Appreciating 'Pardon Day'

Forgiveness, the process by which an offended party chooses to change the way they feel about someone who has committed the offense against them.

It bears a distinct difference from the idea of condoning (where one does not see the offense as wrong, and therefor not needing forgiveness), excusing the action (where you place the blame for the action on someone else entirely), giving pardon (cleared by a legal representative), forgetting (where the action no longer exists in memory in any real or present way), or the act of reconciliation (where the relationship is restored without the action strictly being forgiven).

Telehealth Visits

Dr. Lakin is using ZOOM,

FACETIME and WHATSAPP to connect with you

for a 'Telehealth' visit if needed.

You can connect using your iPad, iPhone, Android phone, a laptop, or a PC with a camera.

September 8, 2024

*NEW COVID VACCINE IS AVAILABLE IN PHARMACIES. IT IS A GOOD MATCH FOR THE CURRENT COVID VIRUS IN ARIZONA AND USA!

THE CURRENT COVID STRAINS ARE VERY CONTAGIOUS AND PRESENT THROUGHOUT ARIZONA… WE ARE SEEING SEVERAL EACH WEEK, MOST DUE TO TRAVEL OR LARGE EVENT ATTENDANCE.

IF YOU GET SICK AFTER TRAVEL OR ATTENDING A BIG GATHERING… DO A COVID TEST. ALL STANDARD COVID TESTS WORK TO IDENTIFY THE CURRENT STRAINS.

ALL DOING WELL.  BE PROACTIVE TO PREVENT NEED FOR HOSPITALIZATION. PROTECTION IS UP TO YOU AND NOW IS A PERSONAL DECISION. DO WHAT MAKES YOU COMFORTABLE.

DATA 100% SHOWS THAT GOOD MASKS MAKE A DIFFERENCE. THEY ARE NOT PERFECT, BUT THEY DO REDUCE RISK OF EXPOSURE AND INFECTION.

• I CANNOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH… IF YOU DON’T WANT COVID FROM TRAVEL… WEAR A MASK IN THE AIRPORT CROWDS AND ON THE AIRPLANE (UNTIL 10,000 FEET)… THIS IS NOT AS ESSENTIAL AS IT WAS WHEN COVID WAS MORE SEVERE… BUT IF YOU WANT TO AVOID INFECTIONS IN GENERAL DURING TRAVEL... IT’S A RECOMMENDATION.

• EVEN SELECTIVE MASK USE WORKS WELL… SUCH AS ONLY IN CROWDED SPACES IN THE AIRPORT, AND DURING TRAVEL ‘TO’ YOUR DESTINATION, SO THAT YOU ARE NOT ILL DURING YOU VACATION/TRAVEL TIME.  LESS IMPORTANT WHEN YOU RETURN FROM VACATION.

• GET BOOSTED IF YOU HAVE NOT DONE SO…PARTICULARLY OVER AGE 65 WITH HEALTH ISSUES OR OVER 75 WITHOUT HEALTH ISSUES.  EVERY 6 MONTHS IS THE RECOMMENDATION FOR THIS GROUP. 

• IF YOU WERE BOOSTED IN MARCH/APRIL… MAXIMUM PROTECTION IS TO GET ANOTHER SHOT IN SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER WHEN THE NEWEST/UPDATED VERSION IS AVAILABLE

• FLU SEASON IS BEGINNING… FLU SHOTS IN SEPTEMBER FOR OUR NEXT, UPCOMING FLU SEASON

• VERY LITTLE RSV IN THE VALLEY. IF YOU HAVE HAD AN RSV VACCINE, CURRENT RECOMMENDATION IS THAT YOU DON’T NEED ANOTHER FOR TWO YEARS.

IF YOU THINK YOU HAVE A COLD OR RESPIRATORY INFECTION RIGHT NOW…. YOU MAY WELL HAVE COVID. PLEASE DO A COVID TEST TO CHECK AT HOME.  

ALMOST ALL DOING WELL, BUT WE ARE SEEING A FEW PEOPLE NEED THE HOSPITAL TO RECOVER. 

