The Wawascene was created by Dr. Mark Stock, former Superintendent of the Wawasee Community School Corporation. Due to its local popularity, Dr. Stock has left the blog site to future Wawasee administrators.

Blog Rules

Comments should be respectful and pertain to the topic posted. Comments about personnel matters should be made directly to the administrators responsible. Blog moderators reserve the right to remove any comment determined not in keeping with these guidelines.

Monday, October 19, 2009

Wawasee H1N1 Update

The Kosciusko County Health Department held an H1N1 information session on Friday, October 16, for county school nurses and superintendents.

Symptoms of the 2009 strain of H1N1A were reviewed:

  • sore throat
  • cough
  • 103˚ - 104˚, even with Tylenol or similar product
  • possible vomiting and diarrhea
  • length of 7 to 10 days, with cough lasting longer

Fluids and monitoring are the most important treatments. Please do not return to work or school once a fever is no longer present with out the help of medication for 24-48 hours.

The 2009 H1N1A virus symptoms have been generally mild and treatable without doctor intervention. In certain cases, antiviral medications can lessen infection symptoms.

You get the flu from taking in fluids containing the virus which has been expelled in large droplets from the mouth or nasal area of someone with the virus. The virus generally lives until the fluid dries.

Covering your mouth when coughing, using tissues for runny noses, washing hands, using alcohol-based gels, and isolating infected individuals will slow the spread of the flu virus.

The 2009 H1N1A virus is not closely related to other recent flu strains, so the vaccine prepared for this year will not affect the 2009 H1N1A virus. This year’s ‘seasonal’ flu shot will protect against other flu strains expected this winter. Those individuals in priority groups for receiving the 2009 H1N1A vaccine should also get their regular ‘seasonal’ inoculation.

Two types of vaccinations have been prepared for the 2009 H1N1A virus. One is a mist administered through the nose. The other is a shot. The mist is generally more effective and is suitable for those 2-49 years of age. The shot is for 0-2 years of age, those 50 and older, those with asthma, and women who are pregnant.

Supplies of the H1N1A vaccine have been limited. The county expects shipments over the next month or two to inoculate priority groups. Those include:

  • pregnant women
  • caregivers
  • health care workers
  • children of 6 months to young adults of 24 years
  • those 25-64 with chronic health concerns

Teachers are not considered in the high risk category unless they fall under another priority group designation. Those 65 and older are generally not at risk for contracting the 2009 H1N1A virus.

The Kosciusko County Health Department will work with various entities to inoculate the priority grips. These entities are:

  • health care workers
  • first responders/key government individuals
  • private medical offices
  • health department walk-ins
  • pharmacies
  • school-based clinics

If the 2009 H1N1A outbreak should seriously worsen, other measures like voluntary quarantine, school closings, and other means to reduce social contacts will be considered. Schools are making plans for educational activities to continue at home and on-line in the event of closing due to flu related absences.

More 2009 H1N1A, along with general flu, information is available at http://www.flu.gov/ or The Center of Disease Control.

The Wawasee Community School Corporation is tracking, and will continue to monitor, student and staff absentee rates. We’ll report significant changes to our community and to the Kosciusko County Health Department.

A Wawasee High School-based 2009 H1N1A inoculation session will be set for a Saturday in late October or early November, with the date depending upon vaccine availability. Volunteers will be needed that day.

Thanks to the Wawasee school nurses and the Kosciusko County Health Department for their planning and communication regarding the 2009 H1N1A flu virus, our students and our community.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Amazing how things work on wawascene when a topic gets heated or questions presented that the people in charge do not want to deal with they just simply take away the blog area. Yes I am alluding to the swim team topic but I have noticed this on other topics in the past. Please do not run from tough questions it shows a true weakness in our leadership enough that maybe the school board needs to address the people they have in charge.

Superintendent, Dr. Thomas Edington said...

Dear Anonymous,
The Wawascene blog rules are clear.
Be respectful
Stay on the blog topic
Take up personnel issues with
the approtriate administator
If rules aren't followed,
items get deleted.
Tom Edington, Supt.

Anonymous said...

Is that a single blog or the entire blog for that topic. It seems the bloggers were staying on topic and were respectful with their questioning. I do not understand why every single blog was removed and now the taxpayers of this district now can not leave a comment or question on this topic. It does look like the hot button topics are simply silenced rather than addressed. I hope that this is not a repeated pattern in our district as a whole.

Anonymous said...

Taxpayers with questions were encouraged to contact Mary Hurley to get answers to questions. No one is being silenced. If you have a question on this topic, all you have to do is make the phone call.

