Today's Feature

Former Hospital Building Update.

City Administrator Tom Short recently provided an update regarding occupancy status of the former McCune-Brooks Hospital building. The building has been unoccupied since the completion of the new McCune-Brooks Regional Hospital building. A verbal agreement between the City and Missouri Southern State University, a potential occupant, fell through in March of 2008. Since then, Jasper County Highway Patrol has agreed to rent a portion of the building for use as a crime lab and evidence storage facility. Short said that the legal description of the area to be used is still not finalized, and a timeframe for occupancy has not been established.

City officials have been attempting to find other interested parties to locate within the 85,000 square foot structure. Short noted that the City has received several inquiries, but none of the parties have committed to using the building.

Short also recently told members of City Council that the City had received inquiries from the Missouri Courts system regarding the potential rental of space in the basement of City hall for the storage of records.

Mornin'

Haven’t been out on the water yet this summer. Usually by now I’ve at least paddled a canoe down stream a ways. Or maybe rowed a ways in the old boat on the creek.

There was a few summers as a kid when bein’ on the water was almost a daily routine. Sail boats or water skiin’. Takin’ a dip in a farm pond. Doin’ a little fishin’.

I have a feelin’ that the modern marvel of air conditionin’ has influenced my behavior somewhat. The fact that the last time I remember water skiin’ I ached for the next week, also prob’ly factors in a mite.

There’s still some summer left, so ‘fore it’s over, it’s likely I’ll make it to some shore where I can at least skip a flat rock or two.

This is some fact, but mostly,

Just Jake Talkin’.

To Your Good Health
By Paul G. Donohue, M.D.

Roseola Is Common Childhood Infection.

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: I live in the far north, where deep snow stays until late spring. This past winter my 16-month-old son came down with a rash. We were snowed in and I couldn’t get to the doctor, but I talked with him on the phone. The doctor said it was probably roseola, a herpes infection. The baby was never very sick, but I wonder if this roseola can cause future trouble. Can it? What’s the herpes connection? -- A.S.

ANSWER: Let’s get the herpes issue out of the way right at the start. The virus causing roseola is the herpes-6 virus, not the virus of genital infections -- herpes-2 -- or the virus of cold sores -- herpes-1. It’s a common childhood infection. By the third year of life, 2 years of age, 80 percent of infants have been infected with it.

A sudden rise of temperature -- 103 F (39 C) or higher -- heralds the onset of the illness. Even in the face of this high temperature, most babies don’t look or act sick. The fever lasts three to five days and then goes as quickly as it came. Within 12 to 24 hours of the fever’s disappearance, the baby breaks out in a rash that is light red (rose-colored, the basis of the "roseola" name) and appears on the trunk. It spreads to the face, the upper arms and the upper legs. In one to three days, the rash leaves.

Almost all children recover quickly. There are no future consequences from the usual roseola infection.

No treatment is given, because no treatment is needed. However, children who have a defect in their immune system benefit from antiviral therapy.