THE CURRENT COVID VACCINE IS AVAILABLE.

  IT IS KEEPING PEOPLE FROM HAVING A MORE DIFFICULT TIME WITH INFECTION AND KEEPING PEOPLE OUT OF THE HOSPITAL.

I RECOMMEND THE COVID BOOSTER GENERALLY FOR THOSE OVER 65. BUT…

• I HIGHLY RECOMMEND A BOOSTER FOR THOSE 80 & OLDER.

• I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THE BOOSTER FOR THOSE OVER 65 WITH HEART FAILURE, SIGNIFICANT LUNG CONDITIONS, AND DIABETES.

CONSIDER BOOSTING WITH THE NEW COVID VACCINE TO REDUCE RISK OF COVID AND TO REDUCE COVID SYMPTOM SEVERITY. NEW COVID VACCINE AVAILABLE IN SEPTEMBER

TOP PODCAST DONE WEEKLY

BY DR. MICHAEL OSTERHOLM

(UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA)  

He is a world-renowned epidemiologist who was credited with first elucidating TOXIC SHOCK SYNDROME in the 1980’s.

He provides comprehensive and understandable/actionable ideas related to COVID.

Dr. Osterholm Update: COVID-19 Podcast

September 5, 2024

'Frustrating Times: H5N1, Mpox, & Vectorborne Disease'

In this episode, Dr. Osterholm and Chris Dall discuss H5N1 in cattle, mpox in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the risk of different vectorborne diseases in the United States. Dr. Osterholm also discusses the newly available 2024-2025 COVID vaccines and shares the latest "This Week In Public Health History" segment.

According to Dr. Osterholm……

•  GET YOUR LATEST AVAILABLE BOOSTER IF YOU HAVE NOT HAD COVID OR IT’S BEEN LONGER THAN 4 MONTHS SINCE YOU HAD COVID YOURSELF

•  A GOOD MASK, N95 OF KN95, DOES HELP REDUCE TRANSMISSION…. USE IT AT HIGH-RISK LOCATIONS

• GOOD VENTILATION IN ROOMS/HOME/BUSINESSES IS A GREAT WAY TO PREVENT TRANSMISSION

• VACCINE, VACCINE, VACCINE…THIS IS OUR PROTECTION. ALL VACCINES ARE EFFECTIVE AND WITH TIME WE ARE SEEING THAT

• BOOST, BOOST, BOOST…THIS WILL BE NECESSARY TO PREVENT RECURRING SURGE AND TO RAISE ANTIBODY LEVELS IN THOSE ALREADY SET WITH THE PRIMARY COVID VACCINE SERIES.

• ANTIGEN TESTING IS USEFUL, BUT OF LIMITED VALUE. DON’T DEPEND ON IT…BUT USE IT.

Know that unvaccinated remain a source of potential infection. Avoiding unvaccinated persons will reduce your risk of COVID.

As major pharmacy chains like CVS and Walgreens roll out the new Covid vaccine, independent pharmacies say they’re facing delays in getting their shipments, leading to longer wait times for their patients to get vaccinated.

Neal Smoller, the owner of Village Apothecary, an independent pharmacy in Woodstock, New York, said he received doses of Moderna’s vaccine over the weekend, but Pfizer’s didn’t arrive until Wednesday. There’s no clear timeline yet for shipments of the Novavax vaccine, he said, which was authorized by the Food and Drug Administration last Friday.

Labor Day is a big time of the year for vaccinations, Smoller said. So far, he’s given the Moderna vaccine to about 400 people over the holiday weekend, primarily older adults concerned about the summer surge in Covid cases and teachers preparing for the start of the school year.

Others, he said, are waiting for either the Pfizer or Novavax vaccines to arrive at the pharmacy.

 The rollout of updated Covid-19 vaccines has begun in the United States, but for the first time, the shots will no longer be free of charge for people without insurance at their local pharmacy.

