Newest articles and comments on The Sacramento Press written by Yvette Lessard

Yvette Lessard on "Nestle wants Sac's water"

2009-09-30T18:40:11Z

I agree, Flow is a great film to get insight into the damage these corporations can do to something so vital. Gotta love Coke's "free fertilizer" aka toxic waste for India locals.

Yvette Lessard on "Property dispute at latest "Safe Ground" location"

2009-09-17T22:16:32Z

Great article, very in depth. Thank you for giving me some more knowledge about the subject.

Yvette Lessard on "Celebrating Cinco de Mayo 2009: Sacramento's party guide"

2009-04-30T22:47:23Z

I really don't understand the down votes.

Yvette Lessard on "Swine flu info at 2-1-1 phone line"

2009-04-30T22:42:11Z

Thanks!

Yvette Lessard on "Sacramento ranked sixth worst for ozone "

2009-04-30T22:41:03Z

Shameful and unsurprising.

Preparing for swine flu in Sacramento

2009-04-30T22:37:06Z

Sacramento may not be New York or Mexico city, but it can get crowded and the flu can spread quickly. As summer nears, H1N1, also known as swine flu or Mexican flu, is expected to die down before returning in the fall--possibly stronger than it is now.

Health officials are eyeing similarities between the 1918 Spanish Flu, which killed between 20 and 100 million people, and H1N1 in order to learn more about the path H1N1 might take.

Like H1N1, the Spanish flu began in the spring as a new and relatively mild flu but died out as summer arrived. When fall and flu season returned, it turned deadlier. Like H1N1, it's descendant, young adults were targeted by the disease thanks to their healthy immune systems because of a potentially fatal immune system reaction called a 'cytokine storm'.

While no one can predict how dangerous H1N1 might be when it returns in fall--if it does as it is expected to--and we are vastly more equipped to deal with a pandemic now, the best we can do is to prepare for the worst and hope for the best, as governments around the world have been doing.

If H1N1 does disappear with summer's arrival, it would be too easy to forget about it and not prepare for it's possible return in the fall. While it may return just as dangerous as any other flu (normal flus kill over 1,000 people in the United States a week, usually the very young, very weak and very old), the summer may provide a unique opportunity for families, individuals and communities to consider how prepared they are.

Preparedness for any emergency, disaster, or unforseen event should be vital in every family. You never know when you may lose your job, need supplies immediately and not have time for a run to the store, or when you might not feel comfortable going to crowded stores.

Here's what you can do to prepare not just for H1N1 but for any emergency over the summer:

Slowly stock up food, water and medicine. Every family should have a 3-month supply of what they need, always, period. To slowly work towards your goal, put aside $5 a week and spend it on at least one item. Rice, gallons of water, disinfectant, goggles (viruses can be transmitted through the eyes) and N95 flu masks are must haves. You can try buying in bulk to save money.
Educate yourself. Learn what the WHO pandemic levels mean - they're not panic levels.
Learn the symptoms of flu and H1N1. Fever, coughing, sweating, vomiting, pneumonia, diarrhea are some reported symptoms. Fever, rashes, swelling and redness may indicate a potentially deadly cytokine storm. If you have an iPhone or an iTouch, you may want to invest in iTriage, which can take symptoms and produce possible answers.
Get into the habit of washing your hands regularly and not touching your face anymore. Learning this habit on demand is hard. Better to get you and your family in the habit over the summer.
Drink lots of water. You'd be surprised how dehydrated most Americans are, despite having plenty of access to water. Dehydration can weaken you and when a flu hits the last thing you want to be is already dehydrated.
Excercise can help you fight off viruses and make you stronger, besides all of the other obvious reasons for excercising.
Find out your workplace's and your children's school's policies and plans regardling influenza. Find out ahead of time if and how you can work from home in the event you or your child gets sick.
Stay home if you feel sick. Stay home if you feel sick. Stay home if you feel sick. If you think your employer or school might not let you, find out ahead of time...and tell on them! The CDC and local health organizations might give them hell for enabling the spread of a potentially fatal flu. This is the reason it's so bad in Mexico...many sick workers are not allowed to stay home, which spreads the virus quickly. Don't let your workplace turn you into Typhoid Mary.
Plan ahead.
Duct tape! Duct tape is good for everything. Everything.

H1N1 is nothing to panic about. Most media coverage of it has presented the facts as alarmist as possible. Media reports of death and infection counts have used the "possible" numbers - not the confirmed numbers, numbers which have been cut in half after further investigation.

While it's possible we may be seeing the next Spanish flu, the world is prepared. Government and international organizations were prepared ahead of time and because they are not being formed in the middle of the storm, they are able to minimize the impact of the new flu and because of this we may never see anything like the Spanish flu ever again. But organizations ready ahead of time only do so much good if you and your family are not ready ahead of time.

