The News Journal from Wilmington, Delaware • Page 27

Monday, Oct. 9, 1995, Section HEALTH SCIENCE TELEVISION MOVIES COMICS Getting a flu shot doesn't have to strain the budget The News Journal, Wilmington, DE rm Him.iMil.IIU. v. I -v ft i Ix -i hftmi i Tti-fTriM rii'irrHiMiira if- i ir' i The News Journal BRIAN BRANCH-PRICE At the Hockessin Baptist Church, class leader Kathleen Coleman (left) closes the Weigh Down class with prayer. The Weigh i LITE These believers are tajdng their weight-loss hopes to a higher power.

By JANE HARRIMAN Staff reporter If fall is here, influenza can't be far behind. This month and next, influenza immunizations will be available throughout the state and on many dates, which means most Delawareans will have little trouble getting a flu shot. Many private doctors also will provide the annual immunization to their patients, but the shots may be available at a lower cost from clinics sponsored by the Division of Public Health or the Visiting Nurse Association of Delaware. The Division of Public Health, with help from the American Lung Association of Delaware, will give shots only to high-risk individuals and is requesting a $5 donation from those who can afford it. For $10, VNA clinics will provide shots to all those for whom there is no medical contraindication, and will not charge the elderly or disabled who have Medicare Part B.

The VNA Flu Prevention Campaign is sponsored by nine corporations and will benefit the association's Compassionate Care Fund, which provides free home care to those without health insurance or the ability to pay. Although the word "flu" is used for stomach and intestinal bugs, mild feverish illnesses and bad colds, and what doctors call "flulike illness," true influenza is really an acute respiratory illness, according to the Where tO go Association. Influenza be-tO get your gins with a sudden flu Shots, C3 onset of high fever and malaise, or a feeling of being unwell. Muscle aches and headaches are common, and then bad cold symptoms: runny nose, sore throat and dry cough. Symptoms persist up to a week and may leave victims feeling tired and weak for another week or two.

For the elderly and those with chronic illnesses or immune deficiencies, flu can be fatal and lead to pneumonia, which also is potentially fatal. During a flu-epidemic year, the Lung Association reports, influenza can account for more than 20,000 deaths. There are two types of influenza viruses, Type A and Type B. Both mutate into different strains, and each year the influenza viruses making the rounds are different from those of previous years. This is why a new vaccine is manufactured each year and people need to be vaccinated annually.

This year, the vaccine will protect against ATexas, AJohannesburg and BHarbin influenzas. Vaccines are made of noninfectious viruses and cannot cause influenza. Less than a third of those vaccinated will have some soreness around the site of the shot for a day or two, and, rarely, those who have not been exposed to flu vaccine before, particularly children, may have a slight fever and feel unwell for a day or so. Allergic reactions may occur, usually in those allergic to eggs, because eggs are used in making the vaccine, and some egg protein may remain. The American Lung Association of Delaware says influenza vaccine ia recommended for those in the following high-risk categories: Those 65 and older.

Residents of nursing homes or facilities for those with chronic diseases. Adults and children with -chronic diseases of the lungs or cardiovascular systems, including children with asthma. Adults and children who have regular medical care or have been hospitalized during the previous year for chronic metabolic diseases (such as diabetes), kidney dysfunction or failure, certain blood conditions affecting red blood cells, or immune system deficiencies, including those caused by medication. Those younger than 18 who are on long-term aspirin therapy, and therefore are at risk for Reye's syndrome, a potentially devastating complication of influenza. Health-care workers who are in contact with high-risk patients.

Household members, including children, of high-risk people. Also, the Lung Association says those who may want to take the vaccine are those in the general population, especially teachers and those providing essential community services. Those include: Pregnant women who have other medical conditions that make them high-risk, or are due to deliver during flu season. Those with HrV. Travelers who are going to the tropics or plan to be in the Southern Hemisphere during its winter, April to Septem- ber; high-risk travelers should get the most current vaccine.

Those who should not get the shots are people extremely -allergic to eggs, or who have Guillain-Baree syndrome. Those who have had an-other vaccination of any kind should wait two weeks, and those who have an infection with fever should wait until they are well. A flu shot does not provide a 100 percent guarantee against influenza, but it prevents the illness in about 70 percent of people, and affords partial protection or milder illness in the remaining 30 percent if they become infected. Influenza caused by a Type A virus is usually more serious, but there are now two antiviral drugs that can prevent or reduce the severity of Type A and only Type A influenzas, amantadine hydrochloride and rimantadine hydrochloride. They have to be taken daily, and their cost and potential side effects make vaccination preferable for those who can tolerate it.

from 20 pounds in a few weeks, to 70 pounds over several months, according to published reports and videotaped testimonials. "We don't have to eat when we are bored or stressed," says Ferraro, 35, a member of Avon-dale Presbyterian Church in Avondale, Pa. "If we don't have something to do, we need to go to the Lord in prayer, read scripture, do a Bible study feed yourself spiritually." "All the other diet programs change the foods. They have you thinking about food all the time: Weighing food and counting calories and counting fat grams," says Powell, 39, a member (and a secretary) of Hockessin Bap Designed by a Memphis, registered dietitian, the 12-week program emphasizes service to God, faith in his will and vigorous Bible study. Restrictive diets, calorie counting and obsessive exercising are shunned.

No foods are taboo. And while members of some classes monitor pounds lost each week, others shun the scale for months. The cost, $103 per person, covers weekly hourlong class discussions and prayer ses- sions; class videos and slides; a personal "Rising Above" workbook and 12 inspirational audio tapes for at-home listening. The program is in more than 1,000 churches from Maine to Mississippi, California to Delaware. And for many people it has become their salvation with losses of By STEPHANIE WHYCHE Staff reporter Dianna Powell never gave food much thought.

