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Susan Trieschmann’s Curt’s Café is dedicated to getting at-risk youth off the streets. P.74
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No. 131 | A JWC Media publication
NEWS
North Shore doctors leave global footprints BY BILL MCLEAN
C
ongenital arthritis had left the 28-year-old Vietnamese man bedridden for seven years. It withered his hips. It immobilized his knees. He lived on the third floor of an apartment building in Hanoi during those 84 months. “He couldn’t stand. He couldn’t walk,” says Dr. Victoria Brander, physical and rehabilitation physician at NorthShore Orthopaedic Institute. “He was trapped up there.” A local priest donated a computer to the man, who taught himself how to use it. He met a woman via a Christian dating site. They fell in love. She inspired him to do something, anything, to escape his pillowand-linen prison. He designed custom crutches. He got out of his bed, used his crutches, descended stairs and reacquainted Continues on page 12
More than 1,000 cases of canine flu have been reported recently, along with the deaths of five dogs.
Widespread dog flu prompts rare precautions BY SELENA FRAGASSI
It’s flu season — for dogs. North Shore veterinarians, boarders and others are warning residents to be on alert. Since February, a rare case of Canine
Infectious Respiratory Disease (CIRD) has hit the Chicago area and is now at epidemic levels, topping more than 1,000 reported cases, according to the Cook County Department of Animal and Rabies Control.
Five dogs have died from the virus (though none on the North Shore), and that has prompted many to take precautions against further spread of the highly contagious bug. Several area PetSmart locations have closed
their popular pet hotels. At Green Bay Animal Hospital in Wilmette, e-mails have been sent to the animal hospital’s families warning of symptoms, which include a dry hacking cough, oral discharge that is white, foamy, green or yellow, lethargy, nasal discharge, possible fever or loss of appetite. Yuppy Puppy in Lake Bluff has been hit by the virus. “Right now, people need to assume that anywhere they board their dogs there will be a very high likelihood that the dog will go home with the flu,” said Betsy Puterbaugh, owner of Yuppy Puppy, a dog daycare and boarding facility that recently had four dogs out of 60 become symptomatic during a busy spring break period last week. Puterbaugh has had a number of cancellations after encouraging clients to keep their dogs at home for a few weeks to eliminate possible exposure. In the interim, she has also offered kennel attendants to go to client homes to provide home boarding and dog walking services. Her son has even personally taken a few sick dogs to his home for owners with longstanding travel plans that have no other option; his roommate is a vet tech so they can keep a close eye on the patients. To get Yuppy Puppy back to good form, Puterbaugh has been steaming and disinfecting every hard surface in the facility each night with a disinfectant and has
UV lights in the air ducts that kill off viruses. She has also been switching out dog water bowls and requiring kennel attendants to wear newly laundered clothes every day. “The biggest problem is that dogs play with their mouths so it’s beyond just the air they breathe. There is absolutely nothing more that we could have done to keep this flu virus out of our facility,” she said, noting that when her team discovered the symptomatic dogs, all four were placed in an isolation room together where they were cared for away from the other dogs. Owners were able to check in on them through Yuppy Puppy’s webcam system. The issue she said is that dogs can be sick but not show symptoms, so “when a contagious dog walks through your door, every dog that comes near it the next 3-10 days is now 100 percent guaranteed to get the flu. It’s a vicious cycle.” Brenda Belmonte, manager of the Animal Hospital of West Lake Forest and professional dog trainer/owner of Two Paws Up, said the last time there was a known outbreak was 2008, and it was much less widespread. Her own facility has seen a number of cases in the last 10 days and, as such, has suspended all classes in Lake Forest and Lake Bluff until at least Monday, April 13. Facilities with high-density
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