Worried about WNV? There are some steps you can take to protect yourself and your loved ones. (Courtesy photo.)

Since West Nile virus (WNV) is most commonly spread by mosquitoes, here are some things you can do to reduce your chances of being bitten:

• Schedule outdoor events to avoid the hours between dusk and dawn, when mosquitoes are most active.
• When you are outdoors, wear long pants, a long-sleeved shirt and socks. This may be difficult to do when the weather is hot, but it will help keep mosquitoes away from your skin.
• Use a repellent with DEET (N, N-diethyl-m-toluamide), permethrin, picaridin (KBR 3023), or oil of lemon eucalyptus [p-methane 3, 8-diol (PMD)] according to the instructions on the product label. DEET products should not be used on infants under two months of age and should be used in concentrations of 30 percent or less on older children. Oil of lemon eucalyptus should not be used on children under 3 years of age. Permethrin products are intended for use on items such as clothing, shoes, bed nets and camping gear and should not be applied to skin. More information on choosing and using repellents safely is included in the MDPH Fact Sheet on Mosquito Repellents which can be viewed online at mass.gov/dph/cdc/factsheets/factsheets.htm. If you can’t go online, contact the MDPH at 617-983-6800 for a hard copy.
• Keep mosquitoes out of your house by repairing any holes in your screens and making sure they are tightly attached to all your doors and windows.
• Remove areas of standing water around your home. Here are some suggestions:
• Look around outside your house for containers and other things that might collect water and turn them over, regularly empty them, or dispose of them.
• Drill holes in the bottom of recycling containers that are left outdoors so that water can drain out.
• Clean clogged roof gutters; remove leaves and debris that may prevent drainage of rainwater.
• Turn over plastic wading pools and wheelbarrows when not in use.
• Change the water in birdbaths every few days; aerate ornamental ponds or stock them with fish.
• Keep swimming pools clean and properly chlorinated; remove standing water from pool covers.
• Use landscaping to eliminate standing water that collects on your property. Mosquitoes can begin to multiply in any puddle or standing water that lasts for more than four days! Mosquito breeding sites can be anywhere. Take action to reduce the number of mosquitoes around your home and neighborhood. Organize a neighborhood clean up day to pick up containers from vacant lots and parks and to encourage people to keep their yards free of standing water. Mosquitoes don’t care about fences, so it’s important to remove areas of standing water throughout the neighborhood

“Historically most towns do not have bans or curfews for West Nile only EEE,” said Whitman Health Board Chairman Eric Joubert. “We encourage parents to use repellent.” (Courtesy photo.)

WHITMAN — A mosquito sample in Whitman has tested positive for West Nile Virus, according to the town’s Health Agent Gary Covino, but the area’s alert status remains low on the state Dept. of Public Health website.

The Whitman Health Board Chairman Eric Joubert said his board’s immediate goal is to stress education about preventive measures.

“I think our goal should be more focused on education, because you don’t necessarily have to get a positive pool to have that be positive in the town,” he said. “By the time the town gets notification that there’s a positive pool, the mosquitoes have already been around and done their damage.”

Joubert said closing athletic fields would do noting to change people’s behavior at home.

“What we’re looking to do is change the behavior as opposed to the government saying, ‘Don’t do this,’” Joubert said. “If everybody uses DEET age-appropriately, and practices good precautions year-round, then when we have a positive pool we won’t have a negative outcome on a sports event, the fields being closed or anything like that.

W-H Athletic Director Bob Rodgers said he follows the lead of the Whitman and Hanson health departments.

“Historically most towns do not have bans or curfews for West Nile only EEE,” he said. “We encourage parents to use repellent.”

Across the state, there have been 116 mosquito samples that have tested positive for West Nile, with one human case in Middlesex County and none found in animals. No positive sample tests have been found for Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE) so far this year.

“It’s like going to the beach when the sun is out,” Joubert said. “You know to put sunscreen on because you’re going to get a sunburn. If we can get the public to be aware that if you’re out from dusk to dawn you need to wear long sleeves, long pants, you need to use the DEET, you need to drain any sources.”

