Live a life of gratitude

Let us practice gratitude in the face of this adversity. In the midst of the uncertainties and our fears, let's focus daily on the good things in our lives and praise and thank God for them. God never rejects our praise. Songs of praise broke the walls of Jericho. Praise unlocked the chains of the apostles and set them free from prison. Remember that things could have been worse. Let us praise our troubles away by cheering ourselves with the good things we have in our lives. And I bet you, they are many. 

The Dangers of Self-Medicating for COVID-19 and Exposure to Household Poisons

Dear folks, 

I have been planning to write about this topic for sometime now but kept pushing it to the back burner. I decided to write it this morning but wanted to search for relevant sources on line then, viola, I saw this article. It contains everything I wanted to say so here we are:

"Questions about various home remedies and ways to prevent COVID-19 have been circulating on social media and in the news since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic; theories such as gargling hot saltwater, drinking mass quantities of water and taking various vitamins or antibiotics represent a few.

While there may be some “rationality” behind these theorized ideas, Michael Lynch, M.D., director of the Pittsburgh Poison Center at UPMC emphasized the dangers of self-medicating and using home remedies to ward off the virus.

“Be careful what you read on social media, there is all sorts of inaccurate information out there,” said Lynch. “The best thing people can do is maintain their general health, eat a healthy diet and get exercise when they can. Practice social distancing, use good hand hygiene and stay home as you would any other time you feel sick.”

One of the most dangerous prevention methods circulating online is the uncontrolled use of chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine to thwart COVID-19. Researchers are working to determine if these drugs can slow the virus and the assist the body’s inflammatory response to it.

However, this has yet to be proven and according to Lynch, these drugs can have serious side effects. Usage without medical supervision can result in body toxicity within 30-60 minutes— causing sedation, coma, seizures, abnormal heart rhythms and cardiac arrest as they can block the way electricity is conducted in the heart.

“Don’t take chloroquine outside of a physician’s recommendation,” advised Lynch. “At this moment the best we can say about the medication is that it has been hypothesized that it can be helpful. People with lupus or other conditions can safely take this when prescribed, but we need a better understanding of the risks and benefits of taking this to treat COVID-19.”

Lynch also noted the increased level of danger for children when dealing with chloroquine stating that “one pill can kill.”

Additional concerns for child safety have been generated by the coronavirus and substances less precarious than chloroquine. As everyone tries their best to maintain proper hand hygiene with hand sanitizer, and a clean home environment with bleach, the Pittsburgh Poison Center at UPMC has seen an increase in calls related to accidental exposure involving children.

Since the beginning of March, Pennsylvania poison control centers have recorded 152 exposures related to hand sanitizer — an 82% increase compared to last year. Of these exposures, 76% — involved children 12 and under—more than half involved children under five.

“We know these are at least 60% alcohol, and are out and accessible to most people, but kids can get into them, getting it in their eyes or ingesting them,” explained Lynch. “Kids can get alcohol intoxication from these and become sick. It’s a widely accessible product that is important to have around, but we want to make sure kids can’t access them if they don’t understand how it’s supposed to be used.”

There have been 118 exposures to bleach reported so far in March, marking a 45% increase from last year with nearly one-third of the cases involving children younger than five.

“We are all appropriately trying to maintain our environments to be as clean as possible, but we know that these chemicals can cause skin irritation or vomiting if ingested. Most cases we are seeing are in kids— getting it on the skin or in the eyes,” said Lynch. “As kids are home more often now, and these things are out and more available, exposure is at a higher risk. We need to be conscious of where we are storing things.”

One final danger to avoid is ingesting household objects for the purpose of intoxication.

“We know liquor stores are closed, and people are advised to stay home,” said Lynch. “People will sometimes drink mouthwash or rubbing alcohol—it’s very abrasive to the stomach and can cause vomiting and abdominal bleeding. It can lead to inflammation of the stomach and pancreas, causing vomiting of blood. Additionally, ingestion of other household and automotive liquids such as antifreeze or windshield washer fluid can result in life-threatening toxicity.”

Anyone with questions or concerns about a potential poison exposure should contact the Pittsburgh Poison Center at UPMC at 1-800-222-1222. Experts are available 24-hours to answer questions—including those about hypothesized COVID-19 prevention methods" 

By: Taylor Andres 

THE 2020 AWAKENING

      The last couple of weeks or months depending on your peculiar situation, more than half of the world’s human population has been on a ‘lockdown’; a security term whose primarily meaning is ‘the confining of prisoners to their cells, typically in order to regain control during a riot’. This word, which was hardly used, has now become a vocabulary so common that not a day passes without one using it at least once. 

