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Issue Home June 3, 2009 Site Home

COLUMNS:
100 Years Ago
From the Desk of the D.A.
The Healthy Geezer
Library Chitchat
Veterans’ Corner
What’s Bugging You?
Food For Thought
Earth Talk
Barnes-Kasson Corner


100 Years Ago

HARFORD: Decoration services were well attended here on Monday. A fine dinner was enjoyed at I.O.O.F. Hall, after which Mr. DuBois delivered a fine address in the cemetery, after which the crowd assembled in the Congregational church and Prof. W. L. Thacher delivered a fine historical address. Rev. B. L. Lyon then gave the old soldiers a splendid talk.

EAST RUSH: Miss Mame DeWitt, who is a student nurse in the Moses Taylor Hospital in Scranton, is spending her vacation with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. E. V. DeWitt. Miss Grace DeWitt, a student at the Pennsylvania Medical College, in Philadelphia, will spend a portion of her vacation in Hospital Practice.

N. BRIDGEWATER: A sudden break down [occurred] in the creamery, Sunday morning, caused by a defective bolt in the engine, and while awaiting repairs from Binghamton, they secured a gasoline engine, which in two churnings made nearly 900 pounds of butter, with no loss to the patrons.

FAIRDALE: The Fairdale and Lawton Valley Tigers crossed bats with the LeRaysville Trogans the 29th. A large crowd witnessed a very closely contested game, resulting in a score of 3 and 4 in favor of the Tigers. It being the initial game of the season for both teams. Curran and Redding battery for the Tigers. Those Irish twists from “Mikes” old time swings were simply guessers for the Trogans while Curran with his murderous sweeps sent the “sphere” sky ward out of sight. Horton, on First, froze to everything coming his way high or low. While the Trogans were defeated Saturday last, they are one of the best amateur clubs in this section and a gentlemanly lot of fellows.

LYNN, SPRINGVILLE TWP.: Jake Rosengrant and a yearling heifer made a picture for a snapshot although the artist would have had to have pulled the string quickly as they passed and re-passed through our courts and alleys, over barb wire fences, dodging automobiles in order to get the animal corralled, which he finally accomplished after a chase of about ten miles.

HERRICK CENTER: H. H. Flynn is improving the road in front of his hotel by putting in pounded stone and dirt.

FLYNN: The new church at Flynn is progressing rapidly as it is all enclosed and roof on, and steeple completed. It is going to be a peach when completed, also is in one of the most beautiful location in the county. ALSO The old bachelors are planning a banquet to take place in the near future. The meats ordered are steamed chicken and Spanish spaghetti.

MONTROSE: The boys take an active interest in the juvenile books of the library, especially so since “The Deerfoot Series,” by that unapproachable writer of boys’ books, Edward S. Ellis, have been added to the boys’ department. A boy is far better off reading these Indian stories, which lack the blood-curdling parts, than reading the cheap sensational fiction that usually finds its way into the hands of the average boy. They are written in a vein that imbues the boy to be physically and mentally strong. Even older people find them fascinating reading. ALSO There are times when the city water of Montrose tastes very “rank.” This is one of those times. Everybody is “gagging” and saying things not fit to print - to their neighbors. But they say nothing to the company; but instead pay up their water bills like little men from time to time, and look pleasant. But if there were a decisive “kick” by all hands, including the Town Council in official action, it might be different, and the company might be caused to sit up and take notice.

NICHOLSON: The first murder in the history of Nicholson occurred Tuesday, when Roger Greenwood, a stationary engineer in Moses Shields’ stone quarry, met death in a shooting affray in which it is alleged Henry J. Sprague, a sawyer in the same quarry, fired the fatal shot. Greenwood and Sprague were considered good friends, but it is alleged that both had been drinking heavily and were intoxicated at the time, and when in this condition neither was tolerant of the other.

LAWSVILLE: As Mrs. Walter Craik was driving near Franklin Forks the axle of the carriage broke and threw Mrs. Craik and the children out. The horse became frightened and ran away but fortunately all escaped with a few slight bruises.

LATHROP: Miss Genevieve Mackey, a very estimable young lady, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J. B. Mackey, was recently married to Ross Tewksbury, of Brooklyn. He has purchased the Fairchild farm in Brooklyn, where they now reside.

EAST ARARAT: Miss Phillips, a Herrick Center high school graduate, will take charge of South Ararat school next week.

