtailing median strip spraying, mowing and most asphalt paving.

Ozone is a major element of urban smog, and its presence can limit one’s ability to take a deep breath, or cause coughing, throat irritation, and breathing discomfort. There is also evidence that ozone can lower resistance to respiratory disease (such as pneumonia), damage lung tissue, and aggravate chronic lung disease (such as bronchitis). Children and those with pre-existing lung problems (such as asthma) are sensitive to the health effects of ozone. Even healthy adults involved in moderate or strenuous outdoor activities can experience the unhealthy effects of ozone.

Another air pollutant of concern in the Washington Metropolitan area is particulate matter. Particles in the air can cause or aggravate a number of health problems and have been linked with illnesses and deaths from heart or lung disease. At highest risk from particle pollution are people with heart or lung disease, older adults, children whose lungs are still developing, and adults and children who are active outdoors. Particles of concern include both very small, “fine” particles (that can only be seen through an electron microscope) and somewhat larger “coarse” dust particles. Fine particles have been more definitively linked to the most serious health problems.

Unhealthy levels of ground level ozone occur in the summer as intense sunlight interacts with oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) volatile organic compounds. Ozone forming pollutants originate from vehicles, lawn-mowers and boats; emissions from power plants and other fuel burning equipment; and vapors from gasoline, paints and industrial processes. Particulate matter can either be directly emitted into the air or formed in the atmosphere by reactions of fuel combustion gases. Any measures taken to reduce ozone forming emissions will also reduce particulate matter.

Vehicles account for 30 to 40 percent of the pollutants that cause ozone in the Baltimore/Washington area and every summer day, gas-powered lawn and garden equipment release more than 100 times the VOC’s of a typical large industrial plant. For every person who postpones lawn mowing on Air Quality Action Days, potential VOC reductions equal the amount generated by a car driving from Montgomery County to Raleigh, North Carolina.

The Washington region is in violation of Federal air quality standards established under the Clean Air Act for ozone. In addition to concerns about public health effects caused by poor air quality, the region could also lose federal funds for highway projects if Federal standards are not met. This could ultimately lead to even worse levels of congestion and air quality.

The region has successfully lowered overall pollution and reduced the number of Code Red days each summer. However, adding to the region’s challenge, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, recognizing the serious health impacts from ozone and particulate matter, established tougher air quality standards. While an air quality forecast of Code Red historically indicated poor air quality that did not meet Federal health based standards, now a Code Red air quality forecast indicates air quality that fails to meet the strengthened Federal standards.

You can sign up for health alerts at Clean Air Partners to stay informed.

Don't Give Up Registering for Ride and Stride (Updated)

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Fun Bike On The Streets During the 2009 Ride and Stride

Update: Jon McLaren has let us know that the small glitch was fixed last week and on-line registration is working for children under 13.

When I tried to register my family for Ride and Stride 4 Rockville, Rock Enroll wouldn’t allow me to include my 9-year old and was charging the $25 adult fee for my 13-year old. Since both are free, a quick call to the staff in the Department of Recreation and Parks (240-314-8620 during business hours) had them registered in no time, but Rock Enroll was unfortunately having technical difficulties with youth signups today. They’re working on fixing the system.

The ninth annual Ride and Stride during Hometown Holidays on Sunday, May 30, 2010 offers running, walking or biking options. Short or long, there’s an option for everyone so all ages can participate: 2K or 5K run/walks, and 12-mile or 28-mile bike rides.

The funds raised from Ride and Stride provide financial assistance for children who can’t afford City recreation and after-school activities, and support the Rockville Bike Fund to promote safe bicycling in the city.

My family has never ridden in the Ride and Stride and we’re looking forward to giving it a try with some friends. Yes, we’re biking! Staff are supposed to be on hand with maps. We’ve been promised food, prizes and health info. Participants can bring a t-shirt, backpack or cycling shirt to be silk screened with the Ride and Stride for Rockville logo.

