KNOWLEDGE from the College
Nothing to sneeze at
Limiting exposure is key to minimizing environmental allergies Story by Dane Hawley Sorry, Fluffy. Sorry, Sparky. It could be time for your marching orders if Jennifer Brink’s farewell advice is followed. Don’t take it personally, however. This recommendation from Ivy Tech Community College Northeast’s Respiratory Care program chair isn’t coming from a place of cat or dog animosity. To the contrary, it’s merely a suggestion to protect family members who suffer from pet-dander allergies. “If you’re not going to get rid of your animals, which people rarely do, then at least keep them 100 percent out of the bedroom,” Brink says. “You don’t want to be inhaling Fluffy’s dander all night after Fluffy was laying on your pillow all day. If that’s the case, then parents shouldn’t wonder why little Johnny keeps having asthma attacks at 3 a.m.” Beyond pet dander, research shows that the most common environmental allergens in North America include dust, mold, and tree and ragweed pollen. The tell-tale symptoms with these allergies include a combination of itchy, watery eyes; nasal congestion; reoccurring cough; and wheezing.
The first approach to safeguarding against any allergy is to look at causative factors, says Brink, a registered respiratory therapist and neonatal– pediatric specialist. “If you know you’re allergic to something, then prevent your exposure to the allergen, but I know that separation is impossible sometimes,” she adds. For many people, the knee-jerk reaction to treat allergy discomfort often involves a drive to the pharmacy for over-the-counter meds or the doctor’s office for prescription meds. Neither activity should be the go-to response, Brink says. “We’re Americans. I know we want the quick fix, but with a lot of the medicines, you’re just treating the symptoms,” she says. “Unless you get away from the allergen, you’re going to continually suffer.” So, by restricting Fluffy and Sparky’s access to roam the home freely, the result will usher in an improved indoor climate, where pets can be counted on to provide their allergy-prone owners with a muchdeserved respite.
Respiratory Care Program Chair Jennifer Brink says the best way to safeguard against environmental allergy symptoms is to understand your causative factors and then avoid exposure to them as best as possible. Photo by Dane Hawley
Pulling the environmental trigger Pet dander • Wash dogs and cats weekly to reduce pet dander. • Consider allergen-blocker sprays and wipes for pets. • Prevent animals from visiting the bedrooms of allergy sufferers. • Use High Efficiency Particulate Air, or HEPA, filter vacuums with micro filter collection bags.
Mold • Investigate entryways, pipes, and window sills for stagnant water that can lead to mold growth. • Keep bathrooms clean and dry, especially bathtub, shower, and sink areas. • Purchase a dehumidifier to control excess moisture in the home, especially in basements.
Tree and ragweed pollen • Stay indoors when pollen counts are high. • Leave shoes at the door to minimize tracking pollen throughout the home. • Avoid sleeping with bedroom windows open. • Replace air conditioner and furnace filters per the manufacturer’s recommendations. • Stop hanging clothes and bed linens on clotheslines because they will attract pollen.
Dust • Dust and vacuum the house routinely. • Shampoo carpets at least annually. • Choose mini-blinds instead of curtains and hardwood, tile, or vinyl flooring instead of carpet. • Have HVAC air ducts professionally cleaned annually. • Remove feather pillows and stuffed animals from beds. • Wash bed linens in hot water and use a hot temperature selection for the dryer to kill dust mites.
16 | SPRING 2016 | Ivy Tech Community College Northeast
More photos at IvyTech.edu/northeast
KNOWLEDGE from the College
Picture perfect
Get the best photo, video quality from your smart devices Story by Dane Hawley Even if you don’t know Zeke Bryant personally, you might be familiar with his work.
“All of this work is an art form,” Bryant says. “I love to put a production together to entertain people and bring images to life.”
As Ivy Tech Community College Northeast’s multimedia specialist, Bryant is responsible for a number of photos and videos that are routinely seen by the College’s alumni and friends. For instance, he’s a regular photo contributor to this magazine, and he shoots and edits video for a number of student-focused projects, such as the European Competition for aspiring chefs, New Venture Competition for entrepreneurs, and A Reason to Taste fundraiser for academic program support and scholarships.
To date, Bryant’s signature moment was winning a regional Emmy Award early in his career for his camera and graphics contributions to a 2007 short documentary, Little River Wetlands, while a production assistant at WFWA-TV PBS39.
Away from the College, Bryant’s talent is known to local sports fans. He works part time for Memorial Coliseum, directing and producing game coverage of the Fort Wayne Derby Girls, Fort Wayne Komets, and Fort Wayne Mad Ants.
