'National Animal Advocacy Day'

April 30, 2023

National Animal Advocacy Day, celebrated on April 30 every year, is a special day to honor, respect, and celebrate every animal advocate who works tirelessly to save animals from abuse, exploitation, and cruelty.

Did you know that in the United States, millions of animals are abused to death annually? Yes, according to statistics, annually, over 10 million animals in the United States die of abuse. In fact, more shocking statistics reveal that one animal is abused every minute in the world.

This is why the work that animal advocates across the world do to promote the protection and rescue of animals is so important.

Read more here. . . .

Our New Extended Phone Hours

We have extended our office phone hours to better serve you. Our new phone hours are 7:15am - 11:30am, and 1pm - 4pm, Monday - Thursday.

Please contact us at 480.614.5800 or see our website for more information

April 30, 2023

THE 4TH COVID BOOSTER IS APPROVED FOR THOSE OVER 65 OR THOSE WHO ARE YOUNGER AND HAVE COMPROMISED IMMUNE SYSTEMS.

CONSIDER GETTING AN ADDITIONAL BOOSTER IF:

YOU ARE OVER 65 AND HAVE NOT HAD COVID

YOU ARE AT HIGHER RISK DUE TO ILLNESS/MEDICATION (ANY AGE) AND HAVE NOT HAD COVID.

IF YOU HAVE HAD COVID OVER 4 MONTHS AGO AND WISH TO BOOST YOUR IMMUNITY.

YOU ARE TRAVELING EXTENSIVELY IN THE NEXT 6 MONTHS OR ARE GOING TO LARGE FAMILY EVENTS.

IF YOU HAVE NOT HAD COVID AND NOT HAD 5 SHOTS…AND ARE OVER 65…THE DATA IS COMPELLING THAT ADDITIONAL SHOTS WILL KEEP YOU OUT OF THE HOSPITAL. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS.

THERE IS LESS VIRUS IN TOWN, BUT STILL WE ARE SEEING ABOUT 10 CASES A WEEK.……IT’S NOT FINISHED WITH US…. ESPECIALLY IF YOU HAVE NOT HAD COVID YET.

 CONSIDER WEARING A GOOD MASK (KN95 OR N95) SELECTIVELY AT BUSY INDOOR LOCATIONS TO STAY HEALTHY. IF GOOD VENTILATION, OPEN SPACES…NO NEED TO MASK AS A GENERAL RULE.

LIVE YOUR LIFE AND GO OUT AND ABOUT AS YOU FEEL COMFORTABLE…… AND YOU SHOULD FEEL COMFORTABLE DOING SO.

FLU IS VERY LOW.   RSV IS VERY LOW…

HOW TO MANAGE AT THIS TIME FOR GATHERINGS:  

PEOPLE ARE GOING TO BE COMFORTABLE GETTING TOGETHER AND THEY SHOULD GET TOGETHER.

TO REDUCE RISK....HERE ARE SOME IDEAS TO CONSIDER:

GET YOUR COVID BOOSTER

DO NOT ATTEND GATHERINGS IF YOU ARE NOT FEELING WELL. ASK OTHERS NOT TO ATTEND IF THEY ARE NOT FEELING WELL.

KEEP AIR MOVING IN GATHERING AREAS. VENTILATION...BY NATURAL MEANS OUTDOORS OR WITH FANS, CAN BE HELPFUL.

WEARING A HIGH-QUALITY MASK AT GATHERINGS IS GOOD IF YOU ARE TRAVELING AND WISH TO AVOID INFECTION FOR SUMMER TRAVEL.  IT IS IMPERATIVE FOR THOSE WITH TRULY REDUCED IMMUNITY...THOSE RECEIVING CHEMOTHERAPY, THOSE WITH SEVERE LUNG DISEASE, AND THOSE RECOVERING FROM RECENT HOSPITALIZATION.

GENERAL RECOMMENDATIONS:

WEAR N-95 OR KN95 MASKS IN SITUATIONS THAT YOU FEEL ARE HIGHER EXPOSURE IF YOU WISH TO REDUCE YOUR RISK

WHEN GOING OUT TO ACTIVITIES…. SELECT OPTIONS THAT ALLOW FOR BETTER VENTILATION INSIDE, OR CHOOSE OUTSIDE OPTIONS

IF YOU GET SICK YOU NEED TO TEST FOR COVID. CONSIDER COMING INTO THE OFFICE PARKING LOT FOR FLU TESTING AS WELL

TREATMENT FOR COVID AND FOR FLU IS AVAILABLE AND WORTHWHILE IN MANY INSTANCES.