MARRIAGE LICENSES: The following applied for marriage licenses: Wm. Halsey and Rettie Wood, of Brandt; Wm Kane, of Bridgewater and Anna T. Murry, of Franklin; Gaylord Gelatt, of Susquehanna, and Florence Gulley, of Thompson; Melvine Demun and Maud Sloat, of Susquehanna; Lawson Hurlburt, of Syracuse, NY and Grace Fulber, of Colton, NY; Frank Perry, of Hallstead and Grace Edinger, of Great Bend.

NEWS BRIEFS: There is a growing sentiment against base ball and similar things for Memorial day, as was easily seen from the frequent remarks by citizens Monday. We presume the time is not far distant when many of the men who contribute money towards the equipping and maintaining a ball team in Montrose, will do so only upon the understanding that Memorial day games are to be “cut out.” ALSO While the funeral cortege of the late Ira Bixby, of Sharon Center, was on its way to the cemetery, the doors of the hearse flew open and the coffin fell out, one end striking the ground. The lid opened and the body of Mr. Bixby arose to a sitting position. Many of the spectators fled in fright at the unusual sight, and a number of women fainted. The directors of the Shinglehouse bank were acting as pallbearers. The accident occurred when the hearse dropped into a deep hole in the road, the steel safety bar in the door not being securely set. After the excitement subsided the body was replaced in the coffin and the burial rites consummated.

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From the Desk of the D.A.
By District Attorney Jason J. Legg

In the summer of 1991, I had just finished my sophomore year at the University of Scranton, and I had read a book written by Robert Bork for one of my classes. The book included Bork’s bitter recollections of his Senate Confirmation hearings in 1987, which lasted 5 full days and had over a hundred witnesses, and his reflections on the enormous campaign that was mounted to destroy not only his nomination, but his reputation as well. For those who do not recall, Bork’s nomination was defeated by a vote of 58 to 42. Six Republican Senators voted against Bork’s confirmation, including Arlen Specter. As luck would have it that summer, I noticed that Senator Specter was holding a town hall meeting in the Susquehanna County Courthouse, and I decided to go. I wanted to know why Specter had voted against Bork.

At 20 years of age, I was the youngest person there – with most of the people being senior citizens understandably interested in social security issues. After making some initial remarks, Senator Specter took some questions – and this is where my youth provided me with an advantage as I clearly stood out from the crowd. My hand immediately shot up and Senator Specter called on me. The question was simple: Why did you vote against confirming Robert Bork to the Supreme Court?

In fairness to Senator Specter, it had been 4 years since his vote, but there had never been a more acrimonious battle over a Supreme Court nomination, at least up to that point. In the fall of that year, the confirmation hearings for Clarence Thomas would set a whole new standard for personal destruction of a Supreme Court nominee, though Thomas had the ultimate satisfaction of being confirmed. In any event, the Bork nomination was (and remains) historical, and Senator Specter crossed party lines to vote against Bork’s confirmation. I was interested in his justification.

As he smiled at the crowd, Senator Specter claimed that Bork was an “extremist” who believed in “strict construction” and original intent.” As a young conservative, I was stunned that a Republican Senator would claim that strict construction constituted an extreme judicial philosophy. Before he could take another question, I followed up quickly with another question: Why would you vote to confirm Justice Scalia, yet vote against Robert Bork, when they shared a similar judicial philosophy? Senator Specter did not give me an answer to this question – he moved on to the social security questions.

Senator Specter could not provide an answer because there was no rational justification for his vote, or, at least not the one he gave about “strict construction” and “original intent.” If Senator Specter were truly concerned about these “extreme” views, he never would have voted to confirm Scalia, or voted for Thomas, Roberts and Alito in later proceedings. Senator Specter was motivated by solely political reasons to oppose Bork – it had nothing to do with judicial philosophy, qualifications, experience, intelligence, or any other pertinent factor.

It is truly ironic that judicial nominees who advocate restraint in the form of strict construction are viewed as extremists, while those nominees with a broader judicial philosophy unrestrained by the plain language of the law are viewed as mainstream moderates. The irony is perpetrated further by legislators who are willing to promote judges who do not believe they are bound by the statutes that the legislators themselves wrote. One would assume that the legislators mean what they say and would take offense when the plain language of a carefully drafted statute was twisted (or ignored) by a judge motivated more by the results, as opposed to the law itself. Yet, in the summer of 1991, Senator Specter said just that when he contended that it was an “extreme” judicial philosophy to believe that laws need to be strictly construed and applied only to their original intent – not expanded by judicial fiat to create unintended consequences.