Despite Bryant’s enviable assignments and access to some high-end Canon cameras and Blackmagic Design video gear, he is no different than anyone else when he wants to capture an image quickly or take a selfie on the fly: He reaches for his smartphone. While using a smart device yields obvious photo and video limitations, smartphones and tablets are still capable of snapping some quality images and video clips once best practices are observed.
Zeke Bryant, Ivy Tech Northeast’s multimedia specialist, has a regional Emmy award for his contributions on a local documentary produced in 2007. His photo and video work spans a variety of projects for the College, as well as game coverage for some Fort Wayne sports teams.
Get up close and personal. Fill the frame with your subject. Avoid using a digital zoom.
Approach with eyes wide open. Determine a game plan for your photos. Change your settings to high-resolution (large file size) photos if you plan to do more than upload them to the web. Skipping this step may leave you with pixilated images if they are ever printed.
Simplify the scene. Remove extraneous visuals that don’t help tell your story.
Find your frame of reference. Imagine a tic-tac-toe board (known as the rule of thirds or gridlines) on your field of view. Consider aligning your subject on one of the four intersecting corners of the grid to create more interesting and visually pleasing photos and video clips.
Check for intruders. Be diligent to avoid potential photobombers or similar background distractions.
Broaden your horizons. Shoot photos and video in landscape mode to minimize the loss of important details to the left and right of your subject.
Explore all avenues. Consider downloading photo- and video-editing apps, such as Photo Editor Pro and Photo Effects Pro, to enhance your images for quality and fun.
Go toward the light. Use a natural light source whenever possible, especially with faces.
Snap like a turtle. Take as many pictures from as many high and low angles as possible to add variety.
BEST PR ACTICES
Make a clean sweep. Clean your lens, especially if your smart device isn’t kept in a protective shell.
SUMMER 2016 | Ivy Tech Community College Northeast | 9
KNOWLEDGE from the College
Engineering the perfect snowman • • • •
1 ft. diameter (6 1/2 lbs.) round head with flat bottom use carrot for nose coal or rocks for eyes
• 2 ft. diameter (50 lbs.) • round middle with flat bottom and top • coal or rocks for buttons • add personality with scarf
• 3 ft. diameter (225 lbs.) • round middle with flat bottom and top • coal or rocks for buttons
Do your snowmen topple over or melt too soon? Frozen’s Elsa and Anna shouldn’t get to have all the fun. OK, chances are your snow creation won’t have Olaf’s personality, but if you build him right, he just might stand sentinel in your yard for weeks to come. Andrew Bell is chair of Engineering programs at Ivy Tech Community College Northeast, which, by default, makes him the foremost snowman maker in all the land (or at least at Andrew Bell Ivy Tech
Northeast). He’s shared some tips to build a perfect snow pal with an affinity for warm hugs and summer. Let’s call him Norm. First thing’s first: Find a flat spot that’s out of the sun. Use snow that is partially wet, which means ideal Normmaking weather is just below freezing. (If you need a reminder, that’s 32 degrees.)
and bottoms of the base and middle so they don’t roll off one another. Flatten the bottom of the head; keep the top of Norm’s head nice and round to keep Chris “Kid” Reid him from looking like the third member of Kid ’n‘ Play (you know … because of the flat top …).
Build three snowballs: one 3-feet in diameter, one 2-feet, and one 1-foot. These will be Norm’s base, middle, and head, respectively. Slightly flatten the tops
Now, if your kids (or other young relatives) are building this bad boy on their own, you might want to alter those ideal dimensions a bit. That much snow used in the
base will be about 225 pounds—not so bad since you don’t need to lift it. But the middle will be 50 pounds, and the head will be 6 ¼ pounds. This means Norm will be weighing in at 281 pounds. No more cookies for Norm. Those pointers are as far as Bell goes. But you can’t leave poor Norm there without a face. Clearly you must use a carrot for his nose. That’s a law. The Snowmen Police will pay you a visit if you try to use something else, like celery or one of those small club bats.
But his eyes and mouth are debatable. You can always find some charcoal briquettes or even charcoal-colored rocks for eyes. If you want to get a little creative, you can try some red food coloring for his mouth, though you run the risk of turning Norm into the Joker. Or, instead of a traditional mouth, you can give Norm a pipe. Finish him with some stick-arms and a scarf you don’t plan to wear this winter, and voila! You have a new snow friend to keep you company.