Residents can register online here using activity number 31709. Rockville residents older than 13 are $25, non-resident adults are $35. Event time is 8 AM until 12 PM. The start and finish location is in front of the Red Brick Courthouse.

Who else is going and what can we expect?

H1N1 Clinics Include One For Adults With Chronic Illness

>Rockville Central friend, Judith Scott, passed along this information today.

Clinic for Adults with Chronic Illness

The Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services will offer an H1N1 vaccination clinic for adults 18 to 64 years of age who have a chronic illness such as asthma, diabetes, cancer, HIV/AIDS and cancer by appointment only on Tuesday, November 24 from 9 a.m. to 12 noon. Only injectable vaccine will be available and vaccinations are free of charge. The location of the clinic will be given when appointments are made.

Appointments can be made on Monday, November 23 between 3 and 4 p.m. by calling 240-777-4040. Callers will be asked for name, phone number and doctor’s name when making an appointment.

Check Montgomery County’s H1N1 website for up-to-date information about vaccine availability and sign up for email updates about H1N1 by clicking on the “Public Health Alerts” icon.

The Flu Information Line—240-777-4200—is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The next Walk-in Clinic in Rockville

A walk-in clinic will be held this Sunday, November 22, 2009 from 10 AM to 2 PM at Montgomery College, Rockville Campus Physical Education Building.

Vaccine will be offered to target groups only:

• Children 6 months to 24 years.
• Pregnant women.
• Parents/caregivers of children less than 6 months of age.
• Adults 25 to 64 with chronic health conditions such as asthma, diabetes and heart disease.
• Health care workers and emergency medical service workers.

Vaccine is available on a walk in basis to the first 5000 individuals listed above.

Invitation to A Healthcare Forum

>Rockville Central friend, Ken Sandin, sent along this announcement for a Montgomery County Forum on Healthcare Reforms on the local, Maryland and national level. As some readers may be interested in attending, we’re passing along the information.

When: Sunday, October 25, 2009 1-3 PM
Where: Rockville Regional Library, Rockville Town Center
Moderator: Garland Nixon (WPFW Pacifica Radio, Montgomery Municipal Cable TV)

Topics for Discussion:
* Report from the White House Working Group on Healthcare
* Healthcare Discrimination: Problems and Solutions
* How We Can Help Pass Real Healthcare Reform

Join State Senator Jamie Raskin; Delegates Karen Montgomery, Roger Manno, Ana Sol Gutierrez, Heather Mizeur, and Tom Hucker; and Council Members Duchy Trachtenberg and George Leventhal.

The event will provide an opportunity to get involved with ongoing actions supporting reform such as phone banking, door knocking, calling elected officials, etc.

The Forum is sponsored by the Montgomery County Progressive Alliance, Progressive Maryland, Progressive Neighbors, HealthcareMaryland.org, Progressive Democrats of America/Maryland, Democracy for Montgomery County, Greater Silver Spring Democratic Club.

Help Stop The Flu

>Adventist HealthCare in Rockville has sent along a link to their 2009 flu campaign Web site, Help Stop The Flu. The Web site is a valuable resource for the latest information on seasonal flu and H1N1/Swine influenza.

You can find:

Facts and information on the 2009/2010 seasonal and H1N1/Swine influenzas

Facts about pneumonia.

Prevention Tips to help stop the spread of flu – mostly wash your hands!

“Ask an Expert” where doctors answer the community’s questions in regards to the seasonal flu and the H1N1 flu.

There’s also information on their local vaccination clinics for seasonal influenza for both adults and pediatrics. The Adult Community Flu Clinic is $25 per flu shot and $35 for pneumonia shots at the Adventist HealthCare Support Center starting on October 6, 2009 at various dates and times with registration. The Pediatric Flu Shot Clinic for children ages 6 months to 18 years is also $25 at Shady Grove Adventist Hospital on October 12th and November 9th with registration. The pneumonia shots are $35. WTOP is offering 103 free adult shots on a couple of dates at the WTOP Community Flu Shot Clinics then the $25 and $35 fees will apply.

