MCISD to remember bus accident on 20th anniversary

H1N1 influenza: Identifying the pandemic

Thirty percent of population could catch virus

By Edwina P. Garza

EDINBURG — Eddie Olivarez is working to combat six different health issues that plague Hidalgo County.

Hidalgo County Health & Human Services, where Olivarez is chief administrator, is battling tuberculosis, whooping cough, biological and agricultural terrorism, environmental and food illnesses, and preparing college students for vaccinations against bacterial meningitis.

The sixth major combat zone is the new H1N1 influenza virus that seems to have swept in overnight in mid-April, which led to school closures and had hand sanitizers flying off store shelves.

Novel H1N1 is a lot like a seasonal flu, and transmitted in the same way, through droplets in coughs or sneezes, health officials said. But in this strain of the virus, unlike the seasonal flu, most people don’t have the antibodies to deal with the illness.

Symptoms for novel H1N1 start with a sudden high fever, higher than 100.4 °F. People with the virus suffer with sore throat, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue. Illnesses with nasal congestion, mild fever, and diarrhea are likely not novel H1N1.

In adults, severe novel H1N1 symptoms include difficulty breathing, purple or blue discoloration of the lips, vomiting and unable to keep liquids down, signs of dehydration, seizures or uncontrolled convulsions, and loss of consciousness.

In children, severe symptoms include fast breathing or troubled breathing, bluish or gray skin color, not drinking enough fluids, not interacting, irritability and a fever with a rash.

Dr. Brian Smith, the Texas Department of State Health Services regional director based in Harlingen, said people infected with novel H1N1 flu can infect others days before they even realize they’re sick.

Since the outbreak has calmed and medical officials have begun to understand the virus, local, state and federal officials are working overtime to prepare the public for the upcoming flu season by discussing novel H1N1 and debunking any myths.

Chief among those myths is the name of the illness. No one is calling the virus “swine flu” anymore. Olivarez stressed the virus has nothing to do with the pork industry, and explained that the virus isn’t spread by food.

Hidalgo County health officials were first informed of the virus on April 19, and immediately started working with the private sector and hospitals for surveillance, and teams were set up to focus on monitoring any developments of the virus.

At first, once news reports of the illness spread, there was a lot of confusion.

“There was a lack of awareness,” he said. “Along the border it was difficult because people were getting mixed messages.”

With such close ties to Mexico, the general public began to assume that the virus and its activity in Mexico City was also occurring here.

To address issues, officials set up emergency centers and call centers to answer questions and direct people to the proper medical officials for possible H1N1 illnesses.

“We tried to deal as best we can at the local level for limited reliance on the federal and state levels,” Olivarez said. “The local community did an outstanding job in assessing H1N1.”

Partnering with local counties along the border to do surveillance and treatment.

“That meant a lot,” Olivarez said. “We were able to get the pulse of (H1N1) in our area.

County organizations are trained to deal with pandemic events, Olivarez said. Staff is trained to deal with these issues, which in turn provides adequate training, but since the virus wasn’t like a hurricane that just passes through the area, plans were modified for the health urgency.

“H1N1 was going to be here many months,” Olivarez said, adding that officials are estimating that the virus will still be an issue in April 2010.

In April, officials held daily briefings with school, state and federal officials, even the Mexican consulate that provided details on the virus across the border.

“It helped us have a clear view of the current situation in Mexico, it kept us focused,” Olivarez said. “We knew the real numbers but we didn’t have the authority to give out that information because it was another country.”

With an estimated 100 million border crossings a year in the Rio Grande Valley and El Paso County, officials worked on maintaining the virus while not trying to close borders, which would ultimately affect local commerce.

“It was a difficult battle,” said Olivarez.

By spring, numbers of confirmed illnesses weren’t being tracked with guidelines changing almost every hour. The Texas Lab Systems, the second biggest of its kind behind the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta was overwhelmed by the thousands of tests it received daily.

The primary concerns for the new virus are pregnant women and young people, Olivarez said. About four percent of the H1N1 cases in the Rio Grande Valley were from people over 45. Close to 80 percent of people affected were younger than 18, state records state.

There are a few theories as to why the younger population is affected, Olivarez said. In one theory, people over 45 may have developed immunity to the illness after encountering a fever with a strain of the virus. In another theory, older people may have benefited from years of flu prevention. Perhaps one of those shots had antibodies that could have helped them fight off the virus.

In July, the last official count of confirmed novel H1N1 cases locally were 1,316. There have been 11 fatalities, but Olivarez stressed these cases had other illnesses that contributed to the deaths.

In Texas, 5,200 people have been impacted by novel H1N1, with 270 hospitalizations and 28 deaths.

Smith said the state stopped recording the rates of novel H1N1, but said the rates haven’t slowed down over the summer. In fact, the rates are starting to increase again.

“We don’t track every case, but we have sentinels tracking trends and rates,” Smith said.

