A4 Wednesday, March 4, 2020
HOOD RIVER NEWS | Hood River, Ore.
hoodrivernews.com
OPINION
Our Readers Write
Next time
After reading the new park-
ing regulations for downtown
Hood River, I can now em-
brace doing my taxes with the
simplicity of the IRS rules and
regulations. The next time I go
downtown, I’ll park in Odell
and walk.
Al Brown
Hood River
‘Good food
for thought’
Will you please stop giving
candy to my kid! Call me a
downer, a party pooper, an
over-reactive parent, call me
whatever you want, just please
stop giving my kids candy
without my permission! Be-
tween two and three days a
week, my daughter is getting
between 10 and 18 grams from
sources I don’t approve of at
school and at her after school
activities. At home, I’m striving
to make sure those 25 grams
(the upper limit as defined by
the World Health Organization
and the American Heart Asso-
ciation) come from naturally
sweet sources like whole fruits
and veggies, the honey on her
morning toast, and maybe a
touch of juice from time to
time.
I might want to treat my
child to a girl scout cookie ...
but when she arrives home
having been given 18-plus
grams already — what am I to
do? Too bad for the parents
who are actually watching
sugar intake. And even worse
for the parents who aren’t.
Don’t forget that the food
our children eat affects their
behavior and by rewarding
with candy, we are supplying
students with the wrong nutri-
tion and the wrong message.
Stop ingratiating yourself to
my child by giving them candy
because then she gets mad at
mom who takes it away. Stop
giving candy for when they
behave well, because then she
asks me for candy at home
when she behaves well. It’s a
vicious cycle! I’m tired of ask-
ing people to not give my kid
candy and then my kid gets left
out. Because if she gets a stick-
er or an extra high five instead
of a lollipop, how does that
make her feel?
People shouldn’t be dis-
tributing candy without per-
mission. Now that is good
food for thought! If this “rant”
resonates with you, I would
encourage you to delicately
remind your children’s’ caring
coaches, terrific teachers, awe-
some activity leaders, the very
kind bank tellers, etc., to please
not offer candy as a reward or a
treat. I appreciate every caring
adult in my child’s life, and my
child loves you with or without
candy.
Nicole Goode
Hood River
Wishful
thinking
We learned this week that
Vice President Pence would be
leading the administration’s
efforts to address the coronavi-
rus outbreak. What great news
— like many of you, I take com-
fort in knowing that we now
have a leadership team at the
helm of the ship of state, steer-
ing us through the rocky shoals
of a potential pandemic. The
nation can relax, knowing that
the professionals are in charge.
Well, maybe. Don’t plan the
parade yet. Because in true
Trumpian fashion, news has
leaked that more than a dozen
federal workers were deployed
to greet the first group of Amer-
icans evacuated from China,
and they were detailed without
proper training and personal
protective equipment. At the
conclusion of their assign-
ment, these workers returned
to normal duties, some taking
commercial flights in order
to return to their homes. It
doesn’t take an epidemiologist
to figure out that the potential
for introducing the virus into
the continental U.S. has just
increased dramatically.
We know of this because a
decorated senior official with
the Department of Health and
Human Services filed a whis-
tleblower complaint that docu-
mented the flaws of the initia-
tive. And she was rewarded for
speaking out with demands for
her reassignment or possible
termination, another victim of
Trump’s insistence on absolute
loyalty.
I thought that perhaps we
had seen the worst of the ad-
ministration’s behavior. And
that maybe this would finally
prompt GOP enablers to call
out the corruption and incom-
petence that are the hallmarks
of the Trump presidency.
But if it didn’t happen with
other instances of ineptitude,
it’s probably wishful thinking
to believe that this time will be
different.
Let’s hope that they get lucky
and we dodge the pandemic
bullet. Because luck may be the
only thing protecting us as long
as this team is in charge.
Larry Jacoby
Hood River
Free seeds
this weekend
I would like to remind peo-
ple that we can grow our own
food easily with more health
benefits and with less cost, in
any location that has soil, sun
and water — even if it is a small
area in your yard.
Free seeds are available this
weekend. It says seed swap
but really it is free seeds being
given to all community mem-
bers.
