Armstrong will be celebrated, always, despite modesty

Neil Armstrong’s recent passing brought back vivid memories of the day back in 1969 when my family and I huddled around the small TV in our Arrowwood Drive apartment in Oxford, watching the historic moon landing and wondering what it all meant.

Much of the media chatter on Armstrong has been – unsurprisingly – vapid and superficial, but the comments I find the most telling are of the “gee he was such a modest person” variety. It used to be that modesty was sufficiently widespread that it passed unremarked as a character trait. Now it’s all about fame, celebrity, notoriety and “building your personal brand” – and modesty has been relegated to a Cabinet of Curiosities, charming relics of a by-gone era. People seem genuinely amazed that Armstrong didn’t “cash in” after the landing – he didn’t move to Hollywood, go on Oprah, pen a column in the New York Times, give motivational speeches or join a dozen blue-chip boards. He went back to his farm, taught some classes, served as a NASA bureaucrat for a short while and quit when he didn’t like it. He stopped signing autographs when he found out people were selling them for big bucks. He was no rube – he travelled and gave sage advice sparingly and discreetly. But he never called attention to himself or his achievements.

The big irony of course is that the thousands – maybe even millions – of people chasing fame and celebrity will never get it. They’ll pass from this earth remembered by a handful of people for a while and after that, disappear forever. Even the plutocrats who put their names on splendid buildings will be forgotten – how many people can identify the names attached to lecture halls at Miami University?

But the man who never wanted fame, and who ran away from it like the plague once it descended on him, will be remembered and celebrated around the world 500 years from now, just as today we remember Christopher Columbus and the other great explorers who left their mark not by who they were but what they did. And knowing this makes me feel a little bit better about the state of the world! Wilson Grabill, III, San Diego, Calif.

Astute staff at McCullough-Hyde proved their worth

Butler County has received a lot of media coverage for recent H3N2v outbreak. As the first county in Ohio to have confirmed cases, the process for identifying and investigating the disease was new to all of us in the health care industry.

The Butler County Health Department was first notified of the influenza-like symptoms by several astute staff at McCullough-Hyde Memorial Hospital in Oxford. What the McCullough-Hyde staff identified turned out to be the beginning of the largest outbreak of H3N2v virus ever seen in the United States. Butler County and McCullough-Hyde/Ross Urgent Care were at the epicenter.

The quick pick up by the McCullough-Hyde staff, and quick notification of the Butler County Health Department (BCHD), allowed a public health investigation to begin almost immediately. The Ohio Department of Health (ODH) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) became involved early on. The CDC was so interested that they sent a team of six Epidemic Intelligence Service officers for 10 days to study this outbreak and conduct extensive interviews with those who were ill.

The CDC requested that nasal swabs be performed on as many persons with influenza-like illnesses as possible. BCHD had free swab kits, a car and driver to take the specimens to the ODH lab in Columbus, and free lab analysis by the ODH and CDC. What we didn’t have was a facility and lab personnel to actually do the swabbing, store the specimens properly, and pack them up for delivery. At our request, and without missing a beat, McCullough-Hyde and Ross Urgent Care agreed to work with BCHD to swab as many sick people as possible in order to provide specimens to the CDC for extensive analysis.

At the Butler County Health Department, we know that doing our job requires a community-wide team of partners working together to protect the health of our citizens. In this instance, we are grateful to Eulin Kuranga, Robin Sutter, Dr. Horn, Dr. Birkle, and Dr. Vu, along with the lab staff, registration staff, Ross Urgent Care staff, and others. We are grateful to the administrative staff of McCullough-Hyde for agreeing to partner with us. Thanks to everyone involved, there is plenty of H3N2v virus from Butler County available for study at the CDC in Atlanta.

The Butler County Health Department would like to recognize the staff at McCullough-Hyde hospital for their significant role in this investigation. We consider McCullough-Hyde to be a solid Public Health Partner. We are writing to tell you what you already know: McCullough-Hyde Memorial Hospital is a real gem. Patricia F. Burg, director, Butler County Health Department

Cady, Singleton, Thomas Rein Fund aided Jump Start

Regrettably, the following parties were omitted from the recent article on the Jump Start reading program offered by Talawanda this summer. Jaimie Cady and Michelle Singleton worked with third-grade participants in the program. And the Oxford Community Foundation’s Thomas Rein Fund covered scholarships for 38 of the 73 participants. The Thomas Rein fund and the work of Jaimie and Michelle completed the Jump Start effort. Mary Beth Bergeron, Jump Start Team, Talawanda School District