“Liberal, moderate, conservative shouldn’t apply to judging. The correct philosophy is to judge according to the intent of the legislature or the intent of the Constitution’s framers. Judges are overwhelmingly from a very narrow segment of society, and if they begin to read their own ideals into the law then most of society isn’t represented.” Who made these extreme comments? Robert Bork made those comments in an interview with Time Magazine prior to his confirmation hearing. You can see why his “radical” philosophies scared so many Senators – and why this extremist had to be kept off the Supreme Court.

It is interesting to compare the comments of the “extremist” Bork with those of the newest nominee for the United States Supreme Court, Judge Sonia Sotomayor. Sotomayor has openly stated that judges should “make policy” and that she hopes that her personal life experiences as a Hispanic woman enable her to make better decisions than a “white male.” Bork cautioned against judges seeking to impose their personal ideals into the law, while Sotomayor advocates the use of her life experiences in order to craft better judicial “policies.” Which one is really the more extreme position?

Please submit any questions, concerns, or comments to Susquehanna County District Attorney’s Office, P.O. Box 218, Montrose, Pennsylvania 18801 or at our website www.SusquehannaCounty-DA.org or discuss this and all articles at http://dadesk.blogspot.com/.

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The Healthy Geezer
By Fred Cicetti

Q. I’ve heard statins referred to as wonder drugs that we should put in our drinking water. Do they deserve this reputation?

[Statins are worth two columns because so many seniors take them. This is the first installment. We’ll begin with background on cholesterol.]

Cholesterol is a fat-like substance in blood. You need it to produce cell membranes, protect nerves, and make hormones.

The body can make all the cholesterol it needs. Most cholesterol is made by your liver. You also get cholesterol from foods such as meat, eggs and dairy products. Too much cholesterol is dangerous, because cholesterol can lead to blockages in your blood vessels.

Cholesterol is transported through the bloodstream in packages called lipoproteins. Low-density lipoproteins (LDL) deliver cholesterol to the body. High-density lipoproteins (HDL) remove cholesterol from the bloodstream. LDLs are often described as “bad” cholesterol; HDLs are called “good” cholesterol.

If there are too many LDLs in the blood, they will combine with other material in your bloodstream to manufacture plaque, a waxy crud that builds up on the inner walls of the blood vessels that feed your brain and heart. When this build-up occurs, you have a condition called “atherosclerosis,” which is commonly referred to as “hardening of the arteries.”

If a clot forms in blood vessels narrowed by plaque, it can block blood flow, which can cause a heart attack or a stroke.

The recommended levels of cholesterol are as follows:

Total cholesterol level should be less than 200 mg/dL. (“Mg/dL” stands for milligram per deciliter.) “Borderline high” is defined as between 200 and 239 mg/dL. You’re risking heart disease if your reading is 240 mg/dL or more.

LDL cholesterol level should be less than 130 mg/dL. “Borderline high” is between 130 and 159 mg/dL. There’s heart-disease risk if your reading is 160 mg/dL or more.

HDL cholesterol levels should be at 60 mg/dL or higher to cut the risk of heart disease. You’re at high risk for heart disease if you have a reading less than 40 mg/dL.

If your total cholesterol level is high because of high LDLs, you may be at higher risk of heart disease or stroke. If your total level is high only because of a high HDLs, you're probably not at higher risk.

Some physicians use the ratio of total cholesterol to HDLs. The ratio is obtained by dividing the HDLs into the total cholesterol. The goal is to keep the ratio below 5 to 1.

Statins, which are also known as HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors, are drugs that reduce cholesterol by blocking the liver substance responsible for making cholesterol. Statins may also help your body reabsorb cholesterol that has accumulated on your artery walls. Statins are relatively safe for most people.

Some of the best-known statins include simvastatin (Zocor), atorvastatin (Lipitor), lovastatin (Mevacor), pravastatin (Pravachol), rosuvastatin (Crestor), and fluvastatin (Lescol).

Your cholesterol level is just one number doctors consider before prescribing a statin. If your only risk for heart attack or stroke is high cholesterol, you may not need medication.

