Page THE WEEKEND OUTLOOK Friday March Defining a fever By VALERIE CUNNINGHAM RN Here it is late winter and your baby is burning up You take her temperature and it is 383 degrees Centigrae That means a baby has a cold b baby has a fever baby is normal the thermometer is broken Okay so you are used to Farenheit ani have not yet become comfortable with metric Well if your baby and ther mometer are new you will pro bably now have get used to Centigrade degrees 370 degrees will be noted as normal Therefore 383 degrees must be a fever right Well probably but not necessarily degrees is normal for an oral temperature but a rectal temperature can be expected to be higher and an ax illa or under arm temperature can be expected to be lower so 378 degrees might be normal for your baby and degrees is only half a degrse higher in Cen tigrade But wait Centigrade degrees are bigger than ones so the difference between 380 and 390 degrees Centigrade Celsius is much greater than the difference bet ween and degrees So all answers are possible although is most unlikely and most likely The Physicians Handbook defines a fever as a rectal temperature of 385 or higher on at least four occasions over a minimum of a twoweek period So what You as parents will be concenred if baby is feverish for a few days and you would be wiser to take the temperature of a young baby under the arm You will want to know the cause of the fever and treat it Often no definite cause is found but know ing the elevations and pattern of temperature is one piece of useful information That combined with an awareness of any other changes in your babys condition are important facts to report to your family doctor Valerie Cunningham Is a nurse who has an In dependent practice She may be reached at During April and May she will lead two paren ting courses for the ParentChild Centre Call the Centre at for more information 26 St Georgetown 8779896 Fkar Fit ltd Main Street South Downtown Georgetown 8731470 GEORGETOWN OPTICAL NO ONE EVER REGRETTED BUYING QUALITY MARKET PLACE PLAZA 8773562 HOURS CLOSED MONDAY Saturday Easter Seal mail campaign gets underway Say I saw The Herald it in The Easter Seal Society is here months of the year to help children who have physical disabilities The month of March however is the time of the Socie tys direct mail cam paign when more than 36 million Easter Seals will be mailed to nearly million households all over Ontario The Easter Seal Campaign goal for is million The Seals remind people that the need is there all the time The need to help children to achieve their greatest potential The outlook for 1991 is for midable as the Society faces the effects of increased costs tight budgets and serious economic decisions at all levels of govern ment The Easter Seal caseload is larger every year explains George Doty the Societys Presi dent This is because advances in medicine and technology save and prolong lives that would have been lost 10 years ago And it is important to make those lives as full and rewarding as humanly possible There are 7700 children in On tario on the Easter Seal caseload Those children and their families are helped by a variety of pro grams ranging from nursing care summer camps diagnostic clinics in Northern Ontario financial assistance for equip ment treatment and transporta tion respite care parentfamily support groups augmentative communication programs and rehabilitation research grants Founded in 1922 as the Ontario Society for Crippled Children The Easter Seal Society is dedicated to helping families in tegrate their children in the com munity through home care pro grams and other services This makes a lot of sense psychologically for the child the school the community and the workforce it also saves tax dollars that would otherwise go towards institutional care A generous response to the Easter Seal Campaign translates Into help for children who need extra thought and consideration to accomplish more than they or you could have believed possible Theyre pretty wonderful kids says Doty Give them a chance this spring for all year round SAME DAY TAX RETURNS 101 Guelph St Georgetown 8772217 DENTURES FULL DENTURE SERVICES DIRECTLY TO THE PUBLIC Hew Man Cleaning it Dental Insurance accepted Wheelchair TRENTON dt Denture Therapy Clinic Church St Georgetown 8772359 Pick up a different WWF Superstar each week Now its easy to pick up Hulk Hogan Ultimate Warrior Macho King Randy Savage and Big Boss Man Thats because theyre four WWF Power Stamps from Kentucky Fried Chicken Theyre made with nontoxic washable vegetable based ink And you can collect one every week for 99 each Then the fate of your favourite WWF Superstars will be in your hands WWF POWER STAMPS FROM KENTUCKY FRIED CHICKEN AVAILABLE AT Guelph St GEORGETOWN 8775241 Main St North ACTON 8532510