From the website:
“Rockford Grangers are
gearing up for the seventh Seed
Share on March 7, 2-5 p.m.,
and plan to offer a big selection
of seeds once again (all free)
with a special focus on locally
adapted varieties.”
That’s where you come in!
Do you have seeds saved from
last year? Or leftover bought
seeds you would be willing to
share? Perhaps you know other
growers with extra seeds?
Or maybe you are making
a seed order online or from a
catalogue and are in a position
to buy some extras to share.
However you can help with
our Seed Roundup will be
much appreciated. Just bring
your seeds on the day, labeled
with variety, when gathered,
where grown and any other
growing info. We will also have
extra packets/labels available
as usual.
Of course, we hope you’ll
come whether or not you have
seeds to share.
This year, we are asking for
a $5 suggested donation at the
door, which will be waived if
you have seeds to contribute.
(No one turned away for lack of
funds of course.)
Thank you for helping build
local resilience, and we look
forward to seeing you on the
day!
Rockford Grange 2-5 p.m. on
Saturday, March 7; info@Rock-
fordgrange.net; 4262 Barrett
Drive, Hood River.
Kim Stolte
Hood River
‘No crisis’
In the article in the Hood
River News on Feb. 26, 2020,
“Earth Day Oregon adds part-
ners,” the founder of this, Beth-
any Shetterly Thomas, makes
a statement. She is quoted
as saying, “The climate crisis
requires swift and collective
action.”
In response to this, I say that
there is no crisis and no action
is needed to reduce carbon
dioxide, since man-caused
carbon dioxide is very minimal
and has negligible influence on
climate. Climate has changed
without man’s influence.
Time, energy, recourses,
money and freedoms would be
wasted on this false premise.
Donald Rose
Hood River
Walkout halts
progress
Well, state Republicans did
it again. All but one Republican
legislator each in the House
and in the Senate walked out
of the legislature because of
the revised climate cap-and-
trade bill.
In the past, I never saw mi-
nority party members regularly
pick up their marbles and go
home (or in this case, else-
where) when they didn’t like a
particular piece of legislation.
Oregon’s Republican legisla-
tors’ motto seems to be “It’s
our way or the highway.” That’s
not the way democracy in this
country is supposed to work.
And, amazingly, the absen-
tees will still be paid. Imagine
if you decided not to go to
work; would you still get paid?
Also, thanks to the absentees’
walkout, the Legislature can’t
even close the legislative ses-
sion early to save us taxpayers
money because it doesn’t have
a quorum to do so.
According to the Oregonian,
the upshot of the Republicans’
walkout is to halt progress on a
myriad of other bills, including
up to $12 million in Umatilla
flood recovery funds; fund-
ing for homelessness, mental
health, foster children, people
with disabilities, and wild-
fire prevention; requiring free
school breakfast to be offered
to more than 100,000 children;
and bonding for building im-
provements and expansion at
all of Oregon’s public univer-
sities.
Bills that don’t clear both
chambers by March 8 will die
and remaining bills will likely
be stalled until the 2021 legis-
lative session.
The Republicans who
walked out represent 36 per-
cent of Oregon by population,
according to the Census Bu-
reau’s most recent estimates,
from 2014 to 2019. So, if state
Republicans don’t like being
in the minority, perhaps they
should consider adopting new
ideas that a larger percentage
of Oregonians can support.
I respect the two Repub-
licans, Rep. Cheri Helt and
Sen. Tim Knopp, for stay-
ing in Salem to do their job.
Even if they don’t support the
cap-and-trade legislation they
show maturity and leadership
by honoring their oath of of-
fice. Sadly, you can’t say that
for Sen. Chuck Thomsen.
Tracie Hornung
Parkdale
‘Tails wagging’
I liken the ending of these
Democratic debates to the
ending of the Little Bo Peep
poem; leave them alone and
let them come home, wagging
their tails behind them.
Alan Winans
Hood River
ANOTHER VOICE
Don’t just worry about coronavirus, do something
By DR. JEFF HORACEK AND
HEATHER NEILSON
Healthy Connections
Like many of you, we have
been reading reports of the
spread of COVID-19 (Coro-
na Virus Infectious Disease
2019) with increasing con-
cern.
