Hi,

What is it going to take for the government and leaders of this great country to truly carry out the roles that, we, the people, put them in office to do; protect us, inform us, educate us and most importantly be honest with us? We now have another health crisis among us, a bacterial infection that since the last two years and continuing has killed more people in the United States than the HIV virus, emphysema and murder. If you ask 1 in 10 people if they know what it is, you will get “no”, as an answer. Does this not anger you? Should we as a people that live in a democracy not expect the government to warn of these health issues before they become crises? How many more people, particularly the elderly and children that are dying at the highest percentage due to this infection, have to die? Please send us your comments by simply clicking the “comment” button below. We want to hear from you!

Additionally, in respect to our commitment to offering you as much as we can about safety, we have posted an article on our site that has important statistical and scientific information about MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphyloccus aureus). Click here to read it: Bacterial Infection More Deadly than AIDS.

The purpose of this blog will be more to directly address and initiate your comments about school safety in the aftermath of another child dying due to this infection.

On October 17, 2007, Ashton Bond, a senior high school student in Virginia died of MRSA. The Superintendent of Bedford County, the county in Virginia which housed the school Ashton attended, immediately closed all 21 schools within the county. Was it a little bit too late? Clearly for Ashton it was. Why, because MRSA is a cleanliness issue. Why did the superintendent close down the schools? To have a commercial cleaning company come into each school in the county and “clean it.” Are you kidding me? Does not our taxpayer money pay for a school cleaning staff at every school in the nation? Let me answer that for you, yes.

Most importantly, where does this leave the safety of our children in school? According to The Associated Press:
“Staph infections, including the serious MRSA strain, have spread through schools nationwide in recent weeks, according to health and education officials. Several students have been hospitalized. At least three MRSA cases have been reported in Bedford. Many of the infections are being spread in gyms and locker rooms, where athletes, perhaps suffering from cuts or abrasions, share sports equipment.”

Guess what readers, Ashton, 17, played football last year but was not playing this season.

As parents, relatives and friends of children in schools, what can we do to help prevent MRSA coming into contact with our children? Educate them, as the vast majority of school districts have done across the country. Tell them to wash their hands, provide them with pocket size instant hand disinfectant, requiring no water; that they can carry in their pocket with them to school. Don’t rely on the cleaning crew of your child’s school. The infection is currently too widespread to not take action as a parent or guardian of a child in school.

Maybe we can trust our school districts to change the errors that caused this from ever occurring in the first place, but maybe we can’t. For your child’s safety, provide them with the tools they need to keep their hands clean, any open wounds covered and their clothes clean. We are here for your safety and urge you to be there as well.

Since life has no reset button…tune into this blog and to our website daily. Safe living, Yovette Mumford

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