TREATMENT FOR RSV IS PURELY SYMPTOMATIC…. WE TREAT THE SYMPTOMS AS THERE IS NO ANTIVIRAL FOR RSV

COVID IS UNDER CONTROL ON A BROAD BASIS  

RISKS OF COMPLICATIONS ARE LOW FOR THE MULTI-VAXXED

BOOSTER COVID VACCINATIONS:

THE NEW COVID VACCINE IS BIVALENT…. THIS MEANS IT CONTAINS THE ORIGINAL VACCINE COVERAGE…. PLUS, COVERAGE MORE SPECIFICALLY FOR BA5 FORMS OF COVID.

GIVEN THE SAFETY OF THE VACCINE, IT IS BEST FOR EVERY ADULT TO CONSIDER THIS BOOSTER…BUT….

I STRONGLY RECOMMEND THE BOOSTER VACCINE IF:

YOU HAVE NOT HAD COVID AND ARE OVER 65 YEARS OLD

YOU HAVE NOT HAD COVID AND HAVE HEALTH ISSUES THAT MAKE YOU MORE SUSCEPTIBLE TO COVID COMPLICATIONS SUCH AS…. EMPHYSEMA, SIGNIFICANT DIABETES, HEART FAILURE, OR ARE ON IMMUNE SUPPRESSING MEDICATION.

IF YOU HAD COVID YOU CAN STILL BENEFIT FROM ANOTHER BOOSTER, BUT IT IS NOT AS ESSENTIAL, AS YOUR PREVIOUS COVID INFECTION DOES HELP BOOST YOUR IMMUNITY THROUGH NATURAL MEANS.

IF YOU HAVE HAD 5 COVID VACCINES, THE 6TH VACCINE IS NOT AS ESSENTIAL, BUT IT WILL PROVIDE ADDITIONAL PROTECTION AND IS WORTH STRONGLY CONSIDERING. 

TOP PODCAST DONE WEEKLY

BY DR. MICHAEL OSTERHOLM

(UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA)  

He is a world-renowned epidemiologist who was credited with first elucidating TOXIC SHOCK SYNDROME in the 1980’s.

He provides comprehensive and understandable/actionable ideas related to COVID.

Dr. Osterholm Update: COVID-19

April 20, 2023

https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/episode-129-not-out-woods-yet



(Same as last week's.... New Podcast next week!)

'Not Out of the Woods Yet'

In this episode, Dr. Osterholm and Chris Dall discuss the state of the pandemic in the U.S. and around the world, the end of the Public Health Emergency in the U.S., and the recent FDA approval of an additional bivalent booster dose.

According to Dr. Osterholm……

• GET YOUR 4th BOOSTER (6th SHOT) IF YOU HAVE NOT HAD COVER OR IT’S BEEN LONGER THAN 4 MONTHS SINCE YOU HAD COVID YOURSELF
• A GOOD MASK, N95 OF KN95, DOES HELP REDUCE TRANSMISSION…. USE IT AT HIGH-RISK LOCATIONS
• GOOD VENTILATION IN ROOMS/HOME/BUSINESSES IS A GREAT WAY TO PREVENT TRANSMISSION
• VACCINE, VACCINE, VACCINE…THIS IS OUR PROTECTION.  ALL VACCINES ARE EFFECTIVE AND WITH TIME WE ARE SEEING THAT THE J&J VACCINE IS PICKING UP STEAM AND GIVES SOLID LONG-TERM PROTECTION.
• BOOST, BOOST, BOOST…THIS WILL BE NECESSARY TO PREVENT RECURRING SURGE AND TO RAISE ANTIBODY LEVELS IN THOSE ALREADY SET WITH THE PRIMARY COVID VACCINE SERIES.
• ANTIGEN TESTING IS USEFUL, BUT OF LIMITED VALUE. DON’T DEPEND ON IT…BUT USE IT.

Know that unvaccinated remain a source of potential infection.  Avoiding unvaccinated persons will reduce your risk of COVID.

Health authorities say they are now tracking a handful of new SARS-CoV-2 variants climbing in prevalence around the country, including the XBB.1.16 sublineage. That strain has been dubbed by some scientists on social media as "Arcturus," to the frustration of some health officials.

Scientists say XBB.1.16 is relatively similar to previous strains that have recently been dominant in the United States, including the XBB.1.5 variant that drove the last wave of infections this past fall and winter, and does not seem to be leading to worse or different symptoms compared to other variants.

