As a pharmacist, Fred understands the risks and dangers of hanging on to unneeded medications. 

“Our hope is to prevent accidental drug ingestion or misuse,” she said. “Keeping one person safe from an accidental overdose is worth it.” 

Starting Feb. 17, Carle accepts unused or expired medications including: 

• Most prescription drugs 
• Over-the-counter medications 
• Vitamins and supplements 
• Pet medications 

Fred advises people to remove anything that might identify them – either by peeling off labels or blacking out information – before placing unwanted medications in the box. 

“Medications lose their effectiveness over time and can be dangerous,” Fred said. “Now is a great time to clean out your medicine cabinets and check those expiration dates.” 

Leftover untaken prescription medications can become a safety hazard to children, teens, other family members and pets. 

Eliza Rudin, RN, Emergency Department pediatric coordinator, said this program helps keep medications safely out of young children’s reach. 

The Centers of Disease Control estimates there are about 400,000 poison center calls and 50,000 ER visits each year as a result of young children ingesting medications. 

This new program builds on the success of Carle’s sharps disposal program started in 2017, which disposes of needles, lancets and other sharp medical supplies annually. 

People can drop off sharps at several Carle locations including Carle Foundation Hospital and South Clinic, Urbana on Windsor, Champaign Surgery Center, Champaign on Curtis, Danville on Fairchild and Vermilion, Carle Hoopeston Regional Health Center and Carle Watseka. 

Offering both of these services ensures disposal according to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) guidelines and prevents potential harm. 

If you’re unable to get to a medication disposal box, you can take safe steps to dispose of medication at home. 

“Place the medication in a sealable bag and mix it with coffee grounds, kitty litter or sawdust before throwing it in the trash,” Fred said. 

The post Carle expanding access to safe medication disposal first appeared on SJO Daily.

A kiss on the forehead during a snuggle with an infant is not unusual.

But when someone has symptoms of the common cold come in close contact with an infant, they could be spreading more than just affection.

Dr. Stefanie Schroeder, a pediatrician at Carle, said “someone who thinks they just have a cold could give RSV to an infant, who could then have more serious complications.”

RSV, respiratory syncytial virus, is a common respiratory virus that usually causes mild, cold-like symptoms: cough, runny nose and sneezing.

Schroeder said that most people come in contact with RSV prior to the age of two, but for those infants whose immune systems are still weak, the virus could cause respiratory issues or a secondary infection.

“So sometimes for those younger kids it can present a little more severely,” Schroeder said.

The virus, which generally lasts 7-10 days, can cause a runny nose, a decrease in appetite, and a cough, which may progress to wheezing.

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), infants may not have signs of a cold, but rather only present with irritability, decreased activity or appetite and sleep apnea or pauses while breathing.

“It’s usually as bad as it’s going to be about day four to five, So we want to watch those kids really closely,” Schroeder said.

Parents who believe their child needs to be seen because their symptoms are more severe than the common cold, should visit their pediatrician. In office, the physician can run a swab test to see if the child has RSV, influenza and do other tests for secondary infections.

“Anytime your immune system is suppressed, you run the risk of getting sick with something else,” Schroeder said.

According to the CDC, RSV is the most common cause of bronchiolitis (inflammation of the small airways in the lungs) and pneumonia (infection of the lungs) in children younger than 1 year of age in the United States.

When needed, a child diagnosed with RSV can be hospitalized to provide the extra breathing support their body needs.

To prevent the spread of RSV, Schroeder suggests many of the same practices that are used to curb the spread of other viruses: wash your hands with soap and water for 20 seconds, disinfect surfaces, such as countertops and door handles, and avoid contact with people, particularly infants, when you have symptoms of the common cold.

The post Recognizing, preventing RSV in babies first appeared on SJO Daily.

BY DANI TIETZ
dani@mahometnews.com

There is a lot that farmers will talk about.

They can tell their family’s history, they are often a walking almanac, they know how the weather will impact the growth of their product and they often can tell you who showed up for breakfast at the local diner.

But, talking about the stressors that lead to mental health issues has not been a topic readily discussed among the ag community.

“They are trained to be stoic,” Amy Rademaker, Carle’s Rural Health and Farm Safety program coordinator, said. “ they don’t often show much emotion. Their dad never did, their grandfather never did.”

For decades, those stressors, including financial issues, business problems and fear, have led to higher rates of mental health issues, such as depression and anxiety, in the ag community.