      This is what our world has become. A tiny virus, which we cannot even perceive with our naked eyes, has locked all of us in the ‘prisons’ of our own homes. Who wakes up thinking of viruses? Majority of the world’s population don’t really consider viruses in the scheme of things they consider important in their lives. 

      But here we are, startled stopped in our tracks, halted from doing all the things we spend our lives chasing after on a daily basis, because a ‘tiny insignificant virus’ now has our attention. For the not so old, this might be the greatest adversity that has befallen the entire world in our lifetime. To those who experienced the world wars, I don’t know how the two compare. 

      Everybody has been confined to their homes. I want to believe we all love our homes. Yes, but we would love a little walk every now and then, some window shopping and even some real shopping. Our lives have changed. We are no longer in ‘normal’ times. The things we considered ‘mundane’ are luxury because we crave for them but we cannot do them since we want to secure our safety and that of our loved once.  
      From the lowly to the mighty, from the haves to the have nots, from nonentities to celebrities, from the poor to the rich from peasantry to royalty, all have not been spared, by this ‘insignificant virus’. From superpowers to less powerful nations, all have been shocked by this virus. 

      The whole world is in a state of disarray. Governments are at their wits end, scientists can’t say ‘eureka’ yet. Yet we keep hope alive, that there is light at the end of the tunnel. 

      This should be a time of retrospection and introspection.That there is something higher and bigger than all of us. Let us descend from out high horses, and acknowledge that fact. What do you consider important? Is it you house, your parents, your spouse, your children, your job or your car? None of these can protect you from this ravaging virus.  

      Let us ask ourselves this fundamental question. That at the end of it all, what is the essence of it all?

SOCIAL DISTANCING AND EVENTUAL LOCKDOWN

Folks, I have been observing social distancing since the president of Ghana officially announced the first two cases of COVID 19 in Ghana on 12th March 2020. I went into self-quarantine since the 16th of March and have been up to date. It is not easy since humans are socially wired by nature.

On the 30th of March, the Greater Accra and Greater Kumasi areas of Ghana started a two-week partial lockdown due to increasing cases of COVID 19 in these areas including community spreading with strict adherence to SOCIAL DISTANCING, HAND-WASHING WITH SOAP AND THE USE OF HAND SANITIZERS among other things. The lockdown directive was not an easy decision for the president to make considering the fact that majority of Ghanaians live on a 'hand-to-mouth' bases and are not in a position to buy supplies in bulk in anticipation for the time they are in isolation. Also our social stratification is such that the informal sector drives the economy and the players in this field usually don't have the luxury of reserves to last them days of no operation. Though institutions like the Ghana Medical (GMA) and others advised the Government on the need for a lockdown due to the increasing cases of COVID 19 and the implication on the already overstretched health facilities, Government was hesitant due to the effect a lockdown will have on the majority of the populace. 

Finally government heeded to the advise of the experts and declared a two week lockdown starting from 30th March 2020. 

Today is the 4th day into the lockdown and I have followed the news with keen interest. At the beginning, most Ghanaians were still coming to terms with the fact that they actually cannot go about their lives as they 'normally' do. In the midst of this shock and confusion, and as the days go by, most people are trying their best to respect the law and are staying at home. A few of the citizens however have found themselves in the arms of the law by being found outside their homes with no reasonable justification why they were seen in the streets.

There have been reports of abuse by the police and military who have been charged with the enforcement of the law. All stakeholders are wide awake monitoring how things unfold and it looks like gradually, the Ghanaian has seen the need for this exercise so as to stop the spread of the COVID 19. Let us continue to educate those who don't quite understand what is happening. And let us do our best to be good citizens by adhering to all the directives that come from the presidency. CITIZENS not SPECTATORS

Living life to the full

I would like to start this reflection with the following quote, one of my favorites by Marianne Robinson, “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

Christians are encouraged to live 'temperate' or 'modest' lives and a life of 'humility'. But most of the time, humility is perceived as weakness, timidity or stupidity. I wonder how many of us have been perceived or perceived others this way because they tried to live what the holy book teaches us. Scripture enjoins as to uphold these virtues but we should never get the message wrong and go about belittling ourselves and making ourselves small. Come to think of it, Christ admonishes us to let our light shine. scripture teaches us to put light on a lamp stand and put it in the open and not under a bushel.

I couldn't agree more with Marianne Robinson
(DRAFTED IN 2010)