Volunteers raise tick awareness in 40 eastern Delco parks
Eighty trail signs sharing preventive information about tick bites were installed in 40 local parks in Upper Darby and Lansdowne on Aug. 3, thanks to a core of 20 volunteers from PA Lyme Resource Network Delaware County Region and The Community YMCA of Eastern Delaware County. The signs, provided by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, warn park visitors to wear repellants, check for ticks daily, shower soon after being outdoors and to call your doctor if you get a fever or a rash.
The initiative, a brain child of Christopher Westfahl, COO of The Community YMCA of Eastern Delaware County and Amy Tiehel, PA Lyme Delco Regional Leader, will help increase awareness about the presence of these small insects that can carry Lyme disease, plus other tickborne infections, which can be debilitating if not caught quickly.
“When our community service program, Togetherhood, learned of this alarming health and education issue thanks to PA Lyme, we knew we should become involved to increase public awareness. If this project results in preventing even a single child from getting Lyme disease, we would be overjoyed,” commented Westfahl. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has led the country with the most new cases of Lyme disease for six years running. With more than 12,000 cases reported in 2016, that number is nearly double the number of cases from just two years before in 2014. Unfortunately due to under-reporting, the CDC estimates this to be 10-times this, or 120,000-plus new cases, of which approximately 30,000 are children.
“The signs around the
“When our community service program, Togetherhood, learned of this alarming health and education issue thanks to PA Lyme, we knew we should become involved to increase public awareness. If this project results in preventing even a single child from getting Lyme disease, we would be overjoyed.”
— Christopher Westfahl, COO of The Community YMCA of Eastern Delaware County
parks will help keep park visitors informed, prompt prevention actions, and help them to continue to enjoy the outdoors safely,” said Tiehel. She was personally impacted by Lyme disease and wishes more awareness, such as signs like these, had existed prior to her contracting Lyme. “There are no warnings about ticks in our parks,” she said. “People really need awareness and to take preventive measures to protect themselves, their children and their pets.”
On the morning of Aug. 3, volunteers gathered at “base camp” at the Lansdowne YMCA for a “Dare 2B Tick Aware” talk by Amy Tiehel to highlight primary prevention steps. Volunteers were given detailed tick prevention measures ahead of the event, so they could dress appropriately and take measures to protect themselves personally while hanging the signs. PA Lyme advises that the top prevention measures include avoiding tick habitats, spraying shoes/clothing with Permethrin or wearing pre-treated clothes, wearing long sleeves/pants/tuck pants into socks, spraying skin with insect repellant, and doing daily tick checks (head to toe, front to back) on all family members as well as pets too.
This local trail sign campaign is just the tip of the iceberg for PA Lyme’s statewide awareness program. A brand new awareness campaign entitled, “Dare 2B Tick Aware,” has been recently launched, funded by the Pennsylvania Department of Health’s Preventive Health and Health Services Block Grant. This prevention campaign is a multi-level, state-wide program that includes tick seminars for high-risk community groups and non-profit organizations and is delivering a suite of prevention materials across the state.
The tick population is exploding, and the CDC names the state of Pennsylvania at the epi-center, with a continually increasing risk of tick-borne illnesses. Warmer, wet winters are offering ticks longer breeding seasons, allowing ticks more time to spread Lyme. Those infected ticks bite humans and our pets, thus transmitting disease. Lyme and tick-borne diseases can be quite serious if not caught early. Visit www. palyme.org for information about symptoms.
About PA Lyme Resource Network
PA Lyme Resource Network (www.palyme.org) is an all-volunteer 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that provides education, patient advocacy, support and resources to help others navigate this exceedingly complex and controversial disease. The state-wide group, founded in 2012 by individuals with personal experiences with the diseases, provides education in the form of speakers, seminars, patient networks, and research updates for the general public, medical professionals, schools, private businesses, and government entities; it also supports regional and independent Lyme groups that hold local meetings to provide support, education, and resources to their local communities.