Rademaker said that over a farmer’s lifetime, even season-to-season, they can experience the perfect storm of stressors that are unlike any other professional experiences.

“We’re talking about one of the few professions that rely a lot on Mother Nature and things that are outside of their control,” she said.

Last year alone, farmers questioned whether or not they would be able to get seed in the ground with a record-rainfall during the spring months and the late harvest was thwarted for some as snow and below-freezing temperatures set in early.

Even with higher grain prices in 2019, low yields, tariffs and declining commodity prices left farmers feeling the financial strain.

“We’ve basically stacked things on top of each other and made it worse,” Rademaker said.

Those in the agriculture community, particularly production farmers, often carry this burden alone.

“How many other occupations do you work alone or with just one other person?” Rademaker asked.

“In the planting season and harvest season, there are people around, but you are stuck in a tractor for hours on end by yourself. The isolation is another key issue to deal with.”

Then there is the unintended stress that the legacy of prior generations and the promise of future generations holds.

“This is not just their job, this is their livelihood,” she said. “This is something they’ve inherited, this is what they plan to pass on to their children. If they fail, they feel like they have failed the family.

“That is an extra burden.”

But mental health issues within the agriculture community are nothing new.

Suicide rates among farmers have always been higher than those in the general population.

The Centers for Disease Control estimate that suicide rates in agriculture (Farming, fishing and forestry) are higher than for any other occupation: 84.5 per 100,000 persons in 2012, followed by workers in construction and extraction (53.3), and installation, maintenance and repair (47.9).

“We need to stay on top of this,” Rademaker said. “We need to address this long term, not just for the crisis we have seen in the last few years.”

Over recent years, Rademaker has seen a change that has been impactful and lasting.

With Carle, Rademaker hosts training for professionals, volunteers, family and friends so that they may be able to identify mental health issues before it’s too late.

“If we have an open conversation or dialogue, we can recognize as a society that mental health can be treated just the same as having high blood pressure, being diabetic, having a heart condition, asthma; all of these things that we consider acceptable and treatable, mental health should be one and the same,” she said.

“The more we talk about it, the more we remove the stigma from it.”

Rademaker has been surprised by the response she has received as she has presented her training course on how to help those mental health and substance abuse issues in the agriculture community.

Last February, Rademaker expected a small turnout for her session at a statewide Illinois Farm Bureau event in Chicago.

“I expected 10 people, and it was standing room only,” she said.

Regularly, attendees will stay after the presentation to ask questions or to share their stories.

Rademaker believes that those who understand the agriculture community are the best resources to identify when trouble arises and to help direct individuals to the help they need.

According to a poll conducted by the American Farm Bureau Federation, rural adults said that they would be more likely to talk to a family primary care doctor, family member, close friend or a faith-based counselor about mental health issues.

That is why her eight-hour course at Farm Credit Illinois on January 14 will be open to those who have a first-hand relationship with members of the agriculture community: extension staff and volunteers, commodity group leaders, bankers, insurance agents, friends and family members.

“I think that builds a level of trust,” she said.

Those who will become “Mental Health First Aiders” will learn a five-step action plan to guide them through the process of reaching out and offering appropriate support.

“Just as CPR helps even those without clinical training assist an individual having a heart attack, Mental Health First Aid prepares participants to interact with a person experiencing a mental health crisis,” Rademaker said.

“I want to train people to understand and recognize symptoms so they can feel comfortable talking to people and, at the end of the day, making sure those people get the help they need and don’t become a statistic.

“I always want people to feel like they have the resources to do something if they feel they need to.”

Rademaker said that keeping the conversation going and looking out for one another is what will make a difference in the lives of individuals who suffer from mental illness.

“We have to as a society recognize and help people,” she said. “We’ve got to help as a society identify and connect these people to the help that they need.”

A trusted source that accepts calls nationally is Iowa Concern.

Run by the Iowa State University Extension and Outreach, persons with an agriculture background can help those looking for help sort out what they are trying to process or get connected with the resources they need.

“They understand and can relate,” she said. “I think that is what’s important.”

Rademaker said that if someone is experiencing a mental health emergency, they should call 911 or the National Suicide Hotline.

The post Mental Health and First Aid class for Agriculture available first appeared on SJO Daily.

Books. A Laptop. A lunch box. Sports equipment. Instruments.

By the time students get to high school or junior high, the list of what they need to carry on their body to and from school multiplies.

