Continued from here.
DebMcRN,
You might want to print this Toronto Star article and give it to your co-workers to read: Toronto Hospitals to stockpile Tamiflu
…A bloc of Canada’s largest and most influential teaching hospitals has decided to buy enough of the antiviral drug Tamiflu to protect all of their employees from becoming ill during a pandemic — a decision that will require huge and costly reserves of the drug.
…We are doing this because this is our business continuity plan.” But Gardam, who co-chaired the group that made the decision, admitted the 12 hospitals involved in the plan realize it will create waves that could be felt across the country.
…Gardam said a purchase order has been placed for enough drug to protect 55,000 employees for 56 days — the rough estimate of what it might take for the first wave of a pandemic to move through the community. The belief is that Canada’s pandemic vaccine manufacturer, GlaxoSmithKline, will have vaccine ready in time to protect against a second wave of illness. The total Tamiflu order cost $7.2 million dollars, Gardam said. Roche, the Swiss company which makes the drug, has told the hospitals it will start delivery in December and will complete the order by next March. Roche has guaranteed that the drugs will have a shelf-life of at least 4.75 years, Gardam said.
Medical Librarian Back In Texas MLBIT – at 10:53 I guess the process of natural selection is alive and well. You can’t pull an ostriches head out of the sand by force. It’s up to them. Sorry DebMcRN, this leaves you in the ER holding the bag!
That’s it! It’s the front line workers that will be left holding the bag. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of concern from our immediate superiors, so it’s difficult for the front-liners to want to put their life on the line. My mom raised us to be independant and taught us to watch our own backs because no one else will. When TSHTF, I’ll do what’s best for me and my loved ones.
A while back a poster said that at the CDC healthcare workers were known as “Dead men walking”. That says it all.
BTW, I have an appointment with my PCP next month for my annual exam. I’m very curious to see if her views about Bird Flu have changed since my husband last saw her. If not, I’m done. Time to find a new doc.
TCat, It’s nice to see that there are some facilities that will watch out for their staff. Maybe if more facilities step up to the plate, it will put pressure on the others to protect us.
Doctors don’t know, my ass…..On the Oprah BF special last week, a pharmacist stood up and said that lots of doctors have been coming in & buying Tamiflu for their families…..I guess if they can keep us “great unwashed” ignorant and downplay it, they can delay the inevitable panic longer…Gives them more time to get Tamiflu and other essentials for them and their families….BTW: That Oprah special was a repeat taped several months ago…..
i took my son to his dr yesterday.he saw a diffrent dr instead,for a cold.after the exam,i asked her about avian flu and if she had heard about it.she said she had heard but wasn t up to date.when i started running facts past her she became flustered and began shuffling papers.she wrote a script for the boy as we were talking,and she says that family practioners arent kept up to date with the latest but public hospital drs were.i then procceeded to tell her about the lastest cases,all the new govt sites and other new infections in hcw.she seemed totally unaware of these things and almost “ran” out the door and didnt want to discuss it anymore.we folloed her out the door and i said”so today i will tell the website i go to that you just didnt know anything about it.wow she turned around quicky and said which one is that? i said flu wickie and with that she ran down the hall dropping papers!when we left my son said “she didnt know anything”matter of factly ,and we started laughing.before we got to the car we had to turn around and go back…she forgot to give us the script!btw way i asked her for tamiflu she said no way.when she said that i said “i know you cant”hosptals and others are hoarding it or cant get it now!she said i can so get it ive givin “2″ scripts for it this year!wouldnt give me none tho.i wish he had seen his regular dr.she seemed shaken and stirred.
It’s a weird thing. On one hand they are talking about punishing medical workers who don’t show up for work in a pandemic and on the other everyone is denying the risk. If you read about the 1918 pandemic it’s the same thing. A universal desire to sweep any information under the rug. I used to assume it was just their lack of understanding of disease back then, but we are just repeating the same stuff now.
With organizations like the WHO saying things like the indonesian nurses are clear of H5N1, when WHO who knows they won’t get an accurate reading on the presence of a virus at this point, it becomes hard to believe TPTB aren’t deliberately disceiving the public. I’m not a conspiracy minded person, so I have to assume that TPTB are totally incompetant.
Which leaves the frontline medical staff in trouble. DebMcRN, like everyone else you have to take care of yourself and your family in order to be able to take care of others.
My uncle spent many years as one of the ‘big cheezes’ at the Mayo clinic and has been increasingly concerned that we were overdue for a pandemic. I remember him talking about it probably 10 years ago, but even more so in the last 5 yrs. And he wasn’t even talking about avian flu at the time.
His take on the bird flu is that if it hits like it could, it will be worse than 1918. (I think that’s in part because of the virus itself and in part because we are so overdue….makes me think of a forest fire in an area with very overgrown brush & timber….)
I’m not sure the extent to which he is prepping, despite his beliefs. My mother is visiting him later this month; I have her prepping and so now she is going to check out how much he is doing, too, lol.
I’ve also asked her to talk to him at length about it and let me know everything he says ~ I’ll pass it along, of course!
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