At our internal and func-
tional medicine practice
in Hood River, we’ve been
thinking about how to help
our community be as pre-
pared as possible with strat-
egies beyond hand washing
and worrying. Basic public
health prevention measures
like hand washing, covering
sneezes and coughs, staying
home when sick, and fre-
quently cleaning surfaces are
all crucial and proven to be
helpful in preventing spread
of infections. But there is
more we can do to make our
bodies less hospitable to in-
fections such as COVID-19.
How we eat and live each
day can boost our immune
response to this or any virus.
So, what can we do? First,
let’s review some basic im-
munology to understand how
our body’s brilliant design
regularly defends us from all
sorts of assaults in our world.
Broadly speaking, there are
two branches of our immune
system to fight infections:
The Innate Immune System
and the Adaptive Immune
System.
The Innate Immune Sys-
tem evolved over time and
is our older defense strategy.
Its purpose is to identify and
remove foreign substances
present in our body. This
system acts quickly to target
malignant cells and viruses.
It also will activate our sec-
ond system, the Adaptive Im-
mune System, by presenting
antigens (small pieces of a
pathogen) to start the pro-
duction of antibodies. These
antibodies provide a short-
term immune response to
remove infections while also
providing long-term memo-
ry to the Adaptive Immune
System. This gives our bodies
the knowledge to potentially
fight infections in the future.
Our Adaptive Immune Sys-
tem helps our bodies remem-
ber a pathogen after initial
exposure and helps us fight
subsequent exposures to that
specific pathogen. This is
why vaccines work. This is
one of the major problems
with COVID 19: As a new
virus, most people do not
have this acquired, or adap-
tive, immunity, and therefore
are more prone to getting the
infection. In the estimated
80 percent of mild cases,
those individuals’ bodies
have mounted an adequate
response to the virus and
will likely have an acquired
immune response to this
virus should they encounter
it again. Antibodies that are
produced in response to an
infection can be helpful in
countering an infection, but
it takes weeks for this system
to become fully activated.
Several problems arise for
people with compromised
immune function — not just
the elderly or frail. Other
common conditions tax the
immune system on a daily
basis, including: Dysbiosis
(bacterial imbalances within
the body, most commonly,
our gut), chronic inflamma-
tion, autoimmunity, diabetes
and (particularly for COVID
19) lung diseases, such as
COPD. For these people, the
adaptive response is likely
not have enough “oomph”
to overcome the foreign in-
fection.
When we age, our ability
to fight infection starts to
decline. The body can com-
pensate for this decline if
there are adequate numbers
of white blood cells that can
directly kill infected cells.
These killer cells can keep a
virus from replicating in our
bodies. So, what can we do
to help our immune system
function as well as possible in
the face of a pandemic?
To boost our innate im-
mune system, including our
killer cells, the following life-
style approaches can bring
great benefit to our bodies.
When we feel like so much is
out of our control, these are
things we can do that will re-
ally make a difference during
this uncertain time.
■ Consider tobacco ces-
sation, especially with this
virus targeting the lungs and
respiratory system.
■ Get adequate sleep. Our
bodies repair and replenish
during sleep.
■ Limit sugar, processed
foods and alcohol.
■ Eat real food such as
fruits and vegetables rich in
phytonutrients.
■ Find the “Goldilocks” ac-
tivity for yourself. Too much
exercise is a stress on the
body and a challenge to
the immune system. Mild to
moderate exercise — espe-
cially if it reduces stress —
helps increase resilience and
immunity.
■ Manage stress skillfully.
Find time to be still, or at
least to check in with your
worries and fears.
■ Limit your extracurric-
ular activities to those that
bring the most emotional
nourishment to your life.
Constant busy-ness is a stress
itself.
■ Consider specific im-
mune-boosting supplements
if approved by your physician
or health care provider.
If you are already engaging
in some of these practices,
great work! If not, consider
which of these will be the
easiest for you to incorporate
at this time. Making behavior
changes can be hard, but
these are times that require
us to think and act with cour-
age. There are no guarantees
that these strategies will pre-
vent COVID-19 or any other
infection, but we find that
taking control of the things
that may help during stressful
and fearful times can lend a
sense of empowerment and
comfort. And they just might
give your immune system a
fighting chance.
■
Jeff Horacek MD, is an
internal and functional med-
icine physician and Heather
Nielsen Horacek, LPC, is a
counselor and wellness coach
of Healthy Connections, Hood
River.