The office of Sen. Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens) hosted a community fundraiser event on July 22 at Hamburger Mary’s restaurant with support from councilmembers Lena Gonzalez and Jeannine Pearce, the nonprofit Long Beach Lesbian & Gay Pride and the LGBTQ Center of Long Beach.
There are currently 22 confirmed cases of meningitis in the county— six of which have been present in Long Beach since May.
“The recent meningitis outbreak is a public health concern for all residents, including those who identify as LGBTQ,” said Sen. Lara, who represents the 33rd District, in a press release from his office. “I am proud to collaborate with local leaders and organizations to raise awareness and encourage individuals to get vaccinated.”
Lara was not present during the event because of traffic, according to Jesse Melgar, his communications director.
Hamburger Mary’s, located at 330 Pine Ave., donated 50 percent of all food and drink proceeds from the fundraiser to the LGBTQ Center for meningitis research. A total of $1,068 was raised, confirmed Porter Gilberg, executive director of the center, via email with the Signal Tribune on Wednesday.
Meningitis is an inflammation of the membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In most cases, the infection is caused by a virus, but bacteria and fungus are among other triggers, as well.
[aesop_image imgwidth=”500px” img=”http://www.signaltribunenewspaper.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Screen-Shot-2016-07-28-at-2.59.49-PM.png” align=”left” lightbox=”on” caption=”During a community event at Hamburger Mary’s on Friday, July 22, Porter Gilberg, executive director of the LGBTQ Center of Long Beach, said it is critical for people to join together and support those, specifically LGBTQ people, who are being impacted by the recent meningitis outbreak. Gilberg urged people to get vaccinated at the center. ” captionposition=”left”] First District Councilmember Gonzalez pointed out that three of the meningitis cases in Long Beach involve gay or bisexual-identified men. She said it’s important to understand that resources in the city, namely the Long Beach Health Department, are there to provide help in dealing with the meningitis issue.
“There’s so many things we can do to highlight the issues in this community,” she said during the event. “It’s sad to see that these things are happening, but, at the same time, if we don’t get educated, we are not going to get better… We can incorporate technology, we can talk to each other, we can collaborate, we can make sure the mayor is championing a lot of the issues, as well— being the openly gay mayor that he is and being so supportive of the measures we have been doing.”
Gonzalez said an agenda item will be introduced on Aug. 2 during the city council meeting that will ensure Long Beach will be making coordinated efforts to combat meningitis.
Second District Councilmember Pearce, who was in her first week in office, touted the LGBTQ Center’s mantra of “sharing is not always caring” in response to the meningitis outbreak.
“Even though we love sharing, and we teach our kids— though not with us tonight— that sharing is caring, I’m told that sharing is not always caring,” she said. “So, let’s make sure that we know that cigarettes and e-cigarettes we can kind of keep to ourselves. Food and drink, while we are all toasting and enjoying it together and sharing a bit— just buy your friend an additional drink. They’ll love you more than sharing it. And kissing, I mean, I’m just going to leave it there.”
The germs that cause meningitis can spread person-to-person through respiratory and throat secretions, such as saliva or spit, and close contact with someone, according to the LGBTQ Center.
The center also provided the following risk factors for meningitis:
Bad habits
Smoking, drinking alcohol, lack of sleep, improper nutrition and stress all serve as risky habits that decrease the potency of the immune system. Sharing items such as cigarettes, e-cigarettes, cigars, pipes, chap-stick or lip gloss may also be harmful due to the potential traces of saliva that may spread bacteria.
‘Sharing is not always caring’
Keeping direct contact with an infected person and sharing food utensils, such as forks, spoons and chopsticks, and drink cans, such as bottles and cups, and even straws may transmit the bacteria person-to-person.
Direct contact
Kissing, coughing and sneezing are all forms of direct exposure to saliva, which helps spread meningitis. The center encourages people to practice sneezing into sleeves.
A distinction Ismael Salamanca, director of Health & Wellness Services at the LGBTQ Center of Long Beach, made during the event between the present outbreak in Los Angeles County and the one in 2014 that impacted people from Palm Springs and West Hollywood is that the individuals reporting the disease currently have not been associated with substance use. However, one of the cases included a smoker, and the other a person who was HIV positive.
[aesop_image imgwidth=”500px” img=”http://www.signaltribunenewspaper.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Screen-Shot-2016-07-28-at-2.59.38-PM.png” align=”right” lightbox=”on” caption=”During a fundraiser event on Friday, July 22 at Hamburger Mary’s restaurant, 1st District Councilmember Lena Gonzalez talked about the “need to do something” in response to the recent meningitis outbreak in Los Angeles County. She added that an agenda item will be introduced on Aug. 2 that will ensure Long Beach will be making coordinated efforts to combat meningitis.” captionposition=”right”] “It’s just not drugs,” he said. “We are learning more.”
Salamanca added there were zero cases of meningitis in Long Beach in 2014. He said research on the disease will continue to find trends in order to be properly prepared.
“I’m happy that the City is jumping on this a lot quicker now because we are noticing something is up within our community,” Salamanca said, “and we can make a difference and stop this.”
The LGBTQ Center of Long Beach will be providing free vaccinations for those who require protection on Saturday, July 30 from 10am to 2pm at its location, 2017 E. 4th St.
Salamanca called it a simple vaccine— one shot, which takes seven to 10 days to take effect. He reminded people who are interested to bring vaccination records.
He added that the meningitis vaccine is good for five years, which “means you don’t always have to redo it every time there is an outbreak.”
For those seeking to get the vaccine and are ages 50 and over, or who are HIV positive, the nurse on-site will provide instructions about a follow-up vaccination and check-up to ensure the immunization has taken effect, according to Salamanca.
Gilberg is encouraging people to take the necessary precautions and to be prepared.
“We have enough vaccinations for everyone,” he said during the event. “We are talking to our health department every day to get the latest information… If you are worried about your risk, come in, get vaccinated. The worst that can happen is that your are not exposed, and you are not going to get meningitis.”
He also called it crucial for people to come together and support those, specifically LGBTQ people, who are being impacted by the meningitis outbreak.
“We know that when there is something specifically impacting LGBTQ people, that it is incredibly critical that we come together,” Gilberg said. “I am incredibly proud that we live in a city where we have a health department that’s taking this meningitis outbreak seriously… And I know that we matter because of our leaders in Long Beach, because of businesses like Hamburger Mary’s and because of our health department saying that, ‘We deserve information, we deserve vaccines.'”
Attempts to contact Lara for an interview by press time were unsuccessful.
For more information about the LGBTQ Center of Long Beach’s services and research on meningitis, visit centerlb.org/meningitis or call (562) 434-4455, ext. 230.
The following is a list of vaccination sites:
APLA Health & Wellness
Long Beach Health Center
1043 Elm Ave., Suite 302
Long Beach, CA 90813
(562) 432-0700
AHF Wellness Centers-Long Beach
3500 E. Pacific Coast Hwy.
Long Beach, CA 90804
(562) 494-4983
Long Beach Department of Health & Human Services
Immunization Clinic
2525 Grand Ave.
Long Beach, CA 90815
(562) 570-4315