The Whitman Board of Health shares the following frequntly-asked questions regarding West Nile Virus:

What is West Nile?

West Nile virus (WNV) is a mosquito-carried virus that can cause illness ranging from a mild fever to more serious disease like encephalitis or meningitis. It was first identified in the United States in 1999.

How is WNV spread?

WNV is most commonly spread to people through the bite of an infected mosquito. More information about different types of mosquitoes that can spread WNV can be found on the MDPH website at mass.gov/dph/wnv/wnv1.htm.

WNV may also be spread through blood transfusion or organ transplant. In addition, there are rare reports of WNV being passed from pregnant or breastfeeding women, who are infected with WNV, to their babies. Since these reports are rare, the health effects on an unborn or breastfeeding baby are unclear and still being studied.

People do not become infected by having direct contact with other infected people, birds or animals.

Why report dead birds?

When WNV infects birds, it can cause high mortality (death) in certain species, including crows, blue jays and robins. Collecting information about the location of these types of dead birds can help identify areas where WNV may be active in Massachusetts. If you would like to report a dead bird in your area, call the MDPH Public Health Information Line at 866-MASS-WNV (866-627-7968). MDPH generally collects this information from May through September.

What are the symptoms of WNV?

The majority of people who are infected with WNV (approximately 80 percent) will have no symptoms. A smaller number of people who become infected will have symptoms such as fever, headache, body aches, nausea, vomiting, and sometimes swollen lymph glands. They may also develop a skin rash on the chest, stomach and back.

Less than 1 percent of people infected with WNV will develop severe illness, including encephalitis or meningitis. The symptoms of severe illness can include high fever, headache, neck stiffness, stupor, disorientation, coma, tremors, convulsions, muscle weakness, vision loss, numbness and paralysis. Persons older than 50 years of age have a higher risk of developing severe illness.

How common is WNV in Massachusetts?

Because most people who are exposed to WNV have no symptoms, it is difficult to know exactly how many people have been infected. People who develop severe illness with WNV are most often reported. Between 2000 and 2006, 54 people were reported with WNV infection in Massachusetts. Six of these people died. Cases have been identified from around the state.

Is there any treatment?

There is no specific treatment for WNV infections. People with mild WNV infections usually recover on their own. People with severe WNV infections almost always require hospitalization. Their symptoms may last several weeks and neurological effects may be permanent. Approximately 10 percent of people who develop severe illness will die from the infection.

W-H Business teacher, Julie Giglia is presented a $1,600 grant Thursday, Aug. 27 from Otter Box Production Manager Thomas Paola, second from right, and Operations Specialist Drew Hovanec of the company’s Otter Cares Foundation as student Michael Shea looks on. Photo by Tracy Seelye.

Whitman-Hanson Regional High School received a seven-word surprise during a site visit from representatives of Otter Products on behalf of its Otter Cares Foundation: “Do you guys want your grant today?”

Business and Technology Education teacher Julie Giglia had expected to be simply answering questions as a finalist for a $1,600 Innovation Station grant with which to purchase a 3-D printer. Otter Products manufactures consumer electronics accessories.

She had included computer-aided drafting (CAD) student Michael Shea in the meeting to help make her case, so to say she was surprised by Otter Operations Specialist Drew Hovanec’s question would be a bit of an understatement.

“I feel like it’s Christmas,” a gobsmacked Giglia said. “It’s like I won the lottery.”

Hovanec was accompanied by Whitman resident, and Otter Production Manager Thomas Paola, on the “site visit.” Paola, whose son Anthony was a student of Giglia’s, and Hovanec work in Otter’s Canton office.

“However you worded it, you really stuck out,” Paola said, adding that she served W-H well in an extremely competitive grant application process.

“We provide financial aid to schools and students,” Hovanec said to start the meeting also attended by Principal Jeffrey Szymaniak. “We’ve had 49 applications for the funding, we just want to know how you wanted to use it and move forward with it.”

Giglia, who wrote the grant application, said the tight budget situation at Whitman-Hanson was a major factor in her decision to seek the funding.

