News from Rehoboth Town Nurse

Hello all,
I am sitting down to write to you all on a late October day, with the sun shining and the temperature in the high sixties. My favorite fall day! It hard to believe that we are rapidly approaching the holiday season and the winter season. With that in mind, Id’ like to bring planning for potential power outages and holiday safety to your minds.

Here in Rehoboth most of us have private wells, so remember that power outages mean no household water. Though you will have water for a short period, without electricity, it runs out quickly and you will not get any water from your household faucets or your toilet cistern. So, plan ahead, listen to the weather forecast and plan for how you will have water for essentials use during the length of the power outage: fill your tub or gallon jugs with water for hygiene and toileting needs and have bottled water for drinking, also. As a backup for electricity, if your budget allows, install a backup generator. However, consider having it set up for essential purposes only, like your refrigerator, stove and essential room heating. Make sure any non-essential electrical items are turned off or unplugged during the power outage. This will help prevent brown or black outs resulting from the overwhelming draw on the external electricity supply source when the power comes back on.

As we head into the colder seasons, I am also mindful of house fire safety. It seems that every winter we hear of a tragedy with house fires. When our children were old enough to safely do so, I used to love to have those fall scented candles lit during the fall and winter months. As a grandparent now, the lighted candles are no longer a part of our home’s ambiance!! If you or your family enjoy burning scented candles, please use them very cautiously. Keep them at a very safe distance from little ones’ hands, particularly when the child is tall enough to reach the surface the candle is on. Best practice though would be not to light the candles at all when the child is around. Always keep the candle where you can see it, on non-flammable surfaces and never leave candles light in bedrooms or near flammable objects. It is best practice to have fire extinguishers on all floors of your home and know how to use them. PASS is the acronym used to help remember what to do: Pull (the pin out of the top of the extinguisher) Aim (the nozzle at the BASE of the fire flames) Squeeze (the handle of the extinguisher) and Spray (again at the base of the fire flames) Also, make a fire escape plan for your home and practice it! Be aware that the stickers that we used to use to identify child bedrooms are no longer valid. Over time those rooms may no longer be childhood bedrooms. All homes are required to have smoke detectors, especially outside bedrooms or any sleeping area. Check the smoke detector batteries every month and change them with the time change: “spring forward, fall back” Never disable a smoke detector! If it begins to beep, find out why it is beeping. And remember, you can always contact the Rehoboth Fire Department for more information.

Now, I will sound like Bah! Humbug! Because I’d like to bring your awareness the electric candles we place in our windows during the holiday season. Those with an electric cord and glass bulbs present a danger of 1) strangulation and/or 2) broken glass injuries. If you enjoy having a lit candle appearance in your window, I understand that now you can get rechargeable candles with a flickering appearance that do not have cords or glass. So, just a thought!

Some of our young families with school aged children have probably gotten through their first bout with fevers, colds and the stomach bug from those little petri dishes called children! It’s a great time of year to review cough and sneezing etiquette with the little, and big, ones. Hand washing is still the best way to avoid most infections. If your child has signs and symptoms of illness, particularly with a fever, please keep them home from school. Those of you who read Nurse’s Notes will be well aware of my writing this, but keeping your child home during the onset of illness, not only breaks the chain of infection, but also protects your child from getting sick again when the virus mutates and continue to infect. Ultimately, this will also minimize the number of days your child misses’ school and you miss work.

On to our health offerings: November 10th, the Public Health Nurses Office in collaboration with Butler Hospital is offering free Memory Screening. The screenings appointments are between 10am-12noon, with 16 appointments open. If we have a great interest than number of appointments, we will offer another day of screening on November 17th. To register, please either call us at 508-252-5947, or e-mail me at ghamel@rehobothma.gov.  For more information on the Memory and Aging Program at Butler Hospital you can view the interview with Athena Lavoie on Rehoboth’s local cable channel 98. In early November I will be interviewing Rachelle Rogers from the Trauma and Injury Prevention Community Outreach Program @ South Coast. Stay tuned for that interview (which should be available mid-November) and the follow up meetings with Rachelle during one of the senior luncheons in late November, early December. Details are also available on the Public Health Nurse page within the Town of Rehoboth website.

As always, the BP screening clinic is Mondays between 11:30am-12:30pm at the Senior Center, the Bereavement Support Group meets on the first and third Wednesday on the month between 9:30am-10:30am @ 27 Francis Farm Rd. & home wellness check are offered on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons (by appointment) The next Podiatry clinic is Thursday November 5th between 9am-12n, also at Francis Farm. We have limited appointments left.

Until December,
Be kind, be safe, be healthy,
Sincerely, Geri
Rehoboth’s Public health Nurse
508-252-5947 ghamel@rehobothma.gov