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| Nurse Barbara Sullivan gives a flu shot to a Mattina Center patient |
and Kevin Hoffman
Bengal News reporters
Scared and hesitant at first, Shomique Pierce, 20, was worried about her health and her six-month-old baby’s health. Getting the Influenza Vaccine in early October, her mind was more at peace knowing that she and her baby would have a less likely chance of getting the flu this winter.
Like Pierce, many residents of the West Side are gearing up for the winter season by getting the flu shot at clinics like the Judge Joseph S. Mattina Community Health Center located at 300 Niagara St.
“I recommend for people to get it (flu shot), its better for you to be safe than sorry. I’ve gotten sick but it would have been worse if I had not gotten it, said Suleika Sosa, 25, a student at the Buffalo Adult Learning Center.
Nurse Barbara Sullivan of the Mattina Community Health Center recommends that everyone get a flu shot for this winter season. She said that people with ages ranging from six months old to the elderly, especially those at 70-years-old, should get the flu shot.
“People die from the flu, they don’t think they do but especially small children and the elderly can get really sick,” Sullivan said.
“The children are the ones who infect everybody else. When you think about it they are the ones that can catch the flu in school, they are not good hand-washers and they come home and get mom and dad sick, grandma and grandpa sick, it gets passed around,” she added.
This year’s flu shot comes equipped with a vaccine to protect against influenza A and B as well as the H1N1 virus that caused a pandemic across the country for the 2008-2009 winter season. Those that are allergic to eggs should not take the flu shot, Sullivan said. There are no alternatives for a flu shot for those who are allergic.
Due to the H1N1 virus scare, Sullivan believes that for this winter season there will be many people that will get the flu because of the scare.
According to Sullivan, even if one were to get a flu shot it would take two weeks to kick in. It is also common that people can get sick two week before the medication kicks in and even after. The medication can last for approximately six months, but according to Sullivan, the best time to get the flu shot is in October and November.
For the average person the most common flu symptoms are fever, sore throat, chills, fatigue, cough, headache and muscle aches.
If a doctor’s visit is out of the question there are several home remedies according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, some centuries old, which can be used to combat the debilitating effect the flu can take on everyday life.
Sullivan says the best way to avoid getting sick is...
Getting extra bed rest and drinking a large amount of fluids can help ease the pain, especially when dealing with a fever. Breathing aromatic steam, which entails filling the bathroom or kitchen sink with steaming water, adding two teaspoons of chopped fresh ginger and inhaling the steam, is essential to opening up the bronchial tubes, easing congestion, and making breathing easier.
Because of the diverse community present on the West Side it is sometimes hard to convince people to immunize them with a flu shot because of their religious views or restrictions. Some have started to become accustomed to living in poor conditions, Sullivan said.
“Buffalo has a large refugee population, we have people from Bangladesh, from the Congo, from Iraq, Vietnam, Cuba, Mexico, China and a lot of them are not immunized or are aware of what a flu shot can do,” she said. “The more people we immunized the less it is going to spread out.”
Sullivan recommended that “one way to prevent the flu is to cough and sneeze into your elbow and wash your hands, don’t use handkerchiefs but use a Kleenex.” In addition she states that people should not share food, utensils or use other people’s cups; they should eat a healthy diet to keep their immune system up.
Edited by Tony Fiorello and Natalie Lleras
If one were to have the stomach flu, there is a great remedy that is used throughout Latin American countries like Mexico. The remedy is a simple tea but with a twist. When making chamomile tea, one is supposed to add the egg whites to boiling water and the eggshells. Both the egg whites and the eggshells act as calcium to fight the virus. Of course, when one drinks the tea it would be better not to eat the eggshells and the egg whites.--Jeffrey Heras
ReplyDeleteThe first influenza pandemic was reported to be sweeping through Asia in 1580, followed shortly by a spread to Europe and then ultimately the United States. Since this time doctors have been searching for a cure to the virus that once carried a high mortality rate and was treated by intentional bloodletting.
ReplyDeleteModern day medicine does not go to those extremes, but since the days of World War II there has been an alternative to the previously primitive techniques. The United States military was the first to develop approved vaccines for influenza, as the military was looking to gain every advantage in their quest to emerge from the war victorious.
The widespread use of the influenza vaccine during World War II was investigated upon during the Nuremburg Trials, as some believed the military was using these shots to create a herd immunity. Even though some of the soldiers would likely pass away, the greater good of the majority would benefit. In order to comply with regulations, people must not be medicated or subjected to experimentation against their will. The first influenza vaccine trials during the war were questioned under the previous circumstances.
--Kevin Hoffman