TUESDAY, APRIL 25. 2006
NEWS
Anthony S. Bush/TOPEKA CAPITAL-JOURNAL
Officials discuss the new online immunization registry that will help track Kansas immunization records Monday at the Shawnee County Health Agency in Topeka. From left are, Anne Freeze, director of the Shawnee County Health Agency; Rodderick Bremby, secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment; Howard Rodenberg and Martha Rodetschner, Shawnee County Health Agency.
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Registry hopes to battle mumps
BY JOHN HANNA THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
TOPEKA — Amid a mumps outbreak, health officials Monday showed off an Internet-based immunization registry to make sure Kansans don't miss vaccinations against such diseases.
The system is 10 months old and allows its users — mostly local health departments for now — to check people's vaccination records, even if they move or change physicians. It's part of a larger effort to boost Kansas' relatively low childhood immunization rates.
The goal is to persuade all of Kansas' 99 local health departments, plus private clinics, hospitals and doctors' offices to register vaccinations in the system dubbed KSWebIZ. So far, 36 health departments and a handful of private offices and clinics are participating.
Officials from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment and Shawnee County Health Agency had a news conference as part of National Infant Immunization Week. But it came as health officials worry about a growing number of mumps cases in Midwestern states, including Kansas.
Howard Rodenberg, director of KDHE's health division, said one issue in the mumps outbreak is that some Kansans had only one vaccination before entering school, or none at all. Doctors and public health officials recommend two doses of the MMR vaccine against measles, mumps and rubella before a child enters school.
Rodenberg said he can't say
whether Kansas would have fewer mumps cases had KSWeblZ been in place earlier.
"I do think we would have a much better handle on those who got immunized and who didn't, which would help us to get a better assessment of the pattern of disease and maybe help us to have more effective interventions." Rodenberg said.
As of Friday, Kansas reported 205 confirmed or probable cases of mumps in 31 counties. In a typical year, Kansas sees only a few cases; in 2005, there were none.
But the mumps outbreak isn't the only reason for KDHE to
publicize the registry.
A report issued last month noted that in 2004, Kansas ranked 43rd among states in the percentage of children under 5 who have received proper vaccinations, at less than 78 percent. The report was commissioned by a new public-private effort to boost vaccination rates.
KDHE Secretary Rod Bremby noted that for years, doctors have recorded shots in pink booklets that parents were supposed to keep at home. He said that method worked — as long as parents didn't lose the booklet or a child's school or doctor didn't change.
"Years ago, we realized that there was a better way to track immunizations," Bremby said.
So far, Shawnee County's is the largest local health department to participate in the registry program. The state estimates about 557,000 Kansans have 1.9 million vaccinations logged on the system.
But Rodenberg acknowledged the system won't work as well as it can until all health departments and many private offices participate.
"Some of the issues are related to computer capabilities," Rodenberg said.
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN 5A NATION
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New York strike leader cheered
BY ELIZABETH LESURE THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK — A chanting crowd gave the city's transit union chief a supportive send-off Monday before he was to begin a 10-day jail sentence for leading a strike last year that shut down the city's subways and buses.
"I will do 30 years be fore transit workers surrender," Toussaint said in a fiery speech. "Working people have tried to obey the law, and we have gotten nothing but insults for it."
The walkout crippled the city just before Christmas last year and violated a state law banning strikes by public employees. A judge ruled union leader Roger Toussaint should be jailed for 10 days and fined $1,000 for contempt.
Tens of thousands of New Yorkers had to walk the same route during the three-day strike.
The Bob Marley song "Get Up, Stand Up" and cheers from a crowd of dozens Toussaint as he arrived at a rally in Brooklyn before a planned march with workers across the Brooklyn Bridge to a jail in Manhattan.
Union leaders addressed the crowd, hailing Toussaint as a working-class hero who stood up for the rights of the common man by demanding fair treatment on pensions, health care and wages. Chants included "Long live the union" and "Long live Roger Toussaint."
will do 30 years before transit workers surrender. Working people have tried to obey the law, and we have gotten nothing but insults for it."
Roger Toussaint NYC transit union leader
"We're with you, Roger," the Rev. Al Sharpton told the crowd. "We will be there every step of the way."
Sharpton, who called the punishment an immoral attempt to intimidate workers, promised to hold a vigil on the union boss' first night in jail. He said he would stay in a tent outside the jail to protest.
The 60-hour strike ended without a contract between Transport Workers Union Local 100 and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the state agency that runs the bus and subway system.
Union members voted last week to approve an offer they had rejected in January, but the MTA has said it doesn't have to accept the vote because the dispute is in binding arbitration.
The 33,000-member union was fined $2.5 million for the strike and plans to appeal.
Gov. George Pataki, at an appearance Monday in the city, said he wanted people to remember the plight of Matthew Long, a firefighter who was seriously injured when he was run over by a vehicle while bicycling to work during the strike.
AT THE TOP OF THE HILL