Aloha mai!
The Hilo Lei Day Festival is coordinating a rubber boot drive to kōkua Kauaʻi. If you have good condition rubber boots that you do not need (kids outgrew, left home, you no longer muck the cows, etc.), please bring them to the Hilo Lei Day Festival any time after 10 am Monday, April 30 during our set-up, or any time until 4:00 pm on Tuesday, May 1. Other useful items, and cash donations also are welcome.
Mahalo no!
Leilehua Yuen, coordinator
Donation intake:
10:00 am Mon. 30 April – 4:00 pm Tues. 1 May
Festival Info Booth
Needed:
- Rubber boots
New or used, good condition
All sizes – keiki need to protect their feet, too! - Socks
New preferred, we won’t have time, and they don’t have resources, to sanitize before use - Blister bandaids
- Rubber gloves
All types from heavy duty cleaning gloves to the thin disposables - First aid kits
- Trash bags
Not just for trash! They keep gear dry and can be cut into wikiwiki rain coats! - Duct tape
- Bug repellant
- Gas cards
- Anything small and useful that can be packed inside the boots for shipping
If you are heading to Kauaʻi to kōkua:
** IMPORTANT MEDICAL INFO. From Dr. Evslin **
I am sure that all of you who have been working in the flooded areas have been thinking about this but please take the risk of infection from those heavily contaminated waters very seriously. I have treated contaminated wounds after our storms and and have had them myself. These wounds often contain multiple bacteria, may be hard to treat, and can be life threatening. General guidelines should include:
1. Avoidance: if you have a clean up project that involves wading through these waters and you can put it off to allow further receding of the water, consider putting it off.
2. If you have cuts or broken skin, do your best to avoid the waters and to avoid cleaning up the contaminated mud.
3. If you develop a cut while in contact with these waters, stop your activity and clean the wound as well as possible with soap and clean water. Betadine solutions have somewhat fallen out of favor but certainly can be considered in the initial cleaning of a potentially contaminated wound.
4. If you have a topical antibiotic such as Bactroban (mupirocin), you could consider applying it to the cut also as the risk of infection is high.
5. If you think your cut is getting infected, seek medical attention, particularly if it is painful and/or red or your have a fever. Infections from this type of contaminated wound can get worse quickly.
6. First aid for minor cuts looking a little infected can include topical antibiotics such as Bactroban (mupirocin). Can also soak for 10 minutes in dilute household bleach (about 1 tablespoon in a bucket of clean water or 1/2 teaspoon in a quart. BUT IF THE WOUND IS NOT GETTING BETTER OR IT IS GETTING WORSE, HAVE YOUR WOUND CHECKED BY MEDICAL PROVIDERS. Also note that a topical antibiotic can not cure a boil or an abscess or any infection under the skin as it can not get into these spaces.
6. If you get a cut in these waters, check your tetanus shot status.
7. All of you helping your neighbors are heroes but be safe!!!
Please view this information as information sharing, it should never replace prompt evaluation by a medical professional as needed.
As more guidelines come out from the Department of Health, I will post them.
Mahalo
Lee Evslin, MD