Earlier in the pandemic, vaccines were purchased by the federal government and free for everyone. Last year, as the shots transitioned to the commercial market, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Bridge Access Program provided free Covid-19 vaccines to adults without insurance and those whose insurance didn’t cover all vaccine costs. The program ended last month due to lack of federal funding.

“This means that purely uninsured people do not have access to get free Covid shots and so if they went to their pharmacy to try to get one, they’d come with a cost,” said Lori Freeman, chief executive officer for the National Association of County and City Health Officials. About 26 million people in the United States are uninsured.

Ordering free COVID tests via this website has currently closed.

The COVIDtests.gov program distributed over 900 million tests directly to American households. The U.S. government continues to make COVID-19 tests available to uninsured individuals and underserved communities through existing outreach programs.

Please contact a HRSA-funded health center or ICATT location near you to learn how to access low- or nocost COVID-19 tests provided by the federal government.

CDC recommends everyone ages 6 months and older receive an updated 2024-2025 COVID-19 vaccine to protect against the potentially serious outcomes of COVID-19 this fall and winter whether or not they have ever previously been vaccinated with a COVID-19 vaccine.

Data continue to show the importance of vaccination to protect against severe outcomes of COVID-19 and flu, including hospitalization and death.

To learn more about the current vaccines, visit the CDC's COVID-19 webpage.

After you received your COVID or any other vaccination outside our office, please let us know!

We would like to document this information into your chart.



What we need:

1. Your name
2. Name & date of vaccination received
3. Brand name
4. Lot number if available
5. Which dose you have received

Pharmacies began giving out the vaccines — which are recommended for everyone ages 6 months and older — last month. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends getting a flu shot either this month or next, since flu activity typically picks up in the fall, with cases reaching their peak sometime from December to February.

It takes around two weeks for the vaccine to become fully effective.

“You really want to think about getting your appointment or making your plan to get vaccinated sometime around the last half of September through the end of October,” said Dr. Judith O’Donnell, chief of infectious diseases at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center in Philadelphia.

This year’s flu shots are trivalent, meaning they protect against three flu viruses: two versions of influenza A and one type of influenza B. For more than a decade, flu shots in the U.S. also protected against a fourth strain of influenza B, but that strain hasn’t circulated since March 2020, so the Food and Drug Administration’s vaccine advisory committee elected this year to exclude it.

We Are Here to Take Care of Your Healthcare Needs.

We Are Here to Serve!

Our office is using techniques to reduce exposure to a minimum during your visit. These include: 

• Multiple Super-HEPA filters to filter out potential virus and

particles in the office.

• High Level UV light air cleansing in the office to eliminate

bacteria and viruses in the air.

OUR OFFICE SCHEDULE  

DOORS OPEN     

7AM - 4PM Monday through Thursday

7AM - 11AM Friday

IN OFFICE

APPOINTMENTS: MONDAY – THURSDAY

7AM – 11:15AM & 1PM – 3:30PM

APPOINTMENTS: FRIDAY

7AM – 10:30 AM

DR. LAKIN WILL CONTINUE ‘TELEHEALTH’ VISITS WITH FaceTime, WhatsApp or ZOOM WHEN NEEDED.

Dr. Lakin's Info For COVID-19 Kit &

Recommended Treatments

SUMMARY OF A COVID KIT & CHECK LIST:

This is what you should have at home to prepare for possible COVID, to monitor yourself if you were to get infected:

DIGITAL ORAL THERMOMETER: MANY BRANDS ARE FINE…HERE IS ONE EXAMPLE:

PULSE OXIMETER:  TO CHECK OXYGEN LEVELS. MANY BRANDS ARE FINE...HERE IS ONE EXAMPLE:

OTHER ITEMS FROM THE HOME MEDICAL KIT:

• TYLENOL, ADVIL, OR ALEVE
• Sudafed 30mg tablets
• Chlorpheniramine 4mg tablets
• Robitussin DM syrup
• Imodium AD

Mac & Eddy's Movie Gems -

'Pardon Me Madame'

From the film “Rose Marie” with Jeanette MacDonald

“'The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.'

- Mahatma Gandhi



Stay Safe!