President Obama is right--it's a cause for concern and preparedness, not for panic. We may see another pandemic scare in the next few years, and hopefully we'll all realize that we need to be prepared on an individual level.

Yvette Lessard on "Residents tweet about swine flu"

2009-04-30T21:26:02Z

Thanks!

Yvette Lessard on "Vigil for local journalist, colleague detained in North Korea"

2009-04-28T20:18:05Z

I've heard about this. It's frightening, even more so when you remember that journalists and critics have been silenced here at home before.

Yvette Lessard on "Swine flu appears in Sacramento County"

2009-04-28T20:14:17Z

I hate using Fox News, but they're my link, so... State of Emergency declared in California: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/first100days/2009/04/28/california-declares-state-emergency-swine-flu/

Yvette Lessard on "Swine flu appears in Sacramento County"

2009-04-28T20:13:24Z

Before. We have quite a few already confirmed and suspected around San Diego and close to the border. I believe we were the first to get swine flu in the U.S. and have it the most widespread, while NY City has more confirmed cases I believe they may have more total and in one area.

Yvette Lessard on "Swine flu appears in Sacramento County"

2009-04-28T17:42:58Z

(I'm curious at the vote downs...a comment explaining why would be great!) I hope people don't panic either, there's a lot of good news. We just need to be aware and make sure whatever happens is as good as possible.

Yvette Lessard on "San Francisco Mayor Newsom woos young voters with free concert"

2009-04-28T00:37:07Z

I don't give a damn about concerts, what's he going to do for same-sex marriage?

Yvette Lessard on "Swine flu appears in Sacramento County"

2009-04-28T00:36:22Z

Hope this helps. I wasn't sure if anyone else is as concerned about it as I am -- I guess that's what I get from watching and researching it all weekend instead of doing my work! I'm curious if anyone else is interested in knowing more about swine flu in Sacramento. Speaking of which...these cases seem to have happened not as recently as mainstream media makes them appear, one of the cases I read was from March 30 and was only just confirmed as swine flu, so was called "new". You might have already gotten it, in which case, I believe you'd have immunity.

Swine flu appears in Sacramento County

2009-04-28T00:34:22Z

A confirmed case of the potentially fatal swine flu has appeared in Fair Oaks, according to the Sacramento Bee. It's the first confirmed case in Northern California, along with two other probable cases of swine flu.

With Southern California, Mexico, and several other countries experiencing swine flu, it was only a matter of time before the virus hit Sacramento County. Federal organizations are researching the new virus and releasing information with the number of confirmed cases in the U.S. now at 40.

While the suspected death toll of swine flu has reached 173 in Mexico in a manner of days, despite suspected global spreading of the virus it is the only country where symptoms have been anything but mild or manageable. Only one person has been hospitalized in the U.S. from the virus, but officials worry it is too early to see how fatal and widespread the disease could become.

California is among several states being giving top priority to 12 million doses of the federal stockpile of Tamiflu.

Swine flu seems to be very similar to normal flu, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials. CDC has published guides and updates on its investigation online.

According to CDC, prevention measures include: covering your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze and throwing the tissue in the trash after you use it, washing hands with soap and water, keeping at least a 6-foot distance from sick people, using alchogol-based hand cleaners and avoiding touching the eyes, nose and mouth.

CDC recommends staying home from school or work while sick and seeking medical attention if certain warning signs are seen, which can be seen here.

Resources:

Yvette Lessard on "Contact info"

2009-04-23T06:47:24Z

A few Q's - Are you guys offering internships again? I've been looking and can't find anything, and your "help" section is a bit...odd. Also wondering if you guys would be interested in working with local college newspapers. You currently have very, very little material and perhaps working something out with local newspapers like CRC or Sac State would help both newspapers and the community. ;) (Kind of off-topic but clicked on the page for jobs with the SacBee out of curiosity and the page won't load. How telling!)

Yvette Lessard on "The Sacramento Press welcomes its first staff reporter"

2009-04-17T01:33:09Z

Jealous! Congratulations. ;)

Yvette Lessard on "Sacramento’s Progressive Newspaper Turns to Volunteers for Survival"

2009-04-09T16:26:25Z

Great article. I'm interested in helping out - an unpaid internship would be great, since I need to do one anyways. I'll definitely look into them. Glad to see the article wasn't glowing in its coverage of them, despite the author's obvious bias.

Yvette Lessard on "Save our school"

2009-01-20T21:59:06Z

I did a little research and I couldn't find any awards aside from a No Child Left Behind AYP or something award, and as far as I could tell average test scores were kinda low. Then again there was very little information on the school and I only glanced. What awards have they won?

Yvette Lessard on "Martin Luther King Day March"

2009-01-19T23:25:42Z

Cool article. I wonder if anyone, Bernadette maybe, walked in the old marches. Would be interesting to hear how different the experience was...like the difference between the police blocking the marchers, and blocking for them. Wish I could have participated.

