VOLUME 5, NUMBER 23

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Schools see rise in whooping cough cases

By Donna Iadipaolo
For A2 Journal

Ann Arbor Public Schools (AAPS) is diligently working with Wasthenaw Public Heath (WPH) to stay on top of a recent whooping cough increase. According to AAPS Director of Communications Liz Nowland-Margolis there have been about 25 cases of whooping cough as of last count. This has been assessed by Public Health for over a month, so many of these cases have now been fully treated by antibiotics, Nowland-Margolis said. AAPS has adopted a rigorous procedure in collaboration with Wastenaw

Public Health. We work with WPH, Laura Bauman, said Nowland-Margolis. Our school nurses are in contact with Public Health.

Pertussis is a reportable disease so health providers must report it to Public Health. Public Health then informs the students or staff members school

when a case have been confirmed. We then send out a letter that Public Health provides to the families and staff that explain the symptoms and the importance of

being diagnosed. Bauman is a head nurse and epidemiologist with Washtenaw County Public Health. Additionally, the AAPS maintains consistent cleaning of its facilities, particularly where there is more interaction with students. Pertussis is airborne, said Nowland-Margolis. We do our routine cleaning. The important factor is going to the doctor if you have symptoms so you can be put on the treatment. It is highly contagious as it is airborne. Most of the cases have been linked through close contact in classrooms, sports team, buses.
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Local veterans returning home have multiple options for care

By Jim Pruitt
A2 Journal

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ANN ARBOR Veterans once again got their due through parades, patriotic music and the pomp and circumstance of Memorial Day. But as the din of daily life pushes the celebration into the distant recesses of the mind, thousands of returning veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are facing a different battleeld transitioning back into civilian life. While many veterans will come home to strong support, some are finding a lack of support and even indifference as many people in America have forgotten there is war going on. To help these new veterans readjust into everyday life, the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Ann Arbor has a team of professionals who are being proactive in making sure the troops are aware of the help that is available. Returning veterans will become familiar with Sarah Nowitzke and Sheila A. M. Rauch, Ph. D. Nowitzke is a licensed masters social worker, and heads the Seamless Transition Team at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Ann Arbor. Rauch is a psychologist and an associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Michigan Medical School. She is part of the Serving Returning Veteran-Mental Health team, or SeRV-MH . Nowitzke heads up the Seamless Transition Team. This is a program for veterans who served in Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan), Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation New Dawn (Iraq after Sept. 1, 2010) to help them adjust to civilian life. The local effort involves six licensed masters social workers who serve as case managers for returning veterans to get them the specific help they need. The case management system screens veterans for some primary issues, Nowitzke said.

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The Veterans Administration Ann Arbor Healthcare System hospital offers a wide range of treatment for returning military dealing with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and other hardships. Those include Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), depression, infectious disease, embedded fragments, traumatic brain injury and alcohol, she said. Those screens dont necessarily indicate that they have those diagnoses, so what it does tell us is that we need to refer them to local providers a more thorough assessment, Nowitzke said. If they do test positive for PTSD, depression or alcohol then we will do a suicide assessment just to talk to them about those factors. The Seamless Transition team also looks at psycho-social needs that veterans deal with such as employment, education, transportation and legal issues. Making sure that their housing is stable, making sure they know about their VA benefits, both from a health care perspective and a benefits perspective, Nowitzke said. This is important because the Department of Veteran Affairs has three separate administrations: health, benefits and cemetery. The case managers alerts deployed veterans of their benefits and eligibility: That includes five years of VA health-care services from the date of their discharge. That means anything they come to the office for that is related to their deployment, they will not be billed for, Nowitzke said. For afflictions not related to their deployment, they could qualify for a small co-pay if they meet an income threshold, she said. Anything related to mental health or readjustment, they wouldnt get billed for, Nowitzke said.
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