Stop Beating Yourself Up!

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Stop Beating Yourself Up!

Winter Shelter Now Open

WINTER SHELTER

The Emergency Overnight Shelter (Winter Shelter) will begin operation for the fall/winter of 2009/2010 on Sunday, November 15, 2009.

Men and Women desiring shelter MUST register at the Albuquerque Rescue Mission. The Mission will register guests starting at 3:00 P.M. Mon. thru Sat. and 4:00 P.M. to 8:00 P.M. Sundays in the Community Resources Room located in the lobby.

Buses will depart from the Rescue Mission

each evening from approximately 6:15 P.M. until 8:45 P.M.

242-COPS will give you a pick-up location in coordination with the EOS Program

Guests will be housed at the Westside facility. Buses will return from the Westside shelter each morning to the downtown vicinity starting at approximately 5:00 A.M. until 7:00 A.M.

How do YOU honor our Vets?

PLEASE HONOR OUR VETERANS TODAY & EVERY DAY!

We are now in November, moving ever closer towards the winter, but still, warm weather and blue skies hang on. The season is in transition, and so too, are many of us.
Do you sometimes feel like you are always “in the meantime”, waiting for something to change, stuck in the middle, wondering when the turning point will come?

Ralph Waldo Emerson said:
“The line between failure and success is so fine that we scarcely know when we pass it - so fine that we often are on the line and do not know it.”

Look at your day, at your life, and recognize the ways you are already on the path. You are already transitioning to something new, something better. It may not seem as quick or obvious as the snow storm that came in the middle of the day, but things are changing, not just in the weather, but within us. Recognize and give thanks for these transformations. You may be closer than you realize.

Effectiveness of Flu Vaccine

The CDC claims that studies demonstrate that vaccination can be a cost-effective counter-measure to seasonal outbreaks of influenza;[42] but not perfect. A study led by Dr. David K. Shay in February, 2008 reported that
"full immunization against flu provided about a 75 percent effectiveness rate in preventing hospitalizations from influenza complications in the 2005-6 and 2006-7 influenza seasons."[43]

Modern influenza vaccines have been criticized for a lack of effectiveness demonstrated in controlled studies. A 2006 Cochrane review of influenza vaccination in the elderly stated "The apparent high effectiveness of the vaccines in preventing death from all causes may reflect a baseline imbalance in health status and other systematic differences in the two groups of participants[44].

A study on selection bias for influenza vaccine in the elderly found that it could account for the entirety of the protective effect.[45] A 2008 Cochrane review of healthy children found "Influenza vaccines are efficacious in children older than two but little evidence is available for children under two." [46]. The CDC recommends every child over 6 months be given the influenza vaccine.[47] A 2007 Cochrane review on influenza vaccines in healthy adults found that while vaccines were effective against the influenza strains they are designed to vaccinate against, this ended up translating to only a modest impact on working days lost due to influenza-like infections.[48]

The group most vulnerable to flu, the elderly, is also the least affected by the vaccine, with an average efficacy rate ranging from 40-50% at age 65, and 15-30% past age 70.[49][50][51] There are multiple reasons behind this steep decline in vaccine efficacy, the most common of which are the declining immunological function and frailty associated with advanced age.[52]

In the United States a person aged 50–64 is nearly ten times more likely to die an influenza-associated death than a younger person, and a person over age 65 is over ten times more likely to die an influenza-associated death than the 50–64 age group.[53] Vaccination of those over age 65 reduces influenza-associated death by about 50%.[54][55] However, it is unlikely that the vaccine completely explains the results since elderly people who get vaccinated are probably more healthy and health-conscious than those who do not.[56][57][58] Elderly participants randomized to a high-dose group (60 micrograms) had antibody levels 44 to 79 percent higher than did those who received the normal dose of vaccine. Elderly volunteers receiving the higher dose were more likely to achieve protective levels of antibody.[59]

Information obtained from:
Margy Wienbar, Region Director
Public Health Regions 1,3
New Mexico Department of Health
1111 Stanford Dr NE
Albuquerque, NM 87106
(505) 841-4110
FAX (505) 841-4147