Caregiver nominations sought.
Britney L. Skiff, of Erving, holds her son, Domenic D. Rindone, born on April 20 at 7 pounds, 14 ounces at Cooley Dickinson's Childbirth Center in Northampton, with registered nurse Lisa DeVoie, center, and Nan Lanning. Domenic wears the 1,000th hat Lanning knit as a volunteer knitter for the hospital's center. Hats off to her!
NORTHAMPTON - Northampton resident Nan (Nancy) Lanning, has logged more than 3,200 hours knitting baby hats for Cooley Dickinson Hospital's Childbirth Center. In eight years, Lanning created 999 hats but has never seen an infant leave the hospital donning a Nan-made cap.
On April 22, Lanning visited the Childbirth Center with the 1,000th and 1,001st hats - one, pink, the other blue - to give to a newborn as the hospital kicked off National Volunteer Recognition Week activities.
Lanning says her "private goal" was to knit 1,000 hats. With the help of a friend, Lanning delivered the hats to the hospital each month with an updated tally. Her goal was met April 22, when she presented the 1,000th hat to newborn Domenic D. Rindone. She achieved this goal along while celebrating another milestone: her 87th birthday, which was April 13.
Bird flu
BEIJING (Bloomberg News) - A surge in bird flu cases in China increases the pandemic potential of the H7N9 strain, according to a Beijing-based supplier of influenza vaccines to the Chinese government.
Sinovac Biotech Ltd., the first company to win regulatory approval for a swine flu shot in 2009, is preparing to make immunizations against the new virus that's infected more than 100 people in China and killed 21.
The Nasdaq-traded company will hold off producing the shots until it's received an order from the state, said Chief Executive Officer Yin Weidong.
Flu labs around the world are developing vaccine seed strains to serve as a template for bulk immunization production, should it be required. While there is no evidence that H7N9 is spreading easily among people, humans lack natural immunity to it. That raises global public health concerns, researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta said earlier in April.
"The risk of this becoming a pandemic is increasing," Yin said in an interview at the company's headquarters in the Chinese capital, where a second H7N9 infection was reported recently.
Over the past two months, 104 H7N9 cases and 21 deaths have been reported by health authorities, mostly in China's eastern provinces. About half the infections occurred in April, suggesting the pace of transmission is increasing.
The H5N1 bird flu strain, which killed at least 371 people in Asia and Africa over the past decade, hasn't acquired the ability to spread easily among people. In 2009, a novel swine flu virus, known as H1N1, touched off the first influenza pandemic in 41 years, showing how diseases of livestock can spill over into human populations, causing a contagion.
"This is a much more serious outbreak than H5N1, which from 2003 until now only infected 43 people in China," Yin said.
Sinovac has notified its suppliers that it may need to order additional fertilized chicken eggs to produce H7N9 vaccine, Yin said. The company doesn't usually require the eggs in the second half of the year, when the bulk of Sinovac's seasonal-flu vaccine has been produced, he said.
Under an agreement with China's Food and Drug Administration, a Sinovac vaccine for pandemic flu doesn't need to undergo clinical testing because its production methods have already been approved and the pandemic flu vaccine would represent only a change in the viral strain, he said.
Organ celebration
SPRINGFIELD - A "Breathe Easy Organ Donation" celebration, in honor of Springfield resident John Scagliarini and the New England Organ Donor Bank, will be held April 26 from 6 to 10 p.m. at The Springfield Elks Lodge No. 61 on 440 Tiffany St.
Scagliarini was diagnosed several years ago with pulmonary arterial venus malformations, and was eventually forced to go on oxygen and withdraw during his senior year from the University of Massachusetts.
He became a lung transplant candidate in the spring of 2012, and last fall received a successful transplant for a new set of lungs at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston He plans to return to UMass in the fall and earn his undergraduate degree in architecture and design.
The celebration will include food, entertainment and raffles. April is Organ Donor Month and representatives from New England Organ Donor Bank, DonateLifeNewEngland.com and Matching Donors http://www.matchingdonors.com/life/index.cfm?page=main&cfid=80267&cftoken=79557227 will be on hand.
Caregiver award
SPRINGFIELD - Nominations are open for the 15th annual Schwartz Center Compassionate Caregiver Award. This award honors caregivers in New England for their compassion in caring for patients. The recipient will receive $5,000, and four finalists will receive $1,000 each.
The center, started by a Boston attorney who lost his life to lung cancer, operates under the nonprofit status of Massachusetts General Hospital.
The center encourages the nomination of candidates from a variety of health care settings, including hospitals, physician practices, long-term care facilities, community health centers, outpatient clinics, and hospice and home care organizations.
Eligible employees may include physicians, nurses, therapists, social workers, psychologists, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, certified nursing assistants, home health aides and chaplains, as well as interdisciplinary teams of caregivers.
The award will be presented at the annual Kenneth B. Schwartz Center Compassionate Healthcare dinner on Nov. 21 at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center.
For information on how to nominate a caregiver, visit www.theschwartzcenter.org Nomination deadline is May 3.
Noble Cause
WESTFIELD - Noble Hospital's 29th Annual 5k Run & Walk for a Noble Cause will be held April 27 at Stanley Park. The race begins at 9 a.m., with registration from 7:30 to 8:30 a.m. near the Children's Pavilion.
The 5k run is a competitive road race for all levels of runners - from the novice to the serious athlete. The 3.1-mile course is flat out and back through Stanley Park and the surrounding residential area.
The registration fee for ages 13 to 59 is $35 (seniors 60+ are $25). Children under the age of 12 participate free when accompanied by a paying adult. T-shirts and sizes are available to registrants on a first-come, first-served basis while inventory is available.
To register online, visit http://www.noblehospital.org/news-and-events/noble-hospital-5k.html
Registration materials and general information can also be downloaded from www.noblehosptial.org
Vendor table spaces are still available. For more information, visit the website email info@noblehealth.org or call (413) 568-2811, ext. 5520.
Anne-Gerard Flynn can be reached at aflynn@repub .com. Please send event listings two weeks before publication.