"We have not observed a dramatic shift in spike since that Delta to Omicron shift," the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Dr. Natalie Thornburg said at an April 27 vaccines meeting hosted by the FDA.

Thornburg said XBB.1.16 has only a handful of mutations on SARS-CoV-2's spike protein compared with its predecessors, fewer than the more than two dozen changes seen when the original Omicron strains overtook other variants earlier in the pandemic.

Read more here. . . .

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is planning to stop tracking the spread of Covid in communities across the U.S., the agency said Friday.

Moving forward, the CDC is expected to rely more heavily on Covid-related hospitalizations, according to two people familiar with the plans — much like it does to track the spread of the flu.

The agency has been using a color-coded system since February 2022 to indicate high, medium or low transmission of Covid, county by county.

But as reported cases have steadily fallen and availability of rapid, at-home tests has risen, it has become difficult to get an accurate view of how much virus is circulating.

The CDC is expected to announce the new tracking system within the coming weeks. The news was first reported by CNN.

The CDC said the move away from tracking community level transmission is tied to the May 11 expiration of the national public health emergency.

Read more here. . . .

When the coronavirus pandemic began in early 2020, the SARS-CoV-2 virus was a strange and terrifying adversary that plunged the world into chaos. More than three years later, the infection’s symptoms are all too familiar and COVID-19 is here to stay — part of a long list of common diseases that infect humans. Experts estimate that the majority of the world’s population has been infected at least once; in the United States, some estimates suggest that as many as 65% of people have had multiple infections. And it’s likely that in the decades to come, we’re all destined to get COVID-19 many more times.

Just how much harm repeat infections will cause is a matter of debate. “There are some almost pathologically polarized opinions out there,” says Danny Altmann, an immunologist at Imperial College London. One side argues that SARS-CoV-2 is a run-of-the-mill respiratory virus, no worse than the common cold, especially for those who have been vaccinated.

Others have said that repeatedly getting COVID-19 is a gamble. Each bout comes with a risk of damage — or at least changes — to the immune system, and long-term health repercussions. Both groups are armed with evidence. What do the data say about the risks of reinfection and the potential for COVID-19 to cause lasting consequences?

Read more here. . . .

After you received your COVID vaccinations, please let us know!

We would like to document this information into your chart.



BUT FIRST.......

PLEASE COMPLETE THE INFORMATION ON THE CARD BEFORE YOU SEND IT TO US!

What we need:

1. Your name
2. Date vaccination received
3. Brand name
4. Lot number if available
5. Which dose you have received

**Email your COVID vaccine completed info HERE

At our office, we are continuing to follow CDC guidelines and will strive for ways to keep our patients and staff safe.



We recommend that all unvaccinated and vaccinated patients and visitors entering our office cover their nose and mouth at all times.

To prevent further spread of the Delta & Omicron variants, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its mask guidance on March 21, 2022, to recommend that fully vaccinated people wear masks when in areas with “substantial” and “high” transmission of Covid-19.

We have a limited supply of paper masks and will make these available to patients while they last, however, we encourage you to bring your own facial covering.

SUMMARY OF A COVID KIT & CHECK LIST:

This is what you should have at home to prepare for possible COVID, to monitor yourself if you were to get infected:

DIGITAL ORAL THERMOMETER: MANY BRANDS ARE FINE…HERE IS ONE EXAMPLE:

https://www.amazon.com/Digital-Thermometer-Reading-Waterproof-Indicator/dp/B087T3S4TR/ref=sr_1_6?dchild=1&keywords=THERMOMETER&qid=1597159324&sr=8-6

PULSE OXIMETER:  TO CHECK OXYGEN LEVELS. MANY BRANDS ARE FINE...HERE IS ONE EXAMPLE:

https://www.amazon.com/Innovo-Fingertip-Oximeter-Plethysmograph-Perfusion/dp/B07YVGZPRZ/ref=sr_1_20?dchild=1&keywords=PULSE+OXI&qid=1597159388&sr=8-20

OTHER ITEMS FROM THE HOME MEDICAL KIT:

·       TYLENOL, ADVIL, OR ALEVE

·       Sudafed 30mg tablets

·       Chlorpheniramine 4mg tablets

·       Robitussin DM syrup

·       Imodium AD

**CLICK HERE TO READ COMPLETE INFORMATION

The Rescuer is a feature film about Leo Grillo's two year long rescue of a family of abandoned dogs.

The Rescuer is a chronicle of the first 27-years of rescue work by Leo Grillo, a man who really loves animals. When he first finds two puppies little did he know they would take him on a journey of obsession, self discovery and in the end, victory.

Stay Safe!