EaglE VallEy
NEWS
Trouton reflects upon challenges faced in 2012 Page 3
Eagles see one loss, one win in weekend play Page 7
Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2013 PM40008236
Vol. 54 No. 3 Sicamous, B.C., • 1.25 (HST included) • www.eaglevalleynews.com
Food bank nets $3,000 in contest By Tracy Hughes
Eagle Valley News
Cut for cure: Salmon arm Secondary student Jane Choreyko and Brandy Allison document their friend Mairin Idzan having her hair cut and head shaved by hairstylist Jessica Belt to help raise funds for a six-year-old girl with cancer who lives in Sicamous. The girl’s family wish to remain anonymous. Photo by James Murray
Flu and virus impact similar to last year By Martha Wickett Eagle Valley News
While this might seem like an unusually rough time in terms of cold and flu viruses, apparently, it’s not. Dr. Andrew Larder, Medical Health Officer with Interior Health, explains there are two types of viruses currently circulating in the region: influenza – which affects the respiratory system with coughing, fever, runny nose and sore throat, and Norovirus – the most common cause of gastrointestinal outbreaks, with symptoms including abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, possibly a low grade fever and muscle aches and pains. Larder says that while the activity of in-
fluenza is higher and earlier than it was last year, the last two years were not typical years. He said the current situation is back to normal, in terms of compiled data. “It usually starts rising the last week of December and early January. It will stay at relatively high levels until late February, then drop down.” Larder said the influenza virus – which has been identified as Influenza A at several residential care facilities in the region – appears to have reached its highest level of activity and will stay at that level for possibly another six to seven weeks. At this point 11 residential care facilities in the region, including one in Salmon Arm – Bastion Place – have reported respiratory
virus outbreaks, and six of them have been confirmed as Influenza A. Just one facility, an acute-care hospital in the Kootenays, has reported a Norovirus outbreak. The school district reports that Parkview Elementary and Eagle River Secondary in Sicamous experienced high absenteeism just before Christmas, as did Falkland Elementary, but no schools have reported high numbers of absentees since school resumed Jan. 2. Is it unusual to have both influenza and Norovirus outbreaks at the same time? “Sadly not,” says Larder, noting that Noro tends to circulate this time of year. See Hand cleaning on page 2
A total of 26,220 mouse clicks brought the Eagle Valley Food Bank nearly $3,000 and second place in the Kraft Food for Families contest for the Pacific region. The promotion took place in two parts. In the first, 50 cents was donated to the Eagle Valley Food Bank for every time a person clicked in a vote until a regional maximum of $20,000 was reached. This is how the community generated a total of $2,980.50 for the food bank. Following that, a $5,000 prize was available for the community that generated the largest number of votes overall. In this, Sicamous, with a staggering 26,220 votes, placed behind Nanaimo. “For a community of our size, per capita, to keep up with a community the size of Nanaimo, it was really a tremendous effort,” says Leanne Watson, with the Eagle Valley Resource Centre. “When we started, we had no clue we could even come anywhere close to 26,000 votes.” Voters were only allowed to cast one ballot per day, so there were many fingers clicking on a regular basis. “We know this was not just Sicamous, but that we had a lot of help from people in the outlying areas. We are just so very thankful for all the people who took their time, it means a lot,” adds Watson. In total through the Kraft promotion, communities donated $100,000 to food banks across Canada. “This will help the 100 participating food banks not only put food on the table for those in need, but will also help keep food bank trucks on the road and many other operational costs,” notes the Kraft website. Decisions have not yet been made on how to use the donated money, but the Eagle Valley Food Bank has some goals in mind. They are hoping to set up a garden project, as well as refurbish their kitchen with new equipment. “Every penny counts for us, so this is really great,” says Watson.