Swine Flu

HAGERSTOWN -- Officials from Washington County Public Schools and the Washington County Health Department are offering free seasonal flu vaccinations to students in grades kindergarten through five. The vaccinations will not protect children from swine flu. John Davidson, director of student services for Washington County Public Schools, said vaccinations will be administered from Oct. 19 to 26. He said the vaccinations would not be given without parental consent. The vaccinations will be administered as a mist through both nostrils because most children are afraid of needles, said Susan Parks, director of community health nursing for the Washington County Health Department.

WILLIAMSPORT -- The parents of students at Williamsport Elementary School this week received a letter from school officials warning of an increased rate of absenteeism due to flu-like symptoms, Washington County Public Schools spokesman Richard Wright said Wednesday. Forty-eight of the school's students were listed as absent Monday, the day the letter was sent home with students, Wright said. That number dropped to 38 Wednesday. Williamsport Elementary has 501 students, according to the school's Web site.

The Washington County Health Department will hold an H1N1 flu vaccination clinic Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. for all target groups recommended by the Centers for Disease Control. The vaccinations will be given on a walk-in basis in the annex at the rear of the health department's main building at 1302 Pennsylvania Ave. in Hagerstown, according to a news release from the health department. There is no charge for the vaccination. The target groups are: o Pregnant women o People who live with or care for children younger than 6 months old o Health care and emergency medical services personnel o People between the ages of 6 months and 24 years old o People between the ages of 25 and 64 years old who are at higher risk for H1N1, also known as swine flu, because of chronic health disorders or compromised immune systems This clinic is for distribution of H1N1 flu vaccine, which will not provide protection from the seasonal flu, according to the release.

o If you like reading Tim Rowland, you'll love watching him. See what else Tim has to say Naturally, the swine flu and its potential to become a pandemic event is engrossing enough, but I'm particularly interested in the business side of the equation. It is reassuring that so many people see this flu not in terms of life or death, but in terms of dollars and cents. On Wall Street, for example, hospital and pharmaceutical stocks shot up on the news that the malady was spreading to other countries.

You can't cough in public right now without strange looks from passersby. This just goes to show that even though swine flu hasn't reached our rural region, worries still abound. And children are no exception. With unfamiliar words and concepts being used by adults - words like epidemic and pandemic - children might need help discerning fact from fiction regarding swine flu. Talking to kids about prevention without causing fear can be a tricky situation. To help, the National Association of School Nurses has issued a resource document for parents to help them share information about swine flu with their children.

"I'm calling about the stink bugs. I have a fool-proof method, but it takes a little work. You take a large, empty cottage cheese container and put about a cup of water in it and a healthy squirt of lemon detergent, and some, little bit of white vinegar to kill the smell, and then you take a long, like a 18-inch or so long twig or stick that has like a pointed ... you hold the container right underneath the stink bug, and then you take the stick and...

HAGERSTOWN -- When Jeannette DiFabio arrived at North Hagerstown High School Saturday morning, she had no idea getting a flu shot would be so easy. She rolled in, rolled up and rolled out. "I wanted to ask if I got fries with that," the Hagerstown resident joked. DiFabio, who is disabled, received a vaccination without leaving her car -- a convenient option for the thousands of people who took advantage of the Washington County Health Department's first public flu clinic of the season.

o Read more Harry Nogle columns at washingtoncountyliving.com Rutherford visits China in ambassador program Boonsboro High School student and Keedysville resident Rocky Rutherford returned in July from a 17-day trip to China as a People to People Student Ambassador. Rocky was part of a delegation from Frederick County, Md., and Winchester, Va. Students visited six different cities: Beijing, Xi'an, Shanghai, Suzhou, Wuzhen and Hong Kong. While in China, the delegation visited Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, the Great Wall, Beijing Zoo, Terracotta Warriors, the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, City Construction Museum, Yangtze River Delta, a ping pong school, a soccer and basketball school and Kun Opera Museum.

Editor's note: The Herald-Mail invites readers to answer poll questions on www.herald-mail.com. Readers also may submit comments about the poll question when voting. A sampling of edited reader comments will run on The Herald-Mail's Opinion page on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. The question posted Wednesday on The Herald-Mail's Web site was: Was the State of Maryland's decision to cut back on spending for state health departments a wise decision with flu season approaching?