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Natural Awakenings Central New Jersey

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Planning Your #NextChapter

Mar 31, 2021 04:58PM ● By Joe Dunne

April reminds me that spring is here and with it new beginnings.  With that in mind we are proud to announce our Giving Back, #Next Chapter Scholarship Award Opportunity. As you know Natural Awakenings is about awareness, community and education. So we are excited to announce our first, in what we hope will be many, $500 scholarship.  

Complete details, qualifications and application form can be found at NaturalAwakeningsCNJ.com. The short version is this: applicants must be 25 years of age or older, and enrolled (or plan to enroll) in a continuing education program that promotes healthy living or a healthy planet. Enrollment may be a college, university, certification or other training program. This includes becoming a yoga instructor, a nutritionist course, organic cooking or farming, environmental sciences, ocean clean up—the possibilities are endless as long as it aligns with our mission. 

If you are interested, visit NaturalAwakeningsCNJ.com today and apply. Share this opportunity with others. Together, we’ll keep growing—onward and upward.


In peace, love and laughter,

Joe Dunne, Publisher

Community publisher's letter April 2021
Tick Talk

Spring officially sprung on March 21. We have turned our clocks ahead. We are looking forward to warm winds, sunny skies and the smell of fresh cut grass. The daffodils and tulips have recently bloomed and we are just starting with the yard work that comes with the warmer weather.  Sadly, another season has started ramping up.  Tick season.

•             The best form of protection is prevention. Educating oneself about tick activity and how our behaviors overlap with tick habitats is the first step.

•             According to the NJ DOH, in 2022 Hunterdon County led the state with a Lyme disease incidence rate of 426 cases per 100,000 people. The fact is ticks spend approximately 90% of their lives not on a host but aggressively searching for one, molting to their next stage or over-wintering. This is why a tick remediation program should be implemented on school grounds where NJ DOH deems high risk for tick exposure and subsequent attachment to human hosts.

•             Governor Murphy has signed a bill that mandates tick education in NJ public schools. See this for the details.  Tick education must now be incorporated into K-12 school curriculum. See link:

https://www.nj.gov/education/broadcasts/2023/sept/27/TicksandTick-BorneIllnessEducation.pdf

•             May is a great month to remind the public that tick activity is in full swing. In New Jersey, there are many tickborne diseases that affect residents, including Anaplasmosis, Babesiosis, Ehrlichiosis, Lyme disease, Powassan, and Spotted Fever Group Rickettsiosis.

•             For years, the focus has mainly been about protecting ourselves from Lyme disease. But other tick-borne diseases are on the rise in Central Jersey. An increase of incidence of Babesia and Anaplasma are sidelining people too. These two pathogens are scary because they effect our blood cells. Babesia affects the red blood cells and Anaplasma effects the white blood cells.

•             Ticks can be infected with more than one pathogen. When you contract Lyme it is possible to contract more than just that one disease. This is called a co-infection. It is super important to pay attention to your symptoms. See link.

https://twp.freehold.nj.us/480/Disease-Co-Infection

A good resource from the State:

https://www.nj.gov/health/cd/topics/tickborne.shtml

 

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