Other risk factors are: lifestyle, age, family history of heart attack and stroke, smoking, weight, blood pressure, diabetes, narrowing of arteries in your neck/extremities and overall health.

Changes to your lifestyle such as quitting smoking and exercising may have a greater impact on reducing risk of heart disease and stroke than medication alone.

Statins can have potential side effects such as liver damage, pain in muscles and joints, constipation, nausea and diarrhea. Those who take statins have their liver function tested periodically.

In our next column, we’ll discuss additional benefits from taking statins.

If you have a question, please write to fred@healthygeezer.com.

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Library Chitchat
By Flo Whittaker

Summer is just around the corner. In fact, we had a full-blown taste of it in late April. What plans have you made for your children’s activities during the summer vacation? Camp? Road trip?

How about including regular visits to the Library in your schedule! Studies show that children can experience a learning loss (in some cases as much as 22%) during the summer months when they are not in the classroom. Regular reading - perhaps six or more books - can help to mitigate that loss.

Our suggestion is plan to include visits to the Library, just like you take regular trips to the park or the zoo. With the assistance of the staff, your children can pick out a book in their particular interest area, read it either to themselves or out loud to you, and then, before it is returned, you and your child can discuss the book in detail. Sure this takes time, but the rewards are worth it. Perhaps a book will be the spark that inspires your child’s future career.

In addition, there will be Summer Reading programs sponsored by the Library throughout the County. Check our website at susqcolibrary.com as summer nears.

Of course, while you are at the Library, take some time to see what is new and interesting for you - some new author you have heard about or some new project you want to start. Make the visit to the library a family affair. Remember the Susquehanna County Library is your resource for lifetime learning.

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Veterans’ Corner

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What’s Bugging You?
By Stuart W. Slocum

Carpenter Bees: Boring Insects?

Resembling large bumble bees, carpenter bees can be terrifying when they dive-bomb and erratically fly about the head of anyone who gets too close to their nests. Although the aggressive males display numerous threatening antics while defending their territories, they are actually harmless, since they lack stingers. Although stingless, the undaunted males have no compunction to dart down to a person’s head, hover and buzz loudly. The females, which possess stingers, are generally docile and normally will only sting if handled. In addition to their aggressiveness, the males can be distinguished by the yellow markings on their faces.

2 1/2" pic.

The male carpenter bee face.

Carpenter bees, Xylocopa virginica, are large, stout-bodied insects. Up to an inch long, they have smooth, shiny black abdomens. Although similar in size, bumble bees have fuzzy yellow abdomens. Additionally, bumble bees have large noticeable pollen baskets on their hind legs. Another distinguishing characteristic is the fact that bumble bees nest in the ground, whereas carpenter bees nest in wooden structures.

Carpenter bees are encountered near buildings or other wooden structures, showing a preference for porches, eaves, fascia boards and wooden trim. They generally choose protected locations that are unpainted or have peeling paint, while avoiding wood covered with bark or whitewash. Softwoods, such as pine and spruce, are most often invaded. The adult female bees chew a perfectly round half-inch hole against the wood grain to a depth of one to two inches. From there they turn and excavate a tunnel along the wood grain for another six inches. As the tunnels are reused by succeeding generations, the tunnels can reach up to ten feet in length.

2 1/2" pic.

The male & female carpenter bee.

Juvenile adults overwinter in the tunnels in which they were hatched. As the temperatures reach the 70s in spring, the adults mate. The bees return to their same nests, where they clean out the old debris and enlarge the tunnel. The females construct brood cells within the tunnel. At the extreme end of the tunnel the female forms a food ball containing a mixture of pollen and regurgitated nectar. She deposits an egg on top of the food ball, and seals it off with a partition of chewed wood pulp. This process is repeated until 6 to 10 egg-laden cells have been created along the length of the tunnel. Males die shortly after mating and the females succumb soon after depositing their eggs. Carpenter bees have complete metamorphosis with egg, larva, pupa and adult stages. The larva feed on the food balls upon hatching. This provides enough nutrition to allow them to develop into adults, generally requiring about seven weeks. Reaching maturity in August, the young adults remain huddled together in their tunnel for several weeks. Then they chew through the cell partitions to emerge outside in late August or early September. They spend the following weeks gathering pollen, which they store in the tunnels where they hibernate during the winter. There is only one generation per year.