“To do these things outside the box you either have to raise money … or write grants,” she said. “It’s been a good year for me so I thought, ‘Why don’t we try to find a grant to see if we could bring a 3-D printer here?’”

According to her application, Giglia wants to use the 3-D printer, among other purposes, as a tool for her CAD students to use in a project to develop a smartphone cover that is lightweight to carry and easy to produce. The project’s ultimate goal is to sell the phone cases to fund costs and maintain the 3-D printer.

“We’re here to kind of dive in and see the passion and it sounds like you guys sound like you have a ton of it,” Paola said.

The district is currently lacking a 3-D printer.

Giglia has taught CAD for five years at WHRHS.

“When you create a design and you can print something out and touch and feel it, it just brings a whole learning curve and excitement,” she said.

Shea added that 3-D printers are definitely the future.

“Right now, there’s not a lot of teaching to how to use them,” he said, adding that the situation affects student’s potential growth. “The learning and the technology isn’t connected right now.”

Szymaniak lauded Giglia’s initiative, noting a science teacher is also applying for a grant to obtain a 3-D printer specifically for engineering and physics.

“I have teachers like Julie saying, ‘Let’s look to the future. Let’s look to nonprofits and see what we can bring in to help our kids,’” he said.

Hovanec noted the W-H grant is only $1,600 and a lot of other applicants have asked for more. Giglia replied that she would like to be like Oliver Twist and ask: “Please sir, I want some more,” but that didn’t seem realistic.

“I try to be as realistic as possible,” she said. “I’m not here to break the bank.”

She said her mom always told her, when trick-or-treating, only take one piece of candy even if thee bowl is left on the porch and nobody’s around.

“We’re scratching the surface here, too,” Szymaniak said of the realm of 3-D printers.

Giglia’s excitement about the application and a potential field trip to the Otter Box headquarters in Colorado during her conversation with Paola’s son, Anthony, also worked in W-H’s favor.

More than 400 people took the challenge at Sylvester Field in Hanover to support Kevin Gosnell, owner of T&K Asphalt of Whitman who was recently diagnosed with ALS, and his ALS Knights. Photos by Tracy Seelye.

HANOVER — Kevin Gosnell is fighting back.

Diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in May, the Hanover native and owner of T&K Asphalt Services in Whitman, is fairly typical of those with the neurodegenerative disease — he is a white male, between ages 40 and 70. What is not typical about him is his aggressive plan to raise the funds needed to at least develop a treatment, if not a cure, within four years.

Life-expectancy after diagnosis can be six months to five years, with 10 percent of patients living more than 10 years, according to the ALS Association.

“I’m going to try to make a difference,” he said at the Ice Bucket Challenge event held in support of him and ALS Knights on Wednesday, Aug. 26 as nearly 450 people donated for the opportunity to douse themselves in ice water, raising more than $18,000 for research. “I’ve been a coach and a mentor-type person all my life and I said to myself, ‘Maybe this — at the end of my life — will be the greatest lesson that I give my kids: strength, courage and grace, and to die with grace,’ and that’s not an easy thing.”

After researching the fund raising groups out there he developed his own mission: to fund development of treatment while researchers seek a cure. As the three top ALS specialists are working in Boston, Gosnell has met with them toward the goal of forming a partnership to develop a treatment protocol. It could cost as much as $200 million. The alternative is the current absence of treatment options other than assistive devices and therapies, he said.

“There’s nothing that they could do to help you … and you can see it in these [doctors’] eyes that they have no way of helping you,” Gosnell told challenge participants.

To raise the money, Gosnell has founded the ALS Knights. The foundation is comprised of people dedicated to five tasks: Be committed until a cure is discovered; be involved in at least one fundraiser a year; display the logo at every opportunity; provide a call to action; and be mindful and helpful to local ALS patients and their family.

“This event today, obviously, is to raise awareness,” he said earlier in the day. “But I think, more importantly, to get people to donate to a cause that’s under-funded. If the funding happens, I believe for sure that they’ll find a treatment.”