She simply ate it and ate it, and ate it. Kathleen Coleman might have thought too much about food: It didn't just fill her, but fulfilled her emotionally. For Ruth Ann Ferraro, it wasn't so much what she ate that piled on the extra pounds, but rather skipping a single exercise class designed to shed them. Today all three diet veterans are making peace with food at church through The Weigh Down Workshop, a national Christian-based program that takes the battle of the bulge to a higher power. tist Church.

It made sense to the focus off the food and put it on God." "We "cover up our pain and our guilt with overeating," says Coleman of Hockessin Baptist Church and a child of missionaries. "When you stop using food to meet all your needs you have to face reality," she sayi and adds she's bet I 1 I ter off flir it. Kathleen Coleman "I've struggled with weight, feeling in bondage to food," she says. "But the Bible teaches me there is victory over bondage through a relationship with Jesus Christ." Most people hear about the program by word of mouth, through church publications, on bulletin boards or through stories appearing in magazines and newspapers. Monday nights and Wednesday morning classes are already in progress at Hockessin Baptist Church.

And for the second time this year, classes are being held at Newark Church of Christ. Avondale (Pa.) Presbyterian Church launched a new round of classes See WEIGHT -C3 The News Journal FRED COMEGYS From left, Kathie Krakowskl, Frieda Hutcheson, JuneTragesser, Andy Duzan, Janice Douglass, Dale Foster, Judi Savage, Janet Stratton, Effie Blackburn and, in front, Darla Peterson gather at the Newark Church of Christ. In classic's best friend is a dog Justice doesn't come easy in novelist's latest mystery PBS series shows reading can be an adventure for kids. Show: "Wishbone" When: 4:30 weekdays Channels: WHYY (12), MPT (2867) 7 By M.R. Aid Associated'Press Faye Kellerman provides another mystery for police inspector Peter Decker and his wife, Rina Lazarus, in "Justice" (Morrow, $23).

Fatherhood, both to his toddler and to his subordinates uneasy at the resolution. Besides nagging at his mind, the investigation leads Decker to the seamier side of adolescence, where drugs and sex are easy and vengeance can be deadly. If nothing else, Decker tries to be a good policeman, and his conversion to Judaism and marriage to Rina in previous novels has only intensified his almost self-righteous determination to solve the case and find the right criminal, no matter the consequences. And in this case, the consequences are critical and painful for more than just Decker. Once again, Kellerman successfully transports us to Peter Decker's world, peopled by lowlifes and highlifes, the mob, the racist, the lonely and devoted.

I The Lazarus-Decker marriage strains at the seams when he works too hard, and it's good to see Rina losing patience with her workaholic husband. Kellerman's easy style she switches from third person to first person with no problem college-age daughter, focuses Decker on teen-agers, their lives and their unfortunate deaths. The grisly bondage murder of a prom queen in a sleazy hotel soon creates By ALAN BASH USA Today If you want your kids to read a good book this fall, you may have to turn on the TV first. That's where you'll find "Wishbone," a new series on public television that hopes to get kids interested in classics such as The Odyssey, Romeo and Juliet and Rip Van Winkle. The premise: Wishbone, a Jack Russell terrier who lives with a family in 1995 suburbia, often imagines himself in far-flung times and places, where he then injects himself into the story lines of classic fiction.

Viewers can listen in on Wishbone's thoughts, voiced by an actor, and see him decked out in costume as he parades the streets of London or the banks of the Mississippi Adventures of Tom In each episode, the classic book's plot line mirrors the trials of modern life. Premiering today, "Wishbone" is geared toward 6- to 11-year-olds. But few educators expect those viewers to drop the remote and head out to the library to gobble up "Faust." Several middle-school teachers who screened the show give "Wishbone" a thumbs-up. Sixth-graders at Armstrong Middle School in Piano, Texas, "absolutely loved it," says teacher Ann Aston. "They really saw the humor in the show." The producers say they made sure to include African.

Mexican and American Indian tales, not relying solely on the Western canon. Researchers worked on each scene and each costume for accuracy. But producers admit taking liberties in casting the scenes when Wishbone goes back in time for the sake of universalizing the culturally specific tales. "We wanted kids to know that these stories are for them," says executive producer Rick Dufjield, "no matter who they are or what their background is." For Duffield, using a dog wasn't just a whimsical ploy; it was the perfect way to present the stories. "For Wishbone the dog, the books are a way for him to make sense out of what it means to be human," a questll humans pursue as well.

Faye Kellerman Wishbone becomes Quasimodo in his version of Victor Hugo's "The Hunchback of Notre Dame." questions Decker's boss would rather not answer, since the specter is raised of a black person killing a young white woman. rector of educational research and development. Simpson also hopes the series will give children what's termed "prior knowledge" of classic literature. When they're assigned to read Don Quixote in high school or college, they'll remember a bit about author Miguel de Rather, the makers of the series hope to plant the seeds of interest for when children are ready to read. "We want to do what child psychologist Bruno Bettelheim talked about when he compared reading and eating and said, 'Give the children 'an says Doris Simpson, "Wishbone's" di Decker boss would rather the issue not be discussed: This is', racially sensitive Los Angelo.

He'd rather go with the easy solution, even if that means op- ing with the biggest mob figure in the country and leaving his dett plotting and solid characters make "Justice" yet another success in her series. 4 nJ:.