Our advice, take good care of yourself, plan to prevent the flu, and find a way to be vaccinated.

Malaria Vaccine Being Developed In Rockville

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From Sanaria

Recently, Bill Gates made headlines when he released mosquitoes during a presentation to dramatize the danger that malaria poses to humanity. It is a scourge of many nations in poverty, killing almost 1 million people per year (mostly children in West Africa). Many philanthropists are mobilizing to combat it.

Here in Rockville, biotech firm Sanaria is hard at work creating an unconventional vaccine for malaria. Just five years ago, Sanaria’s quest was scoffed at as impossible.

“We were dismissed by 99 percent of the people in the malaria field,” says Sanaria CEO Dr. Stephen Hoffman. But just two weeks ago Sanaria received the FDA go-ahead to start human trials of their new vaccine.

What’s different about this vaccine? It’s made from living malaria parasites. According to the St. Augustine Record:

In the Navy in the 1990s, Hoffman irradiated malaria-carrying mosquitoes to weaken the parasites inside them, and he and 13 colleagues subjected themselves to more than 1,000 bites. Usually malaria parasites race to the liver and multiply before invading the bloodstream to sicken. These weakened parasites instead sat harmlessly in the liver, unable to multiply but triggering the immune system to fend off later infections. All but one of the people in Hoffman’s test, himself included, were immune when bitten by regular malaria-infected mosquitoes over the next 10 months.

As we have written before, Rockville is an amazing crossroads of technology. This is a very interesting example.

Rockville High School Remains Closed

>According to the Montgomery County Public Schools, Rockville High School, closed because a student was found to be carrying H1N1, will be closed today, Monday, May 4. The closure will continue indefinitely:

A date has not yet been set for reopening, but Montgomery County Public Schools officials are consulting with the county and state health officials on a daily basis, and will provide an update on the school’s reopening as soon as possible.

As this week is a time when high school students begin taking Advanced Placement (AP) and/or International Baccalaureate (IB) exams, school officials have set up an alternate location for Rockville High School students to take the tests while the school is closed. On Monday, two AP exams are scheduled and participating students from Rockville High School will be able to take the exams at the Mark Twain School in Rockville.

Community-Acquired H1N1 Flu Prompts Closure of Rockville High School

>This item is by our very good Rockville Central friend, Jennifer Deseo, who is editor of The Silver Spring Penguin:

County and state health officials urged calm and caution as they revealed details behind a suspected case of swine flu at Rockville High School.

The school was ordered closed Thursday evening after laboratory tests determined that a special-needs student at the school probably contracted H1N1 flu, Ulder Tillman, chief of Montgomery County’s public health services, explained during a press conference.

“Because this student can’t follow our messages of covering your mouth when you cough or washing your hands, we felt it was very important to take this action,” Tillman said.

The student, whose name, age and gender were not disclosed, appeared well on Monday but began to show flu-like symptoms on Tuesday, Tillman described. The child received immediate medical attention, and by Thursday evening, a state health department lab in Baltimore had determined that samples collected from the student probably contained the H1N1 virus.

That’s when state and county health officials decided to close the school at least through Monday, Tillman announced. “We want to be proactive and precautionary,” she said.

What makes this case peculiar is that the student did not travel to Mexico or any other affected areas, nor did anyone in the student’s immediate family, Tillman said. Instead, the student may have contracted the illness from someone else in the community.

If the child’s illness was community-acquired, it would be the first such case in the state of Maryland, Tillman said. Nine other probable cases of H1N1 flu have been reported in the state, Fran Phillips, Maryland’s deputy secretary for public health, said. None of them have required hospitalization, and there have been no related deaths.

The current health condition of the Rockville High student was not disclosed. Samples from the student have been sent to the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta for further study.