The Ice Bucket Challenge event brought out participants of all ages, members of the Hanover Fire Department, several Hanover High School sports teams and some student-athletes from Whitman-Hanson Regional High School as well as Gosnell’s friends and family members. T-shirt sales and a 50/50 raffle were also conducted for the cause.

“I was diagnosed at 46,” said the 47-yearold Gosnell as he leaned on crutches after making his way onto Hanover’s Sylvester Field via a scooter. “I started out back in the fall with a pain in my calf, and I thought nothing of it.”

As the pain progressed up his leg, eventually causing weakness, he was told early this spring it could potentially be ALS, but doctors weren’t certain.

“They rule everything else out,” he said. “There’s no real test for it, they just rule things out along the way.”

The ultimate diagnosis was devastating.

“It’s earth-shattering,” he told the crowd, his voice choked with emotion. “I’m a planner, I’m a dreamer, and everything you have in place is now changed — gone.”

Like baseball great Lou Gehrig, perhaps the most notable ALS patient whose name has become a shorthand reference for it, Gosnell has always been an active person. Gosnell’s diagnosis came at a time when he was working to develop executive teams for two businesses in the Carolinas and Texas, in which he had become a partner, while completing a deal to merge all the companies together.

“Any time you get a terminal illness with no cure, no treatment — nothing at all that they can do — and the horrific way that the disease ultimately takes your life, it’s terrible,” he said.

“He was officially diagnosed in May then he told his family and friends and told his company,” said Lynn Rinkus, a friend of Gosnell’s from Hanover. “His family day for his company turned into an Ice Bucket Challenge.”

That event on Aug. 2 featured 200 people taking the challenge and led to the bigger event last week. August has been selected as Ice Bucket Challenge Month until a cure is found, on the strength of last year’s inaugural challenge, begun by friends of Boston ALS patient Peter Frates, which raised $115 million for research.

Longtime friends of Gosnell, Brian Johnston, Matt Brooks and Chrissy Rinkus organized the Aug. 26 event.

“The more awareness we can spread, the better,” said another one of Gosnell’s friends, Karen Duffy of Hanson, as she helped fill buckets with water.

Duffy said the Framingham State University football team, where Gosnell went to college did an Ice Bucket Challenge recently in his honor as well.

“They challenged Fitchburg State,” she said.

Gosnell said he has a great support system within his company, too.

“I’ve got a great group of people, great executive team, great management team at the company so I’m fortunate and blessed,” he said. “A lot of people don’t have that support network in place.”

He gave the crowd a sobering idea of what the average ALS patient encounters.

Many ALS patients isolate themselves at home before the disease ever renders them house-bound, Gosnell said.

“You get locked into your own body,” he said. “You get held prisoner.  Nobody should die that way.”

The typical ALS patient, according to Gosnell, loses their job and insurance, has to live on about $1,000 a month disability and tries to settle things for their family as they “navigate death.” The disease’s progression demands more and often more expensive devices to support life.

As a business owner, he believes he has found his way to fight back, using his professional skill set to help others.

“I’ve always lived my life to try to give and help people the best that I can, and it feels like that’s coming back,” Gosnell said on the emotional evening.

More photo of the event can be viewed here on the Whitman-Hanson Express Facebook Page.

PAINFUL STORY: Former Taunton High four-sport standout Cory Palazzi and his mother Lori Gonsalves, who spoke at W-H’s Athletic First Night Sunday, Aug. 23 are seen in a public service video for the Taunton Opiate Task Force. Image/YouTube

A family’s mission

Student-athletes and their parents took a timeout from discussions of sportsmanship and league rules to hear some hard truths about opioid addiction during the annual Athletic First Night program Sunday, Aug. 23.

“We’re trying to talk about little bit more than athletics and … trying to keep our students safe and having them make good decisions in life,” Athletic Director Bob Rodgers said.

This talk was from a family who knows the pitfalls of bad decisions.

Lori and David Gonsalves of Taunton spoke of watching their son Cory Palazzi spiral from a National Honor Society student and high school graduate being looked at by Seattle Mariners scouts, to a legally blind young man dealing with the speech and motor skills challenges that stem from anoxic brain damage following a heroin overdose two years ago.