The construction of the tunnels is very labor intensive, requiring six days to excavate just one inch. Consequently the same tunnels are used year after year by the same family of bees. Although carpenter bees are solitary, there are often multiple bees independently occupying the same board or tree. While the females are busily coming and going with pollen and nectar, the males are aggressively seeking females and chasing each other.

As consumers of pollen and nectar, carpenter bees are plant pollinators. Although they do not eat wood, their tunneling is destructive, especially to decorative trim boards on buildings. In some cases, structural damage can result from occupancy by multiple generations of bees. They have been known to use the same tunnels for decades. Additional building damage can result from feeding woodpeckers that are attracted by the sounds of the bee larvae inside the tunnels.

Painting all exposed wood surfaces with polyurethane or an oil-based paint will prevent invasion by the carpenter bees. Wood stains do not deter the bees. Covering the exposed wood with aluminum or vinyl stops further invasion. Sealing the entry holes to the galleries is an effective, non-toxic approach to managing the bees. This should be accomplished on a cool, dark evening. Sealant should be pressed into the entryway and tunnel. The entry hole can be plugged with caulking, wood putty or a glue-covered wooden dowel. Contact dusts containing pyrethroids are effective against carpenter bees. The dust should be precisely injected into each entrance hole and on the wood immediately adjacent. The holes should not be plugged, but left open to allow entering and exiting bees to become exposed to the dust. The effected wood should be patched and covered before the following season.

Carpenter bees are a nuisance and distraction around our buildings. Although they do not cause extreme damage, they are certainly one of those insects that “bug you”! Questions, comments and suggestions regarding this article, identifications or any other insect-related matters are welcome. Please email them to bugman95@gmail.com.

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Food For Thought
By Lauretta L. Clowes DC

No Food For Thought This Week

EARTH TALK
From the Editors of E/The Environmental Magazine

Dear EarthTalk: Is it true that military sonar exercises actually kill marine wildlife?

Unfortunately for many whales, dolphins and other marine life, the use of underwater sonar (short for sound navigation and ranging) can lead to injury and even death. Sonar systems - first developed by the U.S. Navy to detect enemy submarines - generate slow-rolling sound waves topping out at around 235 decibels; the world’s loudest rock bands top out at only 130. These sound waves can travel for hundreds of miles under water, and can retain an intensity of 140 decibels as far as 300 miles from their source.

These rolling walls of noise are no doubt too much for some marine wildlife. While little is known about any direct physiological effects of sonar waves on marine species, evidence shows that whales will swim hundreds of miles, rapidly change their depth (sometime leading to bleeding from the eyes and ears), and even beach themselves to get away from the sounds of sonar.

In January 2005, 34 whales of three different species became stranded and died along North Carolina’s Outer Banks during nearby offshore Navy sonar training. Other sad examples around the coast of the U.S. and elsewhere abound, notably in recent years with more sonar testing going on than ever before. According to the nonprofit Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), which has campaigned vigorously to ban use of the technology in waters rich in marine wildlife, recent cases of whale strandings likely represent a small fraction of sonar’s toll, given that severely injured animals rarely make it to shore.

In 2003, NRDC spearheaded a successful lawsuit against the Navy to restrict the use of low-frequency sonar off the coast of California. Two years later a coalition of green groups led by NRDC and including the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), the League for Coastal Protection, Cetacean Society International, and Ocean Futures Society upped the ante, asking the federal courts to also restrict testing of more intense, harmful and far ranging mid-frequency types of sonar off Southern California’s coastline.

In filing their brief, the groups cited Navy documents which estimated that such testing would kill some 170,000 marine mammals and cause permanent injury to more than 500 whales, not to mention temporary deafness for at least 8,000 others. Coalition lawyers argued that the Navy’s testing was in violation of the National Environmental Policy Act, the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Endangered Species Act.

Two lower courts upheld NRDC’s claims, but the Supreme Court ruled that the Navy should be allowed to continue the use of some mid-frequency sonar testing for the sake of national security. “The decision places marine mammals at greater risk of serious and needless harm,” says NRDC’s Joel Reynolds.

Environmental groups are still fighting the battle against the sonar, lobbying the government to curtail testing, at least during peacetime, or to at least ramp up testing gradually to give marine wildlife a better chance to flee affected areas. “The U.S. Navy could use a number of proven methods to avoid harming whales when testing mid-frequency sonar,” reports IFAW’s Fred O'Regan. “Protecting whales and preserving national security are not mutually exclusive.”

