PAGE 5
HEPATITIS A IDENTIFIED IN LOCAL COMMUNITY
YOUTH COUNCIL SEEKS
MEMBERS
If there is anyone who might be interested in starting a
Youth Council or being on a Youth Council, please call,
the Tribal office at 879-5211 and let us know. This is
something we would like to seriously consider for the
near future.
PINT JARS NEEDED
The Social Services Program is seeking pint jars to do
some canning. The canned products will be used in
Christmas baskets for tribal elders. If you have some
jars to donate, contact Mary Ring at 879-5211.
HEALTH ELIGIBILITY
CHANGES ON HOLD
The Fiscal Year 1989 Indian Health Service (IHS)
Budget appropriations bill contains language that delays
the implementation of the new IHS Eligibility Regula
tions for at least one year.
The Eligibility Regulations were scheduled to go into
effect on September 16, 1988, however Congress has
decided to delay the implementation of the rules to
study their impact on Indian communities.
Hepatitis A has been identified in the Grand Ronde
area. This is a very contagious disease. The following ,
information may help to contain the disease.
Hepatitis A (previously known as infectious hepatitis) is
an infection of the liver caused by a virus. Most cases
are quite mild and may go unrecognized, especially in
children. Adults contract the disease less frequently but
are more often ill. Death from Hepatitis A is very rare,
but disability in adults is common; in 1979, the average
cost of an attack of hepatitis A in adults was about
$1,000 for medical care and lost salary.
Hepatitis A (previously known as infectious hepatitis) is
an infection of the liver caused by a virus. Most cases
are quite mild and may go unrecognized, especially in
children. Adults contract the disease less frequently but
are more often ill. Death from Hepatitis A is very rare
but disability in adults is common; in 1979, the average
cost of an attack of hepatitis A in adults was about
$1,000 for medical care and lost salary.
WHAT ARE THE SYMPTOMS?
If symptoms occur they may begin 2-6 weeks after
exposure (the average of 4 weeks). Symptoms include
fever, chills, loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, fatigue,
pain in right upper abdomen, dark urine, light-colored
stool, jaundice (yellowing of the skin and whites of eyes).
In people who have no symptoms at all the presence of
the disease-producing virus is detectable only by specific
blood tests.
the disease, medical advice may not be the same for
each patient.
5. To protect their own health, persons with hepatitis A
should resume activity only after being cleared by their
physician.
HOW IS HEPATITIS A PREVENTED?
1) Immune globulin should be given to household
contacts, sexual contacts, and those for whom the
patient prepared meals while heshe was infectious.
Immune globulin is not 100 effective when given after
exposure but even if the person receiving it develops
hepatitis A, the disease is usually less severe and less
infectious. '
2) As there are several kinds of hepatitis with different
recommendations for each, many health departments
request that a specific test to identify the virus be done
in order to take appropriate preventive steps.
3) Persons with hepatitis A should not handle or prepare
food for others, work in day care centers, or health care
facilities.
4) Sexual intercourse should be avoided with a patient
while heshe is infectious.
5) Good hand-washing should be practiced after using
the toilet, diapering children, emptying bed pans,
cleaning toilets, providing person care, or before
preparing food.
THANK YOU
A special thank you to the CTGR Corporation for labor
and materials to put up the folding door in the Tribal
Health room. It will provide necessary privacy for the
Tribal Clinics.
CORPORATATION MTG.
The Grand Ronde Corporatation has set a meeting for
October 11, 1988 at 3:00 p.m. The location will be
posted at the tribal office.
TRANSPORT GUIDELINES
The Tribal Health Program has established guidelines
for the Tribal Health staff for the usage of the GSA
vehicles. The priority list is as follows.
1. Patient Transport r for those patients who have no
available transportation to medical, dental and social
services providers.
2. Patient Transport - for group patient health participa
tion as organized by the Tribal Health staff.
3. Patient Coordination Defined as services that
directly relate to enhance the delivery of services to the
patients, example: Health staff using the GSA vehicle to
meet with each hospital in the 6 county service area to
set up a referral system for the Confederated Tribes of
Grand Ronde members upon admission and discharge.
PLEASE, call the Tribal Health office after making your
medicaldental appointment if you need transportation
so that we can schedule or coordinate the appointments.
HOW IS IT SPREAD?
Hepatitis A is spread primarily through the fecal-oral
route: exposure to the virus in an infected persons stool
directly (as a parent or day care worker diapering an
infected infant) or through uncooked foods contami
nated by the patient after inadequate hand-washing.
Open water can be contaminated with sewage, deposit
ing virus or shellfish. Occasionally improperly con
structed or maintained water supply systems may
become contaminated and spread the virus widely.
Hepatitis A may also be sexually transmitted.
HOW LONG IS A PERSON WITH HEPATITIS A
INFECTIOUS?
The infectious period of a hepatitis A patient is from
two weeks before symptoms appear to two weeks after.
A patient is most infectious just before symptoms
appear.
WHAT IS THE TREATMENT?
1) The disease must be allowed to run its course, since
no medicine can cure hepatitis A.
2) Most patients recover completely without hospitaliza
tion, but convalescence may take several weeks.
3. Some of the symptoms, such as vomiting, itching, and
pain, can be relieved with medicine. Consult your
physician for advice on medication which you can safely
take when you have hepatitis.
4. Most physicians advise persons with hepatitis to eat a
balanced diet or a high carbohydrate diet, to rest, and to
avoid alcohol until recovered from the illness. Because
individuals may be more or less severely affected with
6) Persons in contact with hepatitis A cases will not be
able to donate blood for a least 6 months by American
Red Cross regulations.
Flue Vaccine Clinic - Friday, October 14,
1988 - 9:00 a.m to 4:00 p.m -Tribal
Office
inn. ii mi i Mjjfrg Mi-
Tin ff V 1
I If ' I V
n 9
I LJ 0