As the school year begins, Smith said the public should expect to see increased rates of respiratory illnesses as well as the seasonal flu. Cities, mostly rural areas, that didn’t receive exposure to novel H1N1 may see the illness more pronounced than areas like Brownsville and Rio Grande City that had high exposure to the illness.

“But we really don’t know,” Smith said. “Nor do we really know about this year’s seasonal influenza.”

County officials are working to encourage big businesses, like school districts, to expect 30 percent of their workforce to get the novel H1N1 virus this season.

“We’re encouraging big businesses to make a plan to stay open with 30 percent out at one time due to the illness,” Olivarez said.
As people prepare for the upcoming flu season, Olivarez said he and his staff are keeping an eye on novel H1N1.

“We’re expecting the worst and hoping for the best,” he explained.

Mission historical Museum honors old-timers

MISSION — Although sometimes working in the shadows, the people honored at last weekend’s Mission Historical Museum Annual Banquet have helped shape the community, said Ben Olivarez, chairman of the museum’s board.

“Sometimes they just are taken for granted,” Olivarez told the audience.

At last week’s event, held at the Club at Cimarron, the museum honored six people who had contributed to Mission’s history for more than 30 years.

The six honored were Jim Miller, Warren Suter, June Brann, Sol Marroquin, Roscoe Watkins and Dina Treviño.

Attendees also heard bits of Mission’s history from Patti Golden Burrow, a part-time employee at Mission Historical Museum. Burrow was named the museum’s first “Volunteer of the Year” after logging over 400 volunteer hours.

“There’s such color,” Burrow said of Mission’s history.

Jim Miller, who arrived in Mission in 1946, is a former football coach for Mission High School. To this day, many of his former students still refer to him as “Coach.”

Serving as mayor here in the early 1970s, Miller, now 90, has also been named “Mission Man of the Year” in 1951 and “Mr. Mission” in 1983.

Aside from being a coach, the Ohio native also worked at Tide Products in Edinburg for 28 years where he served as vice-president of marketing. The Texas Lions Club member also served as a Mission school board member for 12 years, and was elected president in 1956. Miller was also selected as president of the Rio Grande Valley Association of School Boards.

At the 1990 Mr. Miller Appreciation Banquet, where Miller was honored for his work in the city, he told the audience, “We were outsiders, and from day one we have felt wanted, needed, and loved and we are grateful.”

Warren Suter, another Ohio native, also arrived here in 1946 to work as an architect. He remodeled the offices for Texas Governor Allen Shivers, which later became City Hall and now serves as the Mission Historical Museum.

Suter was the first architect to be accepted into the Lower Rio Grande Valley Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, a group he led as president for three terms.

A Lions Club Life Member, Suter assisted in the group’s 20-year development of the Lions Park along Kika de la Garza Loop.
June Brann, a distinguished journalist with a 50-year career in the Rio Grande Valley was named “the conscience of Mission” by City Attorney David Guerra.

Brann, a Donna native, worked for the Associated Press, the Mission Times, the Houston Chronicle, Weslaco News, KRIO and KURV radio and KRGV TV. She later served as owner, publisher and editor of the Progress Times and Texas Agri-News, as well as co-publisher of the Winter Texan Times before retiring in 2003.

Brann died Aug. 14. She was 82.

Sol Marroquin, a San Antonio native, moved to Mission with his family in 1939. He volunteered to serve in the U.S. Air Force for four years in the early 1950s, during the Korean War, and continued in the Air Force Reserves for 18 years. He finished his service after 22 years, and was discharged as a Master Sergeant.

In the 1960s, Marroquin began his public service career with the Urban Renewal Program and later Mission City Secretary. In 1970, he served as hospital administrator of Mission Municipal Hospital, the first Hispanic in that position in the Valley.

For over 20 years, Marroquin was the administrative aide for Congressman Kika de la Garza for District 15.

Roscoe Watkins came to Mission in 1943, when he came to Moore Air Base on the Missouri Pacific as a cadet, where he later served as a flight instructor.

In 1946, he joined the Weaks Martin Implement Co. where he later became partner.

Over the years, he earned awards including “Mr. Mission,” “Man of the Year,” and also served on the Agape Christian School board of trustees from 1976 to this day.

A former chairman of the Mission Chamber of Commerce, Watkins also served as the Texas Citrus Parade Marshal. Watkins also served as a board member in the Horizons of Mission for Juvenile First Offenders Program, a pilot program that was developed in El Paso brought to the Valley.

Dina Treviño owned downtown’s BenSam Shop from 1950-1993. A member of the International Good Neighbor Council, Treviño received the Good Neighbor of the Year award twice. She also served as a member of the Zonta International, serving as president for two years. She also earned a Shining Star Award.

The Mission Historical Society honored Treviño with the Pioneer Award.

Treviño has earned the Golden Citrus Award, the C.B. Curtis Award, and the Maurine Duncan Award, for her extensive service to the Texas Citrus Fiesta.

In 1984, Treviño was also named “Woman of the Year.”

During its early years, Treviño donated all her mannequins to the Mission Historical Museum, which are still used today.