ISAPN Member Featured on Front Page of Local Newspaper

ISAPN Member, Kellie Stocker was featured on the front page of the State Journal-Register in a recent article. 

Beardstown on alert for swine flu outbreak

                               Photos

At the St. Francis Community Clinic on Friday May 1, 2009, family nurse practitioner and clinic coordinator Kellie Stocker, left, inquires about seven-month-old Alexander Montoya's fever as Alexander's mother, Julieta Beranza, looks on at right. David Spencer/The State Journal Register

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By AMANDA REAVY (amanda.reavy@sj-r.com)

THE STATE JOURNAL-REGISTER

Posted May 03, 2009 @ 11:35 PM

Last update May 04, 2009 @ 05:42 AM

BEARDSTOWN — Alexander Montoya was among a handful of sniffling young children in line for an exam at the St. Francis Community Clinic here Friday morning.

The wide-eyed 7-month-old had a temperature of 102.3 degrees and showed the symptoms of a cold, his mother, Julieta Beranza, told nurse practitioner Kellie Stocker through a Spanish-speaking nursing assistant.

“Ooh, that’s high,” Stocker remarked about Alexander’s fever before starting a series of questions for Beranza: “Is he eating and drinking OK?” “Anyone else sick at home?” “Have you been out of the country?” “Has anyone come to visit you?” “Are any of your family members sick in Mexico?”

It’s not Stocker’s typical list of questions for patients, but they’re necessary to rule out the possibility of swine flu, an epidemic with more than 900 confirmed cases and more than a dozen deaths in Mexico.

And since Beardstown has one of the largest Hispanic populations in central Illinois, health and school officials here are on heightened alert, taking extra precautions to stop any possible outbreak.

“For us in the trenches, we make sure people are getting clear information about the situation,” said Stocker, clinic coordinator for St. Francis.

The clinic, operated by Catholic Charities of the Springfield Diocese, aims to provide Hispanic and low-income residents with access to health care.

“We have some coming to us with questions and concerns,” Stocker said. “We tell people to make sure they’re not doing any traveling (to Mexico) and that they’re not taking in any visitors.”

No flu cases yet

No cases of swine flu have been reported in Beardstown so far, and officials stress there’s no reason to panic.

The community has roughly 6,000 residents, about a third of them Hispanic. The Cargill meat plant employs many in the Hispanic community.

Teresa de la Cruz, coordinator for the Beardstown chapter of the Elizabeth Ann Seton program, said many people at Cargill are concerned about employees returning from vacations in Mexico.

“We have some people on vacation right now who are over there, and they are supposed to come back (this) week,” she said. “That’s what people in the plant are worried about.

“I just hear people that say maybe they’ll have to take a physical test, a lot of rumors,” she said. “But I really don’t know. … They are concerned they might get it.”

Rebecca Hayne, director of communications at Cargill Meat Solutions, said employees were notified Monday about swine flu, but the company has not taken any additional precautions with employees. Company officials recommend that anyone feeling ill stay home.

The Cass County Health Department satellite office in Beardstown and St. Francis each reported receiving about three calls from residents concerned about contracting swine flu.

High fevers a concern

Stocker and Angie Rohn, a licensed practical nurse and infectious-disease liaison at St. Francis, said that, with allergy season having arrived, some people are coming to the clinic with symptoms that could be suspicious.

“They’re coming in with fevers and cough, runny nose, all the symptoms that they would have with the swine flu. But we haven’t seen any cases,” Rohn said.

High fevers, in the 104-degree to 105-degree range, are indicative of swine flu, she said.

After examining Alexander, Stocker suspected he had the stomach flu and recommended he receive plenty of clear liquids.

She then demonstrated the proper way to wash hands, briskly rubbing her hands together for the length of time it takes to sing “Happy Birthday to You.”

Though interpreter Katelin McGinnis, Beranza said she’s heard about the swine flu outbreak, but she wasn’t especially worried about it.

The mother of three, a native of Vera Cruz, Mexico, has lived in Beardstown for 10 years.

Beranza said her relatives in Mexico have not been affected by the epidemic.

Information is key

Though Beranza has followed news of the flu outbreak, Stocker and Beardstown High School principal Scott Riddle say they’re concerned other community members haven’t.

“Not everyone has a TV and can watch the news,” Stocker said.

Between 30 percent and 40 percent of the Beardstown School District’s 1,400 students are Hispanic, and about half come from low-income families, Riddle said

To educate parents, the school has sent out an informational letter and put out a phone message in English and Spanish on its School Reach alert system, telling parents to keep any sick children at home. The school also will send home students with a temperature of 100.2 degrees or above and any flu-like symptoms, including a sore throat, excessive coughing, muscle aches, severe headache, vomiting or diarrhea.

Parents have been advised to plan for child care in the event the schools have to close, though Riddle says that’s not likely at this point.

Currently, the emphasis is on good hygiene and flu-prevention awareness, he said.

At lunchtime Friday, groups of kids took turns underneath hand sanitizer dispensers mounted on a wall in the cafeteria in the joint middle and high school building. “Wash your hands” and “Cover your cough” signs were plastered throughout the school, above drinking fountains, in restrooms and near doorways.

“I just think it’s very important to educate all of our population, and having a great deal of Latinos, and actually French, too -- we have a pocket of French-speaking families -- we make sure they do understand our messages and do understand what we’re trying to get across to them,” Riddle said.