David Gonsalves is a teacher in Taunton schools and Lori, who co-chairs the Taunton Opiates Task Force, works for a local insurance agency.

“We have a great life, we have a son whose name is Cory and we wanted to talk to you about our journey with Cory,” Lori said. “We just want you to listen to our story and realize that it can happen to anyone.”

Palazzi, too, spoke to the gathering in the Dr. John F. McEwan Performing Arts Center at WHRHS.

“My life doesn’t [stink] now because of doing this — going out and speaking to kids about the dangers of using drugs,” he said, asking for a show of hands as to how many liked using Facebook and Instagram and couldn’t wait to get their driver’s license.

“I can never do those things again,” he said. “Please remember me if you ever come across the chance to use drugs.”

The UMass, Dartmouth nursing student became a heroin addict after a devastating shoulder injury ended his dreams of pursuing a baseball career.

A four-sport athlete who excelled in soccer, basketball and football, Palazzi’s father said baseball was always his favorite. But, during his senior year of high school, he had to undergo surgery for a shoulder injury. He was prescribed opioid painkillers and took them as directed as he recovered from the operation.

Surgery, however, was not successful and Palazzi would never be able to throw a baseball or football professionally.

At 18, his dreams of a sports career were over.

painkillers

Depression and anxiety set in a year later while he attended college and saw his friends going to baseball and football practices he could not join.

Remembering how Percocet had eased his emotional as well as physical pain after surgery, he began taking opioids again illegally, his father recalled. Shortly afterward, Palazzi told his parents he was leaving school.

“I was kind of looking for red flags because he’s very smart,” David said. “For him not to be able to make the grade in college was a bit of a red flag.”

After Palazzi moved back home, he started losing jobs. His parents noticed that new red flag and found drug paraphernalia in his car and room. That led to Palazzi’s first stint in rehab. There would be 11 more in the next few years until, while Palazzi was living in a sober house, his parents received the phone call they dreaded — a roommate told them he had overdosed and the hospital wanted to know if the family wanted a priest to perform Last Rites as he was not expected to survive.

“He was on life support,” David said. “At one point his heart stopped and they shocked him back. … Drugs on that night let him live, but they kind of left him and us with a reminder of the power they hold over him.”

“As you can see, the last six years of our lives have been difficult,” Lori said. “This disease is real. It can happen to anyone. … This is the face of today’s addict. This is the family of today’s addict.”

She said the three most dangerous words parents can lean on are, “Not my kid.” All prescriptions in the home should be carefully monitored and unused medications should be taken to disposal bins at a police station.

Both Whitman and Hanson police departments have prescription drug drop boxes in the lobby for public use.

physical toll

While Palazzi came out of the crisis, after 40 days in the hospital, with no intellectual injuries, his physical ones require round-the-clock care, forcing his mother to work from home to care for him.

“You ask him what Papi’s batting average is right now, he’d be able to tell you,” David said.

“David Ortiz, by the way, is batting .265, and you could look that up on Google right now,” Palazzi said after slowly navigating the stairs to the PAC stage, with help from a brace and cane. He also recalled having pitched against W-H 11 years ago.

“The first game that I ever played in high school was against W-H at Taunton High and I struck out the first 15 of the game,” he said with a laugh to great applause. “In my sophomore year against you guys I hit three home runs in one game. But I also played football here on your new field and was awesome, because our field at Taunton High was no good.”

After Palazzi and his parents concluded their talk, Rodgers talked about a W-H cheerleader who also graduated in 2006.

“She was a beautiful girl, great student,” he said. “She lost her life from an overdose. It happens in our community, it happens to students of good families. You don’t know when it’s going to happen.”

Rodgers noted that Whitman Police Chief Scott Benton was in attendance at the event to support the prevention effort, as was Deputy Chief Timothy Hanlon. Whitman DARE Officer Kevin Harrington and Hanson DARE and School Resource Officer William Frazier were also recognized.

“If you need anything throughout the school year … please come see me,” Frazier said, noting he could help with social media, bullying and other concerns or questions families may have. “I’m very approachable, it will be private.”