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Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, May 27, 2015
GROW
Be on the LOOKOUT for ticks
One young girl overcomes tick ordeal
A tick found 5-year-old
Zoey Rookstool during a re-
cent family outing to a
JOHN DAY – You don’t softball game in John
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ticks, and while they may be
Luckily, no harm came
small, the damage they cause, of that tick, but that wasn’t
at times, can be mighty.
the case two years ago.
By Angel Carpenter
EO Medio Group
The morning of April 24,
2013, Zoey’s mom, Heather,
found that her daughter had
fallen out of bed.
Concerned that their
normally active child
couldn’t stand on her
own or talk, Heather and
her husband, Zane, took
Zoey to the emergency room
at Blue Mountain Hospital.
While doctors searched for
the cause of the little girl’s
illness, as a precaution they
treated her for a tick bite –
with antibiotics – and later
that morning Heather found
two ticks at the nape of her
daughter’s neck.
“I’ve never been so glad to
see a tick in my entire life,”
Heather said.
Zoey had been suffering
from tick paralysis.
The disease is rare and
thought to be caused by a
toxin in a female tick’s sali-
va (mainly Rocky Mountain
wood tick, American dog tick
and Lone Star tick) – after be-
ing attached for a prolonged
period (several days), the en-
gorged tick transmits the tox-
in, causing paralysis.
Most cases of tick paral-
ysis affecting humans have
been reported among girls un-
der age 10 during April-June.
The risk is greatest for
children living in rural areas,
especially in the Northwest.
Once the tick is removed
symptoms of paralysis usually
clear up within 24 hours, but
if the tick is not removed, the
toxin can be fatal.
After the tick was removed
from Zoey, she was talking
two hours later, using
her hands six hours
later and able
to walk 26 hours
later.
In a couple
days she was
dancing.
Lyme dis-
ease is an-
other worry
where
ticks are concerned; however,
the risk of acquiring the tick-
borne infection is also low.
Prevention is the best meth-
od of avoiding potentially se-
rious complications of Lyme
disease and other tick-borne
illnesses.
Precautions include:
• Wear shoes, long-sleeved
shirts, and long pants when you
go outside. Keep ticks away
from your skin by tucking your
pants into your socks.
• Wear light colors so you
can spot any ticks that get on
your clothes
• Use bug sprays to
keep ticks off your skin or
clothes
• Shower within two
hours of being outdoors if
you think you have been in an
area where there are ticks
• Check your clothes and
body for ticks after being out-
doors. Be sure to
check your scalp,
waist, armpits,
groin, and backs
of your knees.
Check your chil-
dren, too.
• If you live in a
place that has deer or
mice nearby, take steps to
keep those animals away.
Deer and mice carry ticks.
If you or your child is bitten
by a tick, take note of the tick’s
color and size, if it was attached
to your skin or just resting on
your skin, if it was big, round,
and full of blood.
Ticks should be removed
promptly using the proper tech-
nique.
Dr. Zac Bailey of Strawber-
ry Mountain Community Clinic
had this advice: “The best way
to remove a tick is to use twee-
zers and grasp it as close to the
skin as possible, pulling it off
with gentle pressure.”
Further advice from ex-
perts includes:
• Do not squeeze,
crush, or puncture the
body of the tick, since its
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tion-causing organisms.
• After removing the tick,
wash the skin and hands thor-
oughly with soap and water.
• If any mouth parts of the
tick remain in the skin, these
should be left alone; they will be
expelled on their own. Attempts
to remove these parts may result
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Heather said she’s noticed
that ticks are abundant this year.
When Zoey became ill in
2013, they hadn’t been out to
the woods, only in the yard and
at the park.
“People only check their kids
when they go in the mountains,
but you don’t have to be at the
woods,” Heather said. “I think
parents need to check their kids
– it doesn’t take but a few sec-
onds.”
Information on ticks, includ-
ing prevention and removal,
was obtained from: Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention,
and Linden Hu, MD from the
“UpToDate” website.
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of the JD Community Garden
751 W Main St., John Day
541-575-1021
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Blue Mountain Eagle
Gear up for your home
improvements this
spring.
• We now carry FoxFarm& Happy Frog
Microbrewed fertilizers and Handcrafted Soil
Mixes as well as seabird and bat guano.
• Black Gold all purpose and organic potting soil.
• Earthworm castings, chicken manure and fish
compost.
• Seed potatoes, onion sets and garden seeds.
831 W Hwy. 26, John Day • 541-575-0023
80 S. Broadway, Burns • 541-573-3053
• New Construction
• Remodeling
• Trex Decking
• Siding & Windows
• Garages & Sheds
• Porches & Decks
• Basements
• Attic Conversions
• Bricks
• Doors
• Railroad Ties
• Concrete
• Roofing
• Fill Sand
• Fencing
JOHN DAY – People enjoy
community gardens for a variety
of reasons.
Some don’t have any place
of their own to plant. Or maybe
they’ve got plenty of space, but
have used it all up, with seeds
left over.
And some people just like
the “community” aspect – plant-
ing, growing, socializing and
sharing with others.
Whatever the reason, the
John Day Community Garden
welcomes one and all to enjoy
the goodness of this local asset,
now going on its sixth success-
ful year.
Excess produce is donated
to local food pantries. Special
occasions at the garden often
include meals cooked in the gar-
den’s cob oven.
Current improvements in-
clude the garden’s irrigation
system and an expansion of the
pumpkin patch – a popular at-
traction in the fall.
Existing garden beds have
currently been taken, but more
are planned soon. The cost is $15
for a 5 by 10-foot bed or $25 for
a 5 by 20-foot one.
Volunteers of all ages are al-
ways welcome.
The John Day Community
Garden is located on the Third
Street Extension, just east and
across the road from the Grant
County Fairgrounds rodeo arena.
Anyone interested in renting
a plot, or businesses that would
like to sponsor one, should call
541-620-0719 or email johnday-
communitygarden@gmail.com.