CONTACTS: NRDC, www.nrdc.org; IFAW, www.ifaw.org.

Dear EarthTalk: How does the microwave compare in energy use, say, to using a gas or electric stove burner to heat water for a cup of tea?

The short answer is that it depends upon several variables, including the price of electricity versus gas, and the relative efficiency of the appliances involved. Typically, though, a microwave would be slightly more efficient at heating water than the flame on a gas stove, and should use up a little less energy. The reason: The microwave’s heat waves are focused on the liquid (or food) inside, not on heating the air or container around it, meaning that most if not all of the energy generated is used to make your water ready.

Given this logic, it is hard to believe that a burner element on an electric stovetop would be any better, but an analysis by Home Energy Magazine found otherwise. The magazine’s researchers discovered that an electric burner uses about 25 percent less electricity than a microwave in boiling a cup of water.

That said, the difference in energy saved by using one method over another is negligible: Choosing the most efficient process might save a heavy tea drinker a dollar or so a year. “You’d save more energy over the year by replacing one light bulb with a CFL [compact fluorescent lightbulb] or turning off the air conditioner for an hour - not an hour a day, one hour at some point over the whole year,” says consumer advocate Michael Bluejay.

Although a microwave may not save much energy or money over a stove burner when heating water, it can be much more energy-efficient than a traditional full-size oven when it comes to cooking food. For starters, because their heat waves are concentrated on the food, microwaves cook and heat much faster than traditional ovens. According to the federal government’s Energy Star program, which rates appliances based on their energy-efficiency, cooking or re-heating small portions of food in the microwave can save as much as 80 percent of the energy used to cook or warm them up in the oven.

The website Treehugger.com reports that there are other things you can do to optimize your energy efficiency around the kitchen when cooking. For starters, make sure to keep the inside surfaces of your microwave oven clean so as to maximize the amount of energy reflected toward your food. On a gas stovetop, make sure the flame is fully below the cookware; likewise, on an electric stovetop, make sure the pan or kettle completely covers the heating element to minimize wasted heat. Also, use the appropriate size pan for the job at hand, as smaller pans are cheaper and more energy-efficient to heat up.

Despite these tips for cooking greener, Bluejay reiterates that most of us will hardly put a dent in our overall energy use just by choosing one appliance over another. According to his analysis, for someone who bakes three hours a week the cheapest cooking method saves only an estimated $2.06/month compared to the most expensive method.

“Focusing on cooking methods is not the way to save electricity [at home],” says Bluejay. “You should look at heating, cooling, lighting and laundry instead.”

CONTACTS: Home Energy Magazine, www.homeenergy.org; Treehugger, www.treehugger.com; Michael Bluejay, www.michaelbluejay.com.

Send Your Environmental Questions To: EarthTalk, P.O. Box 5098, Westport, CT 06881; earthtalk@emagazine.com. Read past columns at: www.emagazine.com/earthtalk/archives.php.

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Barnes-Kasson Corner
By Cara Sepcoskiw

National Sun Safety Week May 31 - June 6

Barnes-Kasson Hospital is observing National Sun Safety Week, May 31 through June 6.

Summer is officially here and school is starting to let out. That means your children will be outside, playing in the sun, much more than before. It is a fact that spending time in the sun is good for your health, but spending too much time in the sun, or going without protection, can damage your skin dramatically and puts you at high risk for skin cancer.

It's also a fact that overexposure to the sun can result in skin cancer later in life. You can sunburn no matter the weather, even on a cloudy day. Concrete, sand, water, and snow also reflect 85% to 90% of the sun's UV rays. More than 1.2 million new cases of skin cancer are diagnosed each year in the US. Melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer, kills one person every hour. The numbers in this statistic can be lowered by protecting yourself and your family from the sun’s harmful rays.

To help prevent skin damage, try to remember that the sun is strongest between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., and that UV rays bounce off sand, snow, concrete, and water. It is important to keep very young children (6 months or younger) out of the sun, and to monitor your children closely. One blistering sunburn on a child could double their lifetime risk of developing skin cancer.

When it comes to skin cancer, it is important to remember that unlike many forms of cancer, skin cancer can be easily seen. The visible warning sign is usually marked by a mark on the skin that is new or unusually shaped. These marks usually resemble common freckles, but they do have some strict differences. Skin cancer will be asymmetrical, unusually large in diameter, have an irregular border, or have multiple colors in it.

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