In another irregularity, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the nation’s largest network of pediatricians, has not been tapped to work with the CDC on the outbreak, according to the organization’s officials. Historically, the CDC and AAP have convened for monthly or biweekly briefings during outbreaks to share updates, which include details about what doctors are seeing and questions they’re fielding from parents in exam rooms. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to freely discuss the health department’s response.
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.LONDON (AP) — If your pet alligator escapes, don’t call for an ambulance — unless it has sunk its teeth into someone.
That’s the message from the Welsh Ambulance Service in a plea to get people to stop phoning with non-emergencies.With public health services stretched thin in the U.K., there is no shortage of anecdotes about people suffering from true health emergencies who wait hours for medical care — whether from paramedics or a hospital doctor. But the ambulance service said 15% of its 426,000 calls last year — 175 a day — were not urgent. Some weren’t even health-related and were far from being matters of life and death.There was a call about a chipped tooth (“it’s starting to throb”), a bloody toe (“I’ve cut my little nail on the toe and I’ve nipped across the top of it.”) and a person who stuck their finger in an electrical socket who appeared to be fine (“I’m worried that I could be electrocuted”).
Then there was the call Emma Worrall took last year that she won’t soon forget.“I remember saying ‘alligator?’ and my call-taker supervisor just looked at me and was like, ‘What is going on in your call?’” Worrall said.
As a dispatcher in a busy call center in Wales, Worrall has to be unflappable, patient and able to efficiently handle the most stressful calls in which a delay of seconds or minutes could be the difference between life and death.
She understands that some people have a different gauge of what is life-threatening and an emergency. But it’s still frustrating when someone phones the emergency number to say they’re locked out of their house and cold or their dog jumped in a river and won’t swim back — calls she also fielded.into the western U.S., Catron County commissioners heard nearly three hours of testimony Thursday from frustrated ranchers and concerned rural residents — some of whom traveled from Arizona to attend the packed meeting. Dozens more joined online, including environmentalists and state and federal officials.
“For us, for the people in this room, wolves are not some romanticized concept. ... For those of us on the ground, they’re a very real daily threat,” said Tom Paterson, a rancher and president-elect of the New Mexico Cattle Growers’ Association. He’s worried about his grandson playing on the deck, just 100 yards (90 meters) from where wolves killed a steer in February.County commissioners issued a warning to residents last week to be aware of their surroundings when outdoors and maintain constant supervision of children and pets.
The concerns stretch beyond New Mexico, as officials in parts of Oregon and Northern California say gray wolves — the larger, more common cousins of Mexican gray wolves — seem brazen and are killing more livestock. Two California counties declared emergencies in recent weeks and the sheriff in another requested help from state wildlife officials.Ranchers in New Mexico and Arizona have been at odds with the reintroduction of Mexican gray wolves since the first release in the late 1990s. Despite limited programs for reimbursing certain losses, ranchers say wolves pose a threat to their way of life, which is already challenged by prolonged drought and rising prices.