While students may complain of muscle pain from the weight of what they carry in their backpacks, Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine Stefanie Schroeder, who works at Carle, said, “I don’t think there is going to be any significant long-term damage to kids having heavy backpacks.”

But, year-after-year Schroeder does see patients in her office, mostly high school-aged students who have shoulder or back pain from carrying heavy backpacks throughout the day.

“If you start to notice that kids are complaining of back pain, neck pain, shoulder pain, if you start to notice that they are asking for Ibuprofen or Tylenol because they are having pain, if you notice that they start to sit a little funny at the dinner table or on the couch, you’ll want to investigate a little further,” Schroeder said.

She also said that parents should watch for their child bending backward or falling forward as a sign that the backpack is too heavy for the child.

To combat backpack weight, Schroeder encourages parents to purchase backpacks that are not wider than the child’s shoulders or longer than the torso.

It is also important to make sure the child wears both backpack straps on the shoulders, and if possible, to purchase a backpack with a chest or waist strap to help distribute the backpack weight.

Students in late elementary school through high school might have additional items to carry, such as athletic equipment and instruments to and from school.

Schroeder suggests looping a lunchbox strap on the backpack to leave the hands free for instruments. With bigger instruments and sports equipment, Schroeder recommends getting backpack straps to distribute the weight on the body.

“The more you can do over the shoulder, the better,” she said.

With a load of books and additional equipment, it is important for parents to encourage their high school-aged students to go to their lockers as often as possible.

“I know that sometimes you can only get one or two stops in during the day, but if they can, then they don’t have to carry around everything all day,” Schroeder said.

There are times, though, when Schroeder needs to see students in her office.

“If you notice kids are having a lot of pain, then taken them into their doctor to make sure there is nothing more serious going on.”

If the pain is muscle pain, the child might be referred to a D.O., such as Schroeder, who will use manipulations and techniques to help the muscles relax and ease the pain.

“A lot of times that is from muscle pain related to how heavy the backpack is,” she said.

Schroeder said patients between the ages of 3 and 18 use her services.

The post What parents need to know about backpack weight first appeared on SJO Daily.

It’s not uncommon for a child to complain of a sore throat or for a medical professional to see patients with sore throats.

Six weeks into the school year with fall just around the corner, students are already presenting at medical clinics with sore throats.

But not every sore throat means that a child has a strep throat.

Carle Mahomet has seen an increase of strep-like symptoms recently, but many of the cultures are coming back negative.

“What seems to be going around right now is viral for the majority of people.”

“In the wintertime, 30 percent of sore throat can be strep, but throughout the year only about 15-percent of all sore throats are actually strep,” said Jean Husmann, a PA with Carle.

While a sore throat can be caused by a virus or even allergies at times, symptoms of strep throat will also include a red throat that could also potentially present with white patches, body aches and typically a fever.

Husmann said strep throat patients usually do not also have a runny nose, earache or coughing.

“If your child has a sore throat and a fever, I’d probably recommend that they be seen to get a strep test done in the office. That’s really the only way to diagnose strep,” she said.

Another symptom of the strep bacteria can also be what is diagnosed as scarlet fever or scarlatina.

“Scarlet fever and scarlatina has been around for a long time.Scarlet fever is just a strep rash. So if strep is going around, you will definitely see scarlet fever.”

Scarlet fever and scarlatina are the same medical condition.

“Some people with the strep infection will have the rash, and not a sore throat, some people will have both.”

The rash is what separates strep throat and scarlet fever.

Scarlet fever can present as a rash with a sandpaper texture on the neck, face and/or upper body, a bright red “strawberry” tongue, swollen lymph nodes or white patches on the back of the throat. Those with scarlet fever can run a fever as well.

Husmann said a scarlet fever diagnosis is far less common than a strep throat diagnosis, though.

Because the strep bacteria is very contagious among persons who have been in contact with an infected individual, Husmann suggests that parents teach their children to wash their hands, to not share drinks or utensils, to cover their mouth with their elbow while coughing, to not touch their face and to keep the child home when they are sick.

“If (the child is) running a fever greater than 100.4, it is recommended that children or an adult stay home for 24 hours after the fever is resolved. If your child doesn’t look good, doesn’t feel good and they have cold symptoms, I still would not send them to school.”

Husmann said to look for symptoms like lethargy, a pale skin tone or an unwillingness to participate in activities the child would normally enjoy.

“I’d keep them home and let them rest,” she said.

The post What to look for when child complains of sore throat first appeared on SJO Daily.