Latest news with #Gehring
Yahoo
26-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Broome County Medical Director urges residents to get vaccinated
(WIVT/WBGH) – Broome County's medical director is cautioning the public that while on the whole, area residents are well-protected against vaccine-preventable diseases, there are still a number of troubling cases. Doctor Lazarus Gehring of the county health department says the success of vaccines against such diseases as measles, polio and chicken pox has led to a level of cultural amnesia about just how threatening those illnesses can be. Gehring says that over the six months since he became Medical Director, there have multiple outbreaks in Broome and surrounding counties. He says 45 children contracted chicken pox, or varicella, and none of them were vaccinated. One, a child under 6 months old, had to be hospitalized with meningitis. And while that infant was too young to be vaccinated, the lack of vaccinations among older children is what put that baby at risk. Gehring says a 3-year-old died of haemophilus influenza, another vaccine preventable infection. And Broome saw six times the normal rate of whooping cough last year. Gehring says all of the publicity about those who are vaccine skeptics may give people the wrong impression that vaccination rates are lower and therefore less significant. He says rates remain high, especially for childhood vaccines, which makes those instances when someone is seriously ill from a preventable disease all the more disturbing. 'In case people are thinking, 'Well, wow these vaccines don't work, a lot of people don't use them', that's actually wrong. Now, in New York, those are required for school, but outside of that, even those who are older are quite vaccinated against some of these things and that's why they don't get up off the ground,' said Gehring. Gehring says there are now more effective vaccines for older adults than ever before, including for shingles, RSV, pneumonia and, of course, flu and COVID. He says a case of meningitis at Binghamton University last fall led to a high exposure event in which 30 people were exposed. None of them contracted the illness, which Gehring attributes to vaccinations. Emily Mackay reminisces on her time as a U-E Tiger with students Take a behind the scenes look of Kilmer Mansion with Junior League Broome County Medical Director urges residents to get vaccinated Vestal Joann Fabric and Crafts set to close Binghamton and Broome hire outside law firms for Kweller case Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
18-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Broome County sees surge in flu cases this winter
BROOME COUNTY, N.Y. (WIVT/WBGH) – While COVID and RSV cases are down in Broome County this winter, there's been a surge in flu cases. Dr. Lazarus Gehring, the Medical Director for the county health department, says our area is experiencing its worst flu season since right before the pandemic. Gehring says Broome saw a pair of spikes in cases around the holidays and again when Binghamton University students returned for the Spring semester. He says hospitalizations reached a peak in late December, causing Wilson Hospital in Johnson City to briefly go on diversion, meaning ambulances were being sent to other emergency departments. Gehring says the cause of the rise could be linked to the quality of this year's flu vaccine, which is tweaked each year to try to account for the latest strain of the virus that is circulating. He also says certain safety precautions that were common during the pandemic, such as masking, distancing and increased hand washing, have returned to pre-pandemic levels. 'It's very simple, we forget it, we have amnesia and then we panic when something happens. This is how it goes: we have vaccination, we have treatment and we have the things we can do socially to help. I'm not saying we're at a shutdown stage at all for influenza, but those kind of things have happened in the past. We've had a terrible human history with this influenza virus,' Dr. Gehring said. Gehring says influenza symptoms tend to be severe with fever and body aches that should easily distinguish it from the common cold. He says prescription Tamiflu can be helpful in relieving symptoms, but it must be taken within 48 hours of symptoms to be effective. Gehring says at-home tests can help diagnose the flu, assuming people follow the directions carefully. And he says it's not too late to get the flu shot. You can see the full interview with Dr. Gehring below: Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
29-01-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Columbus Meals on Wheels safe from federal funding freeze: CEO
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – A federal judge blocked President Donald Trump's federal funding freeze just before it was set to go into effect Tuesday. The temporary pause comes after Trump issued a funding freeze for federal grants and loans overnight in a vaguely worded memo from the Office of Management and Budget. More than $3 trilllion in federal funding is at stake, but organizations across the country will have to wait until at least Monday to see if they will be impacted. The judge who placed a temporary pause on the funding freeze has called a hearing for 11 a.m. Monday. While no federal funding has been pulled yet, chaos has stormed through organizations around the country, including in central Ohio. How potential federal grant pause could impact central Ohio organizations 'I got the first notification from a group that sends us some news last night about 1 a.m.,' LifeCare Alliance President and CEO Chuck Gehring said. 'When I saw that, my stomach dropped. You know, it just scared me horribly.' LifeCare Alliance provides many programs for central Ohioans in need but is known mostly for Meals on Wheels. 'Our Meals on Wheels are up over 90% from pre-COVID numbers and we, through our partnerships with our counties, especially Franklin County, have continued to take everybody that qualifies,' Gehring said. 'You got to qualify. But, you know, we've been able to service people and we are probably, I can't tell you this for sure, but I'm pretty close that in the top 100 markets in the United States of America, we're probably the only ones without waiting lists for Meals on Wheels.' Meals on Wheels relies heavily on federal funding, which led to Gehring's concern. 'It's critical funding for our programming, especially the Meals on Wheels program,' he said. 'For this year, that'd be $3 million to us. What that does, it pays for literally hundreds of thousands of meals. We do about 1.8 million Meals on Wheels a year out of here. And it would, it would affect if that money went away for a year, it would easily affect a couple thousand consumers.' Since the initial memo was sent from the White House, further clarification was given this afternoon. An afternoon memo from the White House said, 'Programs like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, SNAP, small business funds, farmer funding, Pell Grants, Head Start, rental assistance, and other similar programs will not be paused.' 'I was very concerned about it last night at 1 a.m. when I first saw the news, because I didn't know what it was going to do to us, but I'm less concerned now,' Gehring said. In the midst of all the uncertainty surrounding if they would have funding or not, Gehring said the one constant was the organization's dedication to serving thousands of people in central Ohio 'Whether the funding was frozen or not, we'll keeping going,' he said. 'We're going to keep serving and if anybody's watching me talk here, don't worry about your meals. They will continue to come tomorrow and every day. We would never abandon our people.' The White House gave reasoning for the funding freeze during a press briefing by White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt. 'It is the responsibility of this president and this administration to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars,' Leavitt said. The target of the funding freeze are issues like gender ideology, foreign aid, and environmental agreements. This leads Gehring to believe his agency will be OK. He understands the importance of ensuring taxpayer money is going to good use, and his organization knows they are under a microscope. 'I've counted seven different audits we get a year here, so some of this money is highly protected by the federal government,' he said. Gehring also knows the value of the service they provide. Providing meals, transportation, deliveries, and other services for the elderly who cannot do those things on their own is vital. 'For each person we keep independent and in their own home, where they want to be one person for one year, we save Ohio taxpayers and federal taxpayers $90,000 on average,' he said. 'We probably saved the state and the feds at least $3 billion with a B versus Medicaid, paying for all our people to go to assisted living here and so there's a huge return on this investment.' The federal judge who paused the funding freeze will hear arguments next Monday and decide on a temporary restraining order at that time. Meanwhile, organizations across the country will be seeking clear guidance on if they are impacted by the funding freeze. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
