sharon sanders
Editor-in-Chief & President
Pandemic Flu is coming! And you better believe it!
By GRN staff
The Southern Chiefs Organization faces an almost impossible task and that is convincing people that a pandemic flu is going to take place here in Manitoba and thousands of people are going to get sick and die. The situation is going to be worst in First Nations communities.
In these days of modern medicines, and cures for most every common cold or flu, Greg McVickers, the Pandemic Flu Co-ordinator at SCO, can sound a bit like the infamous boy who cried wolf, but Greg is no "chicken little". The sky is really falling.
"There are flus which are fatal and medical professionals have stated categorically that a pandemic flu will strike," says McVickers. "I realize that it is hard to believe, especially when we often witness a friend or relative come down with a cold or the flu and then, after some rest and medication, they quite quickly return to normal. But this is a whole different thing."
Pandemic flus have struck in the past. The Hong Kong Flu of 1918 killed millions of people worldwide and the Spanish Flu of 1968 killed hundreds of thousands. These are diseases without easy cures and, while it is hard to imagine thousand dying like they did during the bubonic plague which scourged Europe, people have to realize this is real.
Try to think in terms like those "outbreak" movies (ebola virus) or avian (bird) flu. Once the virus mutates and is able to jump from monkeys and birds to humans, the results are devastating.
HERE ARE THE COLD, HARD NUMBERS: A flu pandemic can make between 4.5 million and 10.6 million Canadians sick, killing between 11,000 and 58,000 of our friends, family and fellow Canadians. and family. That would mean between 176,000 and 410,000 Manitobans would get sick, with 700 to 1,000 dying.
The SCO is taking the lead in Manitoba, a province which was recently criticized for lagging behind every other Canadian province in getting prepared for the upcoming pandemic.
"We have to be ready to minimize the impact of the pandemic when it strikes," says McVickers. "Therefore, we are producing written materials and videos which show people how they can prevent the disease from spreading. Things as simply as coughing and sneezing properly so as not to spread the virus which causes the illness.. the proper way to wash and prepare foods and so on."
"Most important, we have to stop and look around at our family and friends. Our loved ones. And realize how much we love them and how devastated we would get if they got sick, and how much we would dearly miss them if they died from an illness which could have been prevented."
For further information on pandemic flu: contact:
And support the Southern Chiefs Organization in their efforts to get the word out about this very serious issue. In any way that you can!
http://www.grassrootsnews.mb.ca/article.php?article_id=224
By GRN staff
The Southern Chiefs Organization faces an almost impossible task and that is convincing people that a pandemic flu is going to take place here in Manitoba and thousands of people are going to get sick and die. The situation is going to be worst in First Nations communities.
In these days of modern medicines, and cures for most every common cold or flu, Greg McVickers, the Pandemic Flu Co-ordinator at SCO, can sound a bit like the infamous boy who cried wolf, but Greg is no "chicken little". The sky is really falling.
"There are flus which are fatal and medical professionals have stated categorically that a pandemic flu will strike," says McVickers. "I realize that it is hard to believe, especially when we often witness a friend or relative come down with a cold or the flu and then, after some rest and medication, they quite quickly return to normal. But this is a whole different thing."
Pandemic flus have struck in the past. The Hong Kong Flu of 1918 killed millions of people worldwide and the Spanish Flu of 1968 killed hundreds of thousands. These are diseases without easy cures and, while it is hard to imagine thousand dying like they did during the bubonic plague which scourged Europe, people have to realize this is real.
Try to think in terms like those "outbreak" movies (ebola virus) or avian (bird) flu. Once the virus mutates and is able to jump from monkeys and birds to humans, the results are devastating.
HERE ARE THE COLD, HARD NUMBERS: A flu pandemic can make between 4.5 million and 10.6 million Canadians sick, killing between 11,000 and 58,000 of our friends, family and fellow Canadians. and family. That would mean between 176,000 and 410,000 Manitobans would get sick, with 700 to 1,000 dying.
The SCO is taking the lead in Manitoba, a province which was recently criticized for lagging behind every other Canadian province in getting prepared for the upcoming pandemic.
"We have to be ready to minimize the impact of the pandemic when it strikes," says McVickers. "Therefore, we are producing written materials and videos which show people how they can prevent the disease from spreading. Things as simply as coughing and sneezing properly so as not to spread the virus which causes the illness.. the proper way to wash and prepare foods and so on."
"Most important, we have to stop and look around at our family and friends. Our loved ones. And realize how much we love them and how devastated we would get if they got sick, and how much we would dearly miss them if they died from an illness which could have been prevented."
For further information on pandemic flu: contact:
And support the Southern Chiefs Organization in their efforts to get the word out about this very serious issue. In any way that you can!
http://www.grassrootsnews.mb.ca/article.php?article_id=224