Scarlet fever outbreak affects more than 100
State health officials are still looking for the source of a scarlet fever outbreak that has affected more than 100 students at two Oahu Catholic schools.At last count, Sacred Hearts Academy had more than 50 confirmed cases and "a good number pending," said Health Department spokesman Patrick Johnston.
St. Theresa's School had doctors' notes confirming 58 infected kids, he said.
Scarlet fever is a type of strep throat that starts as a sore throat with swelling of tonsils and fever, then develops into a rash.
Absences began increasing at the schools Nov. 3, and two Sacred Hearts parents reported Nov. 4 that their children were diagnosed with scarlet fever.
"Everybody in this outbreak was affected with the same kind of strain," Johnston said.
"However, not all developed symptoms we associate with the illness we call scarlet fever."
Health officials are trying to sort out the situation and confirm the number of scarlet fever cases, Johnston said.
Don't stall, call 911—and save a life
Only 3 percent of the people who collapsed from heart attacks in Hawaii last year survived, compared to a 20 percent recovery rate in some mainland cities.Family, friends or bystanders delayed an average of seven or eight minutes before calling for an ambulance on Oahu, compared to a two-minute average in King's County, Wash., said Dr. Craig Thomas, director of the Wahiawa General Hospital emergency department.
"This is not a problem medicine can solve -- it's an informational problem, a behavioral problem," Thomas said.
He and the state's first lady, Vicky Cayetano joined other medical and community leaders in kicking off a public information campaign yesterday urging people, "Don't stall, call ... 911."
Figures show 43 of the 1,461 cardiac arrest cases handed by emergency services in 1996 survived.
Thomas said there's no scientific data about the high delay rate, but believes -- after talking to dispatchers and some who made the calls -- that it largely is "a cultural thing."
Hawaii is composed of people from many regions, some without the strong, intervention-oriented feelings found in the West, he said.
Council advances $13.5 million bailout for Ewa
A $13.5 million bailout package for the Ewa Villages Revitalization Project has won a swift first approval from the City Council.
The Council voted 9-0 yesterday to move the plan to the Budget Committee for discussion.But Councilman Duke Bainum, the project's main critic, said the measure won't have an easy time.
Roughly $12 million is being distributed to three nonprofit agencies putting up projects to help low-income families, the elderly and those needing long-term care.
Bainum said that under the bill, the nonprofits will receive federal housing monies to help purchase city land when those funds should be putting up needed projects elsewhere. He blames ineptitude on the part of the administration for the situation.
The plan is different from the original scheme calling for market and affordable homes to be built and sold in order to pay for the rehabilitation of older plantation homes, as well as area roads, sewer systems and other infrastructure.
Mayor Jeremy Harris' administration says the city will still break even and that an audit claiming the project will lose $9.6 million is inaccurate.
2 military men charged in Pearl City rape
An Oahu grand jury yesterday indicted two military men for allegedly raping, robbing and kidnapping a 45-year-old woman Friday in Pearl City.The indictment charges Army Sgt. Slava Allen Keermann, 29, with first-degree sexual assault and Marine Pfc. Phillipe Rousseau, 22, with being an accomplice to first-degree sexual assault. It also charges both with second-degree robbery and kidnapping.
Police have alleged that the two men approached the woman, demanded money, pulled her into the bushes and raped her.
The incident occurred near the Waiau Power Plant on Kamehameha Highway, where the woman was walking for exercise.
Police arrested Keermann and Rousseau at a nearby restaurant a short time later.
Each is in custody in lieu of $120,000 bail.
Fire stations accepting items for food drive
All Honolulu fire stations will be accepting nonperishable food items from Nov. 17 to 21 as part of the Community Clearinghouse Holiday Food Drive.The stations will not accept monetary donations, which should be forwarded directly to the clearinghouse.
For more information, Call Fire Capt. Edward Gabriel at 831-7746.
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Police/Fire
By Star-Bulletin staffMore pot plants pulled in Puna
HILO -- Police seized 4,730 marijuana plants during an eradication operation in the Puna District yesterday, they said.No arrests or other incidents were reported.
Maui teacher to be arraigned Tuesday
WAILUKU -- A 28-year-old teacher is set to be arraigned Tuesday in Maui Circuit Court on numerous charges related to alleged sexual assaults upon a female student in 1996 and 1997.Gregory P. Standish also has been charged with one count each of second-degree extortion and third-degree promotion of a detrimental drug.
Standish, a former sophomore class adviser at Lahainaluna High School and a teacher at Lokelani Intermediate School in Kihei, is being held in jail in lieu of $305,000 bail.
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