In the meantime, Tillman encouraged students to remain at home, and to avoid extracurricular activities or gathering at malls. It’s unclear how school officials intend to handle Saturday’s scheduled college-entrance exams or next week’s advanced-placement tests.

“We’ll be sorting this out,” Montgomery County schools superintendent Jerry Weast said. “Not sorting it out could cost us the life of a child.”

Rockville High School Closed Due To Flu

Officials have closed >Rockville High School until further notice due to a probable case of H1N1 (“swine”) flu discovered recently in a student, according to WTOP:

“This student represents the ninth probable case that we have. We have no confirmed cases yet,” said Maryland Deputy Secretary for Public Health Frances Phillips late Thursday night.

Dr. Ulmer J. Tillman, Montgomery County’s health director, says the student is a probable direct carrier of the H1N1 virus.

The move comes in coordination with the Centers for Disease Control and the Maryland Department of Health and mental Hygiene.

We will keep you updated.

[UPDATED] Measles Watch For Shady Grove Adventist ER Patients (Apr. 5-7)

>Alert from WTOP News:

A measles watch in Montgomery County is intensifying. County and state health officials are asking anyone who was admitted to the emergency room at Shady Grove Adventist Hospital last weekend to call 301-826-6000. . . .

The problem developed earlier this year when an unvaccinated resident returned from a trip overseas. Since then, two adults and an infant have been diagnosed with measles.

UPDATE: Mark has given new information in the comments.

Donate Blood in Rockville Town Center

The blood supply has fallen to unsafe low levels. As of yesterday, O Positive, O Negative and B Negative, have less than a two-day supply in our area. A 5-to-7 day supply is best.>

**THE BLOOD MOBILE HAS BEEN CANCELLED BUT YOU CAN STILL DONATE BLOOD AT A DONOR CENTER** The City of Rockville is doing its part by hosting the American Red Cross blood mobile at Rockville Town Center on Saturday, June 28, 2008 from 11 AM to 4 PM. You need to register immediately by calling 1-800-GIVE-LIFE (1-800-448-3543). The mobile will be parked in front of Gold’s Gym at 26 Maryland Avenue.

If you have never donated before, it’s fairly painless and as simple as lying down to relax for awhile. Keep in mind that ALL blood types are needed.

You can go here to check if you are eligible to donate. Only 5% of the people who can donate, actually do.

Our teenage nephew, “Doc”, recently testified for a bill in the State of Virginia to lower the donation age to 16. Maryland already allows donation at age 16 with parental permission. We are all very proud of Doc for his advocacy as he heads off to college this summer!

If you can’t make it over to Town Center, you can still donate at the Rockville Red Cross Donor Center at 11820 Parklawn Drive, Suite 510. You should schedule your donation.

The hours are:
Monday, Tuesday & Thursday 12 PM – 7 PM
Friday, 7 AM – 12 PM
Saturday, 6 AM – 2 PM

I’m B Negative will donate. I know they need my rare blood type now!

Congratulations Kari Keaton

Hearty congratulations to >Rockville Central friend Kari Keaton, founder of the Metro DC Food Allergy Support Group which meets in Rockville. Kari was recently featured as a guest on Rockville Central Radio.

But, more recently and far groovier, Kari features as the lead voice in today’s front page Washington Post article on how food manufacturers and grocers are responding — or trying to respond — to the growing number of Americans who have food allergies and sensitivities:

Kari Keaton is the sort of customer most businesses used to hate. The Rockville mother lingers at the grocery store, poring over ingredient labels. She calls food manufacturers and interrogates their customer service representatives about what sorts of foods get processed in the same facility and probes them on the meaning of “natural flavoring.” And after all that effort, she still may not buy their product.

Indeed, Kari is tireless when it comes to raising awareness about food allergies (and is tireless in her support of other important causes too, as those who know her will attest). Her efforts in this area are a linchpin for so much that is going on. It just makes perfect sense that the Post would turn to Kari to lead off this article.

Read the whole article here.

Way to go, Kari!