BYKRISTINE SANDRICKThe Las Cruces Bulletin

While flu activity is widespread in 43 states, according to the Center for Disease Control, visits to doctors for influenzalike- illness declined from last week. Flurelated hospitalizations and deaths have declined slightly, but are still very high nationwide compared to what is expected for this time of year.

Fortunately for Las Cruces Public Schools, the absentee rate is down as well according to Beverly Hine, registered nurse and director of the LCPS Health Services Department. Hine oversees 36 nurses throughout the LCPS system.

“We had our surge of absences the end of September and the first part of October when we were running about a 10 percent absentee rate at a number of our schools,” Hine said. “We don’t know why they are absent necessarily, but based on what we hear from the Department of Health and what they’re seeing in the doctors’ offices, it seems to be influenza related.”

Hine said the school system has done a variety of things since last spring to mitigate the spread of the virus in general, “although H1N1 is on everyone’s mind,” she said.

Prevention awareness programs included high school students producing a public service announcement about hand washing. Hine said another podcast about hand washing was produced for parents, “because hand washing is good for you, regardless of the virus.”

Hine said almost every school she has visited has posters about hand washing, proper ways of covering a sneeze and the importance of staying home when ill.

“We’re trying to take that public conversation to parents, be it stuff on the website, stuff for kids to watch at school, letters to parents so there has been a variety of means of communicating with parents about the illness,” she said.

Vaccines for those who need them

Last week, the New Mexico Department of Health (DOH) expanded the H1N1 vaccine priority groups to include adults who have a medical condition that puts them at greater risk for developing serious complications from the flu. The DOH ordered 30,020 doses of nasal and injectable H1N1 vaccine for Doña Ana County.

DOH said the vaccine is arriving in small amounts and is being distributed toproviders and public health offices statewide. People with the following medical conditions are at higher risk for complications: Chronic pulmonary (including asthma); cardiovascular (except hypertension); renal, hepatic, hematological (including sickle cell disease), neurologic, neuromuscular or metabolic disorders (including diabetes mellitus); Immunosuppression, including that caused by medications or by HIV; and people younger than 19 years of age who are receiving long-term aspirin therapy.

DOH encourages people in the following groups to get vaccinated as soon as possible: pregnant women, household members/caretakers of infants less than 6 months old, children 6 months to just under 5 years of age, children and adults 5 to 64 years of age with certain chronic health conditions that increase their risk of complications from influenza and health care workers and emergency medical service personnel with direct patient care.

Hine said public mass H1N1 clinics have not been planned because there has not been enough vaccine at any one time.

“The school system is not planning to immunize children throughout the system because the DOH has chosen to use health care providers first. We’re encouraging folks to get on a list at their provider’s office so as soon as the vaccine comes in they can get it from their private provider,” she said.

“It’s a decision made at the state level about how the vaccine they receive is distributed – so the decision made for the eight southwestern counties is that as it comes in, it’s going to private providers first.”

Flu season has yet to come

Hine said while illnesses are back down to normal at about 4 percent of thestudent population, school nurses are constantly monitoring absences for an up tick in flu-related symptoms.

“I am part of the immunization coalition for the county and the DOH. We’re going to get vaccine in later and people will think they don’t need to get vaccinated.

“It’s still important to know this is a novel virus and they still need to get the vaccination when it becomes available. People think ‘If we don’t get the seasonal flu virus shot in the fall then we don’t need to get it.’ But when the vaccine gets here, people still need to get vaccinated,” she said.

Hine said she thinks everyone needs both the seasonal flu and H1N1 flu shots.