The South Shuswap Scoop
April 2021
41
Sorrento Lions Club By Judi Kembel For many years, our club has been sending used eyeglasses to CLERC (Canadian Lions Eyeglass Recycling Centre) in Calgary. A special thank you to Lion Terry Timms for collecting used glasses and for the continued support from these companies: In View Optical, Alpine Optometry and Evelyn’s Eyewear and Canadian Hearing Care all located in Salmon Arm. B.C. CLERC sends glasses to 90 different countries and on average, processes about 220,000 a year. Since 1996 they have distributed over 5.5 million pairs. Due to the current Covid restrictions, all our planned activities are still on hold. The Garage Sale at the end of May and the Father’s Day Pancake Breakfast are still in doubt. We will just have to wait and see. We thank you for your support. We did receive our Community Gaming Grant again this year and so will be able to continue with our usual community donations such as our annual student bursaries. We continue to assist residents by
delivering groceries from the Lighthouse Market all while maintaining physical distance and will do so as long as we are needed. Feel free to contact them at lighthouseorder@gmail.com. Since all our fund raising projects have either been cancelled or suspended, once again, we would appreciate any ideas our community may have so that we may still be active while maintaining social distancing. You can send your ideas to sorrentolionsclub@ yahoo.ca . If you are interested in helping your community, please consider joining our club. If you are over 19 years of age (male or female) and would like more information about becoming a Lion, please contact the Sorrento Lions Club Secretary Lion Leona at our email address: sorrentolionsclub@yahoo.ca. We would love to hear from you! Check out our website at http://e-clubhouse. org/sites/sorrentobc/ . We look forward to the time when we can resume all of our community activities. Stay safe, stay calm and be kind.
Ticks in British Columbia Government of BC There are more than 20 species of ticks in British Columbia, but only three species normally bite humans. Although the bites are sometimes painful and slow healing, there is little danger of disease as long as they are removed promptly. Adult ticks have eight legs, unlike insects, which have six. Ticks cannot jump or fly and do not drop from trees. They require blood as a source of protein for growth and egg development. A few simple precautions will decrease the likelihood of tick bites. In BC’s Southern Interior, the most common species is the Rocky Mountain Wood Tick. It is the size of a small pea and is a three-host tick, a new host being sought for each one of its three feedings which occur over a period of 1 to 3 years. Usually, rodents and other small animals serve for the first two feedings, and large animals such as deer, cattle, dogs, sheep and humans serve as the
host for the last feeding. This tick is most frequently encountered between March and June, usually in open, rocky areas. The adult female is reddish-brown with a white "shield" near the front, and the similarly sized male is mottled-grey in colour. Both sexes "quest" for hosts by waiting near the top of grass and low shrubs, readily attaching to passing people or animals that brush against them. Once on a host they climb upwards, giving rise to the erroneous observation that they have dropped from trees. If the quest is unsuccessful, the ticks return to the ground until the next spring. In British Columbia, ticks can cause tick paralysis in mammals, including humans. Tick paralysis is characterized by increasing incoordination and eventual collapse. The first symptoms, usually a numbness in the feet and legs causing difficulty in walking and standing, occur after a female tick has been feeding for about 5 days. There is
no known antidote for tick paralysis, but complete recovery occurs when the tick is removed if paralysis has not progressed too far. Death may occur if the tick is overlooked. Ticks can be difficult to remove, since they attach themselves to their host with small, barbed mouthparts. Ticks do not burrow under the skin. Ticks are most safely and effectively removed with tweezers using a slow and gentle pull without twisting. This will normally remove the tick with the mouthparts attached. The wound should be cleaned and treated with an antiseptic.