Senator Mannion Launches Lyme and Tick Awareness Campaign and Announces New Funding for CNY Lyme & Tick-Borne Disease Alliance and the Community Library of DeWitt and Jamesville

JAMESVILLE, NY – Senator John W. Mannion today launched a Lyme and Tick Awareness Campaign and announced $50,000 in new funding to support the CNY Lyme & Tick-Borne Disease Alliance. As part of his ongoing tour of 50th Senate District libraries, Senator Mannion hosted an expert panel on Lyme disease and tick prevention and provided resources and information to parents and children at the Community Library of DeWitt and Jamesville, which also received $20,000 in state funding. 

Senator Mannion said, “As incidences of Lyme and other tick-borne diseases continue to rise, we must be vigilant, educated, and devote the resources necessary to protect New Yorkers. We are fortunate in Central New York to have the expertise of the CNY Lyme/Tick Alliance, the Vector Biology Lab at SUNY Upstate, and Integrative Medicine of CNY and I am grateful for their efforts to raise awareness and advance our understanding of tick-borne diseases. As a member of the Senator Libraries Committee, I am also thankful to the Community Library of DeWitt and Jamesville and pleased to have secured $20,000 to support its operations.”

Senator Mannion’s expert Lyme and tick panel included Royale Scuderi, Executive Director CNY Lyme & Tick-Borne Disease Alliance, Saravanan Thangamani, MS, PhD, and Director SUNY Upstate Vector Biology Lab, and Heidi S. Puc MD, FACP, ABIHM, from Integrative Medicine of CNY.

Royale Scuderi, Executive Director CNY Lyme & Tick-Borne Disease Alliance said, “As a community-based nonprofit organization the CNY Lyme & Tick-Borne Disease Alliance relies on donors and community funding to continue our work. We are ever grateful to Senator Mannion for his continued support and assistance in securing NYS funding to grow our tick prevention education program.”

"It is with deep gratitude that I learned of the recent funding of $20,000 from Senator Mannion for the Community Library of DeWitt & Jamesville over the next two years," said Charles Diede, Executive Director of the Library. "While final determinations have not been made for what will be done with the funding, we are looking at rising expenses higher than budgeted needs in several areas.  This funding could be the difference in keeping our budget where it needs to be at the end of the fiscal year.  We are very thankful!"

Although New York remains one of the states with the highest incidence of Lyme disease, it has been reported in every state in the US. In addition to the prevalence of Lyme disease throughout the state and country, there are more than a dozen other tick-borne illnesses in the United States. One tick may carry more than one disease, resulting in people receiving a "co-infection" from a single tick bite. The majority of tick-to-human bites occur in the warmer months when ticks are most active and when more people are outdoors for recreation or work.

As Senator Mannion continues to visit local libraries, he is encouraging students to sign up for his summer reading program. Successful participants will receive an official Senate certificate and can sign up at nyread.com.

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