Miss Cumberland County Educates Seniors on Lyme Disease Awareness

by Maggie Sabota – Miss Cumberland County 2007

One of my goals as Miss Cumberland County has been to present my Lyme Disease Awareness platform to a wide variety of age groups. In the spring I focused on educating children, while this summer I focused on educating seniors. During the month of July, I visited several local senior centers and gave presentations on Lyme disease.

One key point that I chose to focus on was the fact that Lyme disease likes to disguise itself as many other illnesses, such as Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, Multiple Sclerosis, Lupus and Rheumatoid Arthritis. Many of the seniors shared with me their own experiences with Lyme disease.

Several people expressed that they were misdiagnosed several times before they discovered it was Lyme. Symptoms like sore joints, headaches, memory loss, or trouble concentrating are often just dismissed as normal aging, when in fact they could be symptoms of Lyme disease.

Another concern often brought up was proper tick removal. Many of the seniors had heard conflicting information about removing ticks, from drowning them with water to suffocating them with petroleum jelly. I encouraged them to just use tweezers and pull the tick straight out. We also discussed the importance of using a magnifying glass to check for ticks. These pencil point sized bugs are very difficult to see, especially with poor eyesight.

Talking with the seniors was truly a rewarding experience. It is always encouraging to have an appreciative and responsive audience. I also gained a different perspective on how Lyme affects people of different ages. Along with my presentations, I sang patriotic songs and autographed pictures. I loved how the seniors treated me like I was famous! It made me feel really special and I was happy to share this important message with them.