Shiloh
Editor, Senior Moderator
Source: http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2009/09/26/11146356.html
Sheltering the vulnerable from H1N1
Homeless shelters, daycares step up precautions to prevent outbreak
By AEDAN HELMER, Sun Media
OTTAWA -- If the H1N1 flu bug finds its way into the city?s homeless shelters ? and many experts predict it will ? the outbreak will be the least of Michael Copeland?s worries.
The 64-year-old client of the Salvation Army?s Booth Centre has already been hospitalized three times in the past few months with a variety of ailments, and he?s not about to let the flu get him down.
Absently sipping from a chipped porcelain coffee mug, Copeland perks up when the large screen television in the shelter?s third-floor lounge flickers on.
The weather-worn lines in his face deepen as he strains to hear the latest bulletin from Ontario?s public health office.
More than 4,000 cases of the flu already in the province, 24 deaths, bold-print headlines and breaking news flashes following in the wake of every new official report.
?I have no interest in it at all. Nobody talks about it at all around here,? says Copeland. ?That doesn?t mean it?s not out there, but it?s not something that?s going through our minds all day. What comes, comes. I don?t think there?s any big panic.?
In the words of Wendy Muckle, executive director of Ottawa Inner City Health, H1N1 ?ranks low on the priority list? of concerns among shelter clients.
Officials within Ottawa Public Health and other agencies, however, are taking a different view.
Along with daycare centres, schools and hospitals, homeless shelters are considered prime viral breeding grounds.
?We recognize that we have a population that will be more vulnerable than the general population,? says Muckle. ?They?re in poorer health and in a more congested setting, so it?s a population that is more prone to getting sick, and they?re also at a higher risk if they do get the disease.?
A supply of Tamiflu ? the H1N1 vaccine ? is on reserve for each of the approximately 80 staff spread across the health network?s five primary shelters.
OICH began stockpiling protective equipment ? rubber gloves, gowns and masks ? after the deadly SARS outbreak gripped Toronto, and again after the relatively small-scale avian flu outbreak hit several years ago.
?When we had the outbreak of H1N1 (in April), we were probably better prepared than most because we?ve done all of this work already,? says Muckle.
?We?ve been working on this for a while, so we just stepped up to a more alert state, with more active screening of people and isolation of people who appear to have flu symptoms.?
Staff screened clients during the spring outbreak and isolated 20 people who displayed flu-like symptoms.
Two of them tested positive for the virus.
?If it gets in here, look out,? says John, another Booth Centre client, who declined to give his last name. ?They ain?t gonna stop it. How can they? Wash your hands, wash your hands, they say, but come on, we?re all breathing the same air in there.?
Officials at OICH are already planning to use the Booth Centre, on George St. in the Byward Market, as a quarantine of sorts if the flu can?t be contained.
?For us it?s not a matter of whether or not we?ll have cases. We know we?ll have cases,? says Muckle. ?For us, it?s being vigilant to pick up the cases as soon as they develop symptoms so that it doesn?t spread everywhere.?
Childcare centres are facing the same eventuality, and with an equally vulnerable population.
Doreen Cowin, executive director of the Child Care Providers Resource Network, said there is a real possibility child care centres will have to close for weeks at a time to prevent the spread of illness to vulnerable immune systems.
And with pregnant women ? who face a greater risk of complications related to H1N1 ? representing a significant proportion of home daycare providers, Cowin says steps must be taken to limit exposure to the virus.
?Our message to our caregivers is to have their sickness policies in place ... in some cases it?s easier for a caregiver to send a child home if they?re sick,? says Cowin.
?There?s a real concern around taking children out to play groups, or to any place where there are groups of children congregating. Some caregivers are telling me they?re going to stay home, and they?re doing it now, before the pandemic strikes.?
Coun. Diane Deans, chairwoman of the city?s community and protective services committee, is doing her best to stay on message with the best advice made available by public health officials at all levels of government: Sneeze into your arm, stay at home when you?re sick, and get the seasonal flu shot or H1N1 vaccine as recommended.
?As the board of health, we need to ensure the readiness of our city for any outbreak, but also, we?re an employer and a service delivery organization. So in that regard, we want to ensure that if there is an outbreak, we continue to offer services to the public,? says Deans.
On both fronts, as Deans told council in a briefing last week, ?We are as ready as we can be.?
Sheltering the vulnerable from H1N1
Homeless shelters, daycares step up precautions to prevent outbreak
By AEDAN HELMER, Sun Media
OTTAWA -- If the H1N1 flu bug finds its way into the city?s homeless shelters ? and many experts predict it will ? the outbreak will be the least of Michael Copeland?s worries.
The 64-year-old client of the Salvation Army?s Booth Centre has already been hospitalized three times in the past few months with a variety of ailments, and he?s not about to let the flu get him down.
Absently sipping from a chipped porcelain coffee mug, Copeland perks up when the large screen television in the shelter?s third-floor lounge flickers on.
The weather-worn lines in his face deepen as he strains to hear the latest bulletin from Ontario?s public health office.
More than 4,000 cases of the flu already in the province, 24 deaths, bold-print headlines and breaking news flashes following in the wake of every new official report.
?I have no interest in it at all. Nobody talks about it at all around here,? says Copeland. ?That doesn?t mean it?s not out there, but it?s not something that?s going through our minds all day. What comes, comes. I don?t think there?s any big panic.?
In the words of Wendy Muckle, executive director of Ottawa Inner City Health, H1N1 ?ranks low on the priority list? of concerns among shelter clients.
Officials within Ottawa Public Health and other agencies, however, are taking a different view.
Along with daycare centres, schools and hospitals, homeless shelters are considered prime viral breeding grounds.
?We recognize that we have a population that will be more vulnerable than the general population,? says Muckle. ?They?re in poorer health and in a more congested setting, so it?s a population that is more prone to getting sick, and they?re also at a higher risk if they do get the disease.?
A supply of Tamiflu ? the H1N1 vaccine ? is on reserve for each of the approximately 80 staff spread across the health network?s five primary shelters.
OICH began stockpiling protective equipment ? rubber gloves, gowns and masks ? after the deadly SARS outbreak gripped Toronto, and again after the relatively small-scale avian flu outbreak hit several years ago.
?When we had the outbreak of H1N1 (in April), we were probably better prepared than most because we?ve done all of this work already,? says Muckle.
?We?ve been working on this for a while, so we just stepped up to a more alert state, with more active screening of people and isolation of people who appear to have flu symