Tag Archive for: #thelocalskinny

The Local Skinny! Fentanyl Summit Saturday

/by

More than 13,000 people have died in North Carolina alone in the past nine years from fentanyl. A half-day family summit will be held in Raleigh on Saturday, designed to be part awareness, part education, and part support for those who have family members who have died from fentanyl poisoning.

“Poisoning” is the term Patricia Drewes prefers to “overdose” when describing the unintended deaths that occur all too frequently, especially with teens and young adults.

Drewes founded Forgotten Victims of North Carolina following the 2019 death of her daughter Heaven. She spoke with John C. Rose on Thursday’s segment of The Local Skinny! and said the summit has reached its capacity and will not be able to accept additional registrations.

Within a few months of the COVID-19 pandemic, the now-familiar phrase of “the 3 W’s – Wear, Wash, Wait” became a household term. Drewes said there needs to be a similar campaign to warn and educate the public on the dangers of illicit fentanyl.

“Commercials, billboards – we need to be teaching it in schools, discussing it in our churches,” Drewes said. “I don’t feel like North Carolina is doing enough,” she said.

She said law enforcement officers should carry Narcan – a overdose antidote of a sort – on their belts just like they do other useful tools like flashlights. Often, they arrive on the scene before EMS and administering Narcan could save a life.

North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein is among those scheduled to speak, as well as victims’ family members, state and federal law enforcement and representatives of local nonprofits.

Drewes and Barb Walsh, executive director of Fentanyl Victims Network of NC are among the organizers of the summit, which will be held at the McKimmon Conference Center from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

One of the goals of the summit is to educate and increase awareness, but also to let families know that they are not alone in their grief or in their struggle.

Drewes’s group has grown to five chapters that covers at least half the state; email her at patriciadrewes@yahoo.com to learn more about Forgotten Victims of North Carolina.

Following are some sobering statistics regarding fentanyl use in North Carolina:

  • 8 deaths each day in North Carolina from fentanyl
  • N.C. ranks 6thin fentanyl fatalities
  • Fentanyl is the leading cause of death in N.C. and the U.S. for people 18-35
  • 88 percent of all N.C. medicine/drug toxicity deaths involve fentanyl

 

 

CLICK PLAY!

 

Cooperative Extension with Jamon Glover: Relaxing, Pt. 4

/by

Listen live at 100.1 FM / 1450 AM / or on the live stream at WIZS.com at 11:50 a.m. Mon, Tues & Thurs.

Click Play!

 

Home And Garden Show

/by

On the Home and Garden Show with Vance Co. Cooperative Ext.

  • Check seedlings daily…
  • Scout lawns for cool season weeds and treat ASAP. Apply fertilizer by mid-March.
  • Check irrigation equipment
  • Prune your shrubbery if it needs pruning. Don’t do heavy pruning on plants that have already formed flower buds. If shrubs need severe annual pruning, consider replacing them.
  • Honey bees are swarming now if you see a swarm contact Cooperative Extension
  • Resist the urge to plant warm season plants, even if you see them for sale early.
  • Keep grow lights adjusted on your growing plants
  • If you plan to start seed indoors, most crops will do well if they are planted 4 weeks before the outdoor planting time. So for example, tomatoes, peppers, squash, etc. can be started late March or early April.

CLICK PLAY!

 

Cooperative Extension with Paul McKenzie: What Works in the Garden

/by

Listen live at 100.1 FM / 1450 AM / or on the live stream at WIZS.com at 11:50 a.m. Mon, Tues & Thurs.

Click Play!

 

The Local Skinny! Protecting Your Dog From Heartworms

/by

Nobody likes mosquitoes. Their bites can hurt and they can swell and itch. When mosquitoes bite our pets, however, they can cause more serious problems. We’re talking heartworms.

Aleksandar Besermenji, a veterinarian at Franklinton Animal Hospital talked with Bill Harris about the importance of keeping our dogs and cats – and ferrets – on a heartworm regimen. “The whole point is to check them every year with the test,” Besermenji said. “If you catch it in time, you can do more to fix it.”

Mosquitoes are the vector – or the way – that dogs, cats and ferrets – can be exposed to the disease. All it takes is one mosquito to bite an animal with the disease to infect other animals that are not on heartworm preventive medication.

The best way to keep our pets testing negative for the disease is to give them the medication all year long, he said. It’s true that mosquitoes aren’t around in the winter, but Besermenji said owners shouldn’t take a break from giving the medication.

“Takes a certain period of time for the heartworms to develop” in the animal, he said, adding that it could take several weeks to several months. A mosquito bite from the fall could result in a heartworm positive test in the winter if the animal isn’t protected with the preventive.

“There’s a long list that goes with the heartworm problems,” he said. If left untreated, animals can develop inflammation as the parasitic worms grow in the arteries of the lungs and heart.

While there are treatment options for a dog that tests positive for heartworms, the simplest way to ensure animals stay healthy is to keep them on the preventive medicine.

And while it’s true that cats don’t get it that often, he said, they can. And so can ferrets. Cats don’t tolerate the injections as well as dogs, so their treatment is a little more specialized.

Your veterinarian should perform an annual test to make sure your pet is free of heartworms. Some symptoms of heartworm include coughing in the morning, shortness of breath and general poor performance, especially in working animals like hunting dogs.

In the most severe stages of the disease, animals suffer from distended bellies and accumulated abdominal fluid. After a prolonged period without treatment, the heart simply is too weak to respond effectively to treatment.

The Franklinton Animal Hospital, now is in its third week of operation, is open Monday-Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturdays 8 a.m. to 12 noon.

 

CLICK PLAY!

 

Cooperative Extension with Wayne Rowland: Thinning Pines

/by

Listen live at 100.1 FM / 1450 AM / or on the live stream at WIZS.com at 11:50 a.m. Mon, Tues & Thurs.

Click Play!

 

The Local Skinny! Fire Department Awards Ceremony

/by

The Henderson Fire Department recognized several of its own during a recent awards and commendation ceremony at Clearview Church.

Interim Fire Chief Curtis Tyndall said Justin Crowder, an engineer with the fire department received the firefighter of the year award and fellow engineer Justin Simmons received the Chief’s award.

Tyndall spoke with John C. Rose Wednesday, and his interview aired on Thursday’s segment of The Local Skinny!

The banquet was held on Feb. 16, and Tyndall said all the award or commendation recipients are the direct result of the leadership of this department under Chief Steve Cordell. Cordell died last month after a battle with cancer.

“He made sure that everybody trained regularly,” Tyndall said of Cordell’s leadership style. “Safety was always at the top of his mind.”

Both Crowder and Simmons have accepted leadership roles within the department; Crowder fills in for the company officer as needed and Simmons participates in the department’s honor guard.

“He goes quietly about his business doing the job,” Tyndall said of Simmons.

Firefighters are constantly training and practicing the techniques that their job requires, and whether they’re getting time behind the wheel of a ladder truck or pulling hose to practice pumping operations, Tyndall said the firefighters are up to the task.

They must know their roles well in advance of arriving on the scene of an accident, fire or other emergency.

“Chain of command in the fire service is extremely important,” Tyndall noted. The battalion chief functions as the incident commander on a scene, and he’s got three company officers that report to him – two engines and a ladder truck. Each person must know his or her role to effectively work the scene.

Fire trucks are dispatched to emergencies that don’t always involve a fire, but firefighters often find themselves as first responders. Several newer firefighters were recognized for being good first responders and EMT personnel: Grayson Talbot, Jack Wilkinson and William Breedlove.

Tyndall said numerous lifesaving awards were given out as well to firefighters who provided a serious intervention to a victim to preserve life and health.

CLICK PLAY!

 

 

Home And Garden Show

/by

On the Home and Garden Show with Vance Co. Cooperative Ext.

  • Check all gardening equipment and do maintenance if needed. Ex wheelbarrow tires
  • Fertilize tall fescue, slow release, low P. Getting late for crabgrass preventer.
  • Read information on seed packs.
  • Get ready to prune fruit trees – 2/25, 10 am, Timberlake
  • If you need honeybees for pollination order asap.
  • Begin pruning evergreen shrubs.
  • Make sure when growing plants in doors that plants are getting enough light. Provide grow lights if needed.
  • Don’t be fooled by the warm weather, we are still at risk of frost or freezing. Hold off on planting warm season vegetables and flowers.
  • Cooperative Extension has excellent vegetable publications.

Click Play!

 

Cooperative Extension with Paul McKenzie: What Works in the Garden

/by

Listen live at 100.1 FM / 1450 AM / or on the live stream at WIZS.com at 11:50 a.m. Mon, Tues & Thurs.

Click Play!