From The Health Director—

Being Prepared Means Balancing Your Risks, Opportunities

By Donna Culbert

Newtown Regional

Health Director

Editor’s Note: The following column was deleted from the Spring Health Monitor section.

What are you prepared to do? Remember that quote from Jimmy Malone, played by Sean Connery from his Academy-Award winning performance in The Untouchables?

It’s a good question. For me, it has a couple of different meanings.

Being prepared means (1) identifying the condition/situation/risks you would like to address, (2) assembling the information/materials required to assist in responding, (3) making a plan to put those materials and information into action — this would include working with partners/family/friends/whomever else would be involved, and (4) putting it into action.

It is not just for emergencies, although we really do want you to be prepared for emergencies (i.e., hurricanes, floods, power outages, epidemics). It is also about the everyday stuff. Prepare to protect yourself. Reduce your risks. You are at risk for a lot of things: heart disease, obesity, diabetes, accidents, stress, drug/alcohol abuse, and yes, you know I’m going to say it, tick bites and tick-borne disease!

Equally important, and I think the intent of Jimmy Malone’s quote, is What are you willing, able, and passionately motivated to do, to affect the change you want. We receive all kinds of information that can help educate and empower us to achieve our goals, but what will it take to get us there? Is it opportunity? Is it accessibility? Is it knowledge? (knowing what to do?) Is it resources? (do you have what you need?) Is it desire? Passion? Fear? What is it going to take, folks? I think it’s about commitment and consistency.

At the time of this writing, spring is around the corner, and with it comes risk and opportunity. The risks are endless and so are the opportunities. I want to emphasize the opportunities.

Let’s start with walking. Walking is an excellent and practically universal form of physical activity. You do not need any special skills or equipment to walk, except a decent pair of sneakers or walking shoes. Walking may seem tame to many, but unless you are devoted to an exercise program, I challenge you to consistently walk. It will do many things for you. You will live longer and better, by improving your heart health, reducing high blood pressure and high cholesterol, eliminating or reducing the effects of diabetes, reducing stress, and sleeping better. Walk with a friend and/or your dog and you all benefit. Where to walk, you ask? Let’s start with the few sidewalks we do have in town; they will bring you to our middle school, our Hawley School, Newtown Youth & Family Services, Edmond Town Hall, a movie theater, the police department, Town Hall South, many churches along Church Hill Road and Main Street, many health care and dental care providers, pharmacies, grocery stores, banks, restaurants; again, many opportunities. And that’s just where the sidewalks are. There are also paths and trails in town that can be accessed, for example, Orchard Hill Nature Center and the newer paved walking route at Fairfield Hills.

The American Heart Association’s website, www.AmericanHeart.org is a great resource.

As you walk, or possibly hike and access those beautiful areas of town around our trails and fields, be ever so mindful that there are other critters patiently waiting for you: the ticks. They want to take your opportunity to experience the outdoors and turn it into their opportunity to get a meal. And there is the risk. The risk is big.

The Newtown Health District has no evidence that the numbers of ticks are going down; quite the contrary. We do have evidence that the infectivity rate of the ticks, in the selected areas that we have tested, is very high, in the range of 70 percent positive for the bacteria that causes Lyme. We also know that there are other tick-borne diseases beside Lyme disease that are making our residents, our friends, our families, our children, sick. Those other tick-borne diseases include human babesiosis, human granulocytic anaplasmosis and human monocytic ehrlichiosis. Tick-borne diseases can be moderate to devastating, and is critically important to promptly communicate with your health care provider if you have been bitten by a tick.

Along with walking, I’m going to challenge you all to take the risk of being bitten by a tick and becoming ill and turn it into an opportunity to become and stay healthy. Be aware of the risk of being bitten by a tick — if you are outside, the risk is there. (And even if you are not outside, if your pet was, the risk is there) We want to BLAST tick-borne disease out of our lives. BLAST stands for the following:

B – Bathe or shower soon after coming indoors

L – Look for ticks and remove with tweezers

A – Apply repellents for skin and/or clothing

S – Spray the perimeter of your yard for ticks; a licensed pesticide applicator can help you

T – Treat your pets with a product recommended by your veterinarian

For additional information on ticks and tick bite prevention, visit www.ct.gov/caes and click on “Tick Management Handbook.”

I cannot emphasize enough the importance of this message. There are limitless risks and opportunities out there. Take advantage of the opportunities to improve your health. They are there, available and accessible. But its up to the individual to follow-through and make it happen.

It is the same with tick-borne diseases. I can talk about the risks of tick bites till the cows come home, but its up to us to make a difference. We need to be armed with knowledge, resources, and the desire to make a difference. We need to be committed to the goal of making a change. My goals for you are to walk more and to be bitten by ticks less. Actually my goals for me are to walk more and to be bitten by ticks less, too. I will access the information and the opportunities because I need these things to change in my life: better health and a year without tick-borne disease. I’ve asked myself and now I am asking you… “What are you prepared to do?”