Yvette Lessard on "Comedian John Ross writes The Set List"

2009-01-19T20:32:36Z

Nice article! Sounds interesting. I never even knew we had a comedy scene...

Yvette Lessard on "de Vere's Irish Pub - a sneak preview"

2009-01-19T20:19:54Z

I see, that is very odd, I apologize for the mistake.

Yvette Lessard on "Save the Sacramento Ballet!"

2009-01-19T19:37:29Z

How sad that workers and artists are getting laid off or forgotten when corporate giants get bailouts and bonuses.

Yvette Lessard on "Building a new world with broken bikes"

2009-01-19T19:21:50Z

I'm not sure that's the best idea, for kids. While in theory it's great, pedestrians and bicyclists get hit a lot. As much as I'd like them to get exercise and use less energy, I'd feel better with them in cars or on buses. Though, buses are horribly unsafe, too...sigh.

Yvette Lessard on "de Vere's Irish Pub - a sneak preview"

2009-01-19T19:12:56Z

Hmm, you're right about the special. I must have gotten that mixed up, I apologize. However, I still do remember a de Vere's in green. Though perhaps I got that wrong too. I have a bad memory when I'm not taking notes...maybe I should take notes of everything. ;)

Yvette Lessard on "de Vere's Irish Pub - a sneak preview"

2009-01-19T19:10:33Z

Colleen: Are you sure? I'm pretty sure I saw 'de Vere's' in italic green letters. Maybe it was my imagination, if so, I apologize.

Yvette Lessard on "Sacramento cyclist in "crack" bust"

2009-01-19T19:06:27Z

That is the wrong kind of genius.

Yvette Lessard on "King Day of Service 2009"

2009-01-19T18:26:11Z

Thanks for the information!

Yvette Lessard on "de Vere's Irish Pub - a sneak preview"

2009-01-19T18:24:38Z

I've definitely seen an ad, in fact, for a "Sacramento Press" deal at the top of the page once or twice. :) I was responding first to Jonathan's comment but also to your article, while I do understand with a larger news publication they're going to have to write about news like this, and I appreciate that you were transparent, it feels wrong, like a glowing review and advertisement for them and not actually news. The piece itself seems rather...enthusiastic about the place and almost glows writing about it. While it may very well be a very cool place, and from your comment it sounds like there was nothing at all wrong going on, having a front page article with positive comments about a restaurant on your front page while an advertisement for the same restaurant hangs just above it is the worst way to win trust and respect, especially in such a new publication. That's all. :) I was actually interested in helping out, as I love independent media, and have not yet gotten a chance to do field reporting with a newspaper at my back. I was planning on dropping by the school meeting after classes Wednesday that was mentioned on the site earlier, and see if I could get an article written for you guys, though with my luck in that part of town I'll go down 3 one way streets the wrong way, not be able to find parking, and be an hour and a half late. Hehe. I wonder if they'd let me take pictures of even a video? Feel free to contact me if you want, though I'd hardly call what I can write high quality and like I've said I'm new to field reporting.

Yvette Lessard on "de Vere's Irish Pub - a sneak preview"

2009-01-19T07:59:46Z

Is this really appropriate, considering they're paying you to advertise them? I understand you guys are for profit but maybe try to stick to being an independent voice and not write articles about your clients.

Yvette Lessard on "Save our school"

2009-01-19T07:47:35Z

Great to see articles like this. Definitely worth looking into, I wish the article was more in depth though...will definitely try to attend, will be interesting!

Yvette Lessard on "Martin Luther King in his opening address to the 1964 Berlin Jazz Festival. "

2009-01-19T07:44:12Z

I'm not sure why this is here? I don't get it? Not that this site couldn't use more articles, but still...

Yvette Lessard on "Contact info"

2009-01-19T07:42:54Z

I wonder if you guys will ever be hiring. Oh, man, I remember the last time I applied for a job downtown. Was late the the interview...twice...because I couldn't find parking. How embarassing.

Yvette Lessard on "What we're all about"

2009-01-19T07:36:53Z

Love the idea, and love alternative and independent press even more. Hopefully you guys grow, would love to see this take off.

Yvette Lessard on "Sac Barackomania: Bee covers haircut"

2009-01-19T06:51:09Z

No pictures?

Yvette Lessard on "Sacramento airport seeks authority to kill birds"

2009-01-19T06:49:39Z

I agree with Mark, it's sad that animals are always the first to suffer as a result of human decisions and mistakes. Let the people who did the poor planning suffer the consequences of their mistakes, not the animals.

Yvette Lessard on "Sac Style"

2009-01-19T06:34:38Z

My stepbrother would love her. Actually, knowing him he's probably already friends with her...