Silvia Pettem: Century-old public health advice still relevant
The following was published in the Daily Camera on Oct. 26, 1918, during the Spanish flu epidemic:
TO PREVENT INFLUENZA
To keep well, keep clean.
Wash your hands before each meal.
Keep your hands out of your mouth.
Don’t go to crowded places.
Walk to and from work, if you can.
Get as much sunshine and fresh air as possible.
Sleep with your windows open in all weather.
Avoid persons who sneeze or cough.
Smother your coughs and sneeze in a handkerchief.
Warmth is necessary; be clothed well.
Don’t use a towel used by anyone else.
Don’t drink out of a common drinking cup.
Get plenty of sleep.
Eat plenty of good, clean food.
Don’t visit the sick.
Keep out of houses where there are patients.
Don’t handle articles coming from such places.
Don’t neglect early symptoms.
See a doctor at once, or if you are working where there is medical inspection, report.
Don’t worry.
Don’t get excited.
Silvia Pettem
Ward
Mary Anne Leaver: Not just tenants need help
In response to a letter in Sunday’s Daily Camera about rent versus health, it will not be your landlord evicting you. When your landlord fails to make his mortgage payment because he has received no rent, it will be the mortgage company who will be evicting you. Or, if HOA fees are not paid for the services it provides, like heat, water and trash collection, it could be the HOA association helping evict you.
It is not as simple as just don’t pay your rent. There is a whole chain of events that is connected to the rent collection that could impact you as a tenant. It is not just tenants who need help. We all expect these services to keep functioning for free while we are unable to work, but who is going to pay for all of this?
Mary Anne Leaver
Boulder
Rick Sutherland: Federal government failing its responsibilities
Many more of our health care workers will die because the federal government has not supplied the states with personal protective equipment and ventilators that were beyond their states’ financial capability. This is the responsibility of the federal government.
This is a very sad state of the union and a very sad example of an abuse of power at the very top that would deny scientific evidence. Where statesmen normally rule our country with the understanding that all citizens of our country are eligible to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, we now call for leadership that will enable this right.
We now have Dr. Anthory Fauci, who has been a national treasure concerning pandemics being falsely accused by right-wing pundits of speaking against the president, though Fauci’s expert knowledge of medicine is spotless.
We cannot overlook what clearly seems to be criminal negligence by the feds. I am not a doctor and hope that Fauci and all other experts in the scientific medical field are held up and identified in the mainstream media as highly respected individuals in this alarmingly monstrous pandemic.
The destruction of respect for objective journalism based on fact in our country by those who reject the evidence of excellent science must be held accountable, if not now while we struggle to hold the union together certainly after all evidence has been brought forth, and those who speak false narratives must be brought to justice.
Rick Sutherland
Lyons
Janie Stuart: Include advance directives in electronic medical records
I want to build on the March 29 guest commentary, “The coronavirus highlights the need for advance directives“:
As noted in the commentary, advance directives benefit our families and ourselves, and comfort us that our choices about end-of-life care will be honored. Also, importantly, advance directives greatly benefit the medical teams that are working hard, under difficult circumstances, during this pandemic.
Updating our advance directives and including these in our electronic medical records will reduce the number of decisions that medical staff have to make. Given that the pandemic is expected to peak in Colorado near the end of April, we need to get the updates done and in our records now.
To read personal descriptions of the urgent conditions faced by medical personnel, see the Colorado Sun’s March 23 report from inside a coronavirus ward at Denver Health and Dr. Sunita Puri’s March 27 New York Times opinion article, “It’s Time to Talk about Death.”
If anyone needs to begin the advance directive process, the AARP website has advance directive forms available, by state.
Janie Stuart
Boulder
Sophie Caesar: EPA rollback encourages big polluters
At a time when the health of our nation is center stage, the federal government is allowing businesses to emit dangerous levels of toxins into our air and water. The EPA recently announced their policy to suspend the enforcement of environmental law during the coronavirus pandemic.
This dereliction of duty by EPA administrator, Andrew Wheeler, in reality encourages big polluters to ignore regulations and release pollution with impunity. This is extremely harmful to already vulnerable populations, including those in the hospital, the elderly and people with underlying illnesses. When our country needs health regulation the most, our government is choosing to sacrifice the well-being of its population for the financial benefit of major oil and gas industries.
It is critical that our representatives stand up for the safety of their constituents and speak out against this decision. Sens. Michael Bennet and Cory Gardner should speak out against this move by the Trump administration and protect the people they stand for.
Sophie Caesar
Denver
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