Let's all work together to make this particular technology useful, informative and beneficial for everyone.

Anonymous said...

A thank you to the school corporation that has been so understanding and tolerant to the "hate-blogger" regarding the swim club. Many of us appreciate the administrations response on this one. Since it seems that there is so much false information being sent out, as one of the volunteer-parent board members of the new club, I wanted to set at least some of the record straight.

There are several updates on the new club development: First, the new club is now officially a 501C3 non-profit organization called "Wawasee Pro Swimming". As Dr. Edigton so kindly said, the new club is very similar to the old club, with many of the former club supporters helping organize the current organization.

Wawasee Pro Swimming has been fortunate enough to have the majority of swimmers that swam for the old club joining. Almost 70 swimmers (kids from all age groups and swimming backgrounds) were registered in the first month with USA swimming. We seem to be getting more every week. It's great to see the pool full of kids just enjoying swimming. We look forward to seeing more in the weeks, months, and seasons to come.

The WPS coaches are: Head Coach - Julie Robinson, Assistant Coaches - Mike Gunderson, Brent Robinson, and Cheryl Miller, along with Sue Ganshorn who is teaching/coaching the current pre-competitive group. The combination of new coaches (Julie & Brent), with former Wawasee Monster coaches (Mike & Cheryl), add in a life-long swim supporter in Sue Ganshorn (I remember when Sue was MY gym teacher and taught me to swim over 25 years ago!), and well you have quite a wide range of coaching talent, experience and just a great balance on deck. The kids are learning ALOT! :)

The club is working on developing a scholarship program that they hope will help sponsor some kids that may not be able to afford all of the costs involved in competitive swimming. A few kids this season are taking advantage of these opportunities and as the club grows (and can afford to) hopefully more will be able to participate in the seasons to come.

On a very positive note, the new swim club had their first meet this weekend. The kids had a tremendous season opener. Almost every kid swimming had best times! Even some of the more experienced kids that normally don't experience large time drops had some truly amazing times! It was nothing to see 10-20 second time drops this weekend in some of the kids' events. It just proves that the kids are responding well to some of the new technique training that Julie and her group of coaches are teaching. The new energy on deck at the pool and the quality of coaching that was provided at this weekend's meet was a wonderful thing to see!

The new club is a work-in-progress and may experience a few bumps along the way, starting a new club is a big job, but the kids are in the water, the coaches are teaching, the kids are working hard AND having fun. As the new organization develops and parents continue to show their support, many of us feel that the future of the new club is very bright.

To those couple of you that continue to spew the ugliness (there really are only a few - the rest are at the pool with us enjoying the beginning of the new season!) Please just STOP - you are truly doing damage to our swim community.

Anonymous said...

I would not refer to this person as a "hate blogger". It seems this person is concerned with the lack of response on many subjects that are presented as I myself have encountered this within the administration both via phone calls to those in charge and through email. I feel this person is simply venting fustrations that arise from the lack of communication that occurs when you are told to try and reach out to those people and they are always unavailable. People will always try to find ways to voice their concerns when they feel they are not being heard. So if you feel that this is hate blogging then I see where you could be lumped into this yourself just from the other side of the issue. Thank you for your opinion!

Anonymous said...

Thank you to the poster that gave the information on the current swim club. I had heard there wasn't a swim club this year for younger kids. I'm glad that kids that swim still have an area club option.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

I am not a hate blogger but I do think Julie Robinson should have found a way to work with the existing program. I am sure it was really tough to start a program that is just like the old, with the old's time slot and 2 of the old coaches. The way I see it Julie took her handful of swimmers added them to the Wawasee Area Swim Club and called it her own. I am thankful that Cheryl Miller chose to help coach the "new" program which are the same kids she coach in the old program. I am also glad to see that she has chosen to become a not-for-profit so she can provide scholarships for kids in need. I hope the program does succeed after all it is for the kids. I do hope everyone will remember the kids that are succeeding were successful under the old program with Coach Scott and a hard working board dedicated to making the program affordable for everyone. Also let us remember the hundreds of parents and families that got this program to where it is/was when Julie took it over. Finally good luck to all the swimmers and let's support the new program and coaches for the kids sake.

Vanessa said...

I'm not sure who could answer this, but I don't quite understand why teachers in general aren't a priority group for vaccination, given that they're around children between the ages of 6 and 18.

Anonymous said...

The Center for Disease Control sets the priority groups. Those above the age of 24 aren't generally getting this H1N1 virus.