If you like art in any form- paintings, drawings, sculpture, photography, pottery, jewelry, woodcarving- then a trip to the Santa Fe and Taos New Mexico area will be a treat for you. You will be able to visit gallery after gallery, shop after shop for days on end, and still not see them all. If you arrive by air your art tour will start right at the airport which is small but sets the tone for what you will see during your stay. As you step outside the terminal you will be greeted by the bronze statue Reverence by artist David Pearson. As described in an art guide, “Hers is a pose of prayer, of openness to powers beyond all understanding,.. Her ancient gesture is transformed into one of welcome and benefaction in her perfect placement at the Santa Fe airport. ”
Taos likewise is an art mecca both within the town and also at the Taos Pueblo, which is also a must see for those interested in Native American history and culture. At the pueblo, tribe members display and sell handmade arts and crafts.
As you travel around both cities and the surrounding areas, you don’t have to look for the art- it will find you.
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This coronavirus pandemic is serious. We don’t yet have a vaccine or effective treatments. To protect ourselves, our familes, and our entire communities we should all be practicing social distancing and other hygiene measures as we wait for a safe, effective vaccine and treatments.
Prevention is a focus in healthcare now and immunization has been one of the most effective ways to prevent disease ever developed.
The list of diseases that are “vaccine preventable” is long and continues to grow.
Vaccine recommendations may be based on a person’s
age,
gender,
ethnicity and
concurrent conditions, especially diabetes mellitus, chronic lung diseases, heart disease and immune suppressing disorders.
Vaccine administration may vary by
the number of doses recommended,
how far apart the doses should be given, and
which vaccines can be administered at the same time.
Immunization protocols have become so complex that even physicians have difficulty keeping it straight without the use of paper or digital checklists. This is one area where the Internet and EMRs (electronic medical records) can be useful.
I use the name of the disease and/or the bacteria, rather than the vaccine name, since there are different brand names for the vaccines depending on the manufacturer.
So successful have these vaccines been that most young doctors have never seen a patient with these diseases (unless perhaps they specialize in infectious disease, immunology, emergency medicine or critical care). And even I, who graduated medical school in 1978, have only seen a few, and none in recent years.
Diphtheria-primarily a respiratory tract illness in young persons
Pertussis, better know as whooping cough, also a respiratory illness, which has made a comeback in recent years, apparently due to a waning of immunity
Tetanus, also called “lockjaw”– due to a toxin which may contaminate a dirty wound
Menigococcal disease, which is one of many causes of meningitis (inflammation of the brain lining), but one of the most deadly, even with treatment
Streptococcal pneumoniae disease; the vaccine is often referred to as the “pneumonia vaccine”, but the bacteria can also cause ear infections, sinusitis, meningitis and sepsis (bloodstream infection)
Haemophilus disease is similar to pneumococcal, but more of a concern in infants and children
In part 1 I discussed the vaccine preventable bacterial diseases . Here we’ll look at viral infections. Virus vs Bacteria One major difference between bacterial and viral infections is the treatment. We have many more effective antibiotics (drugs which fight bacteria) than we do antiviral drugs. And antibiotics do not affect viruses. Despite that fact, patients often … Continue reading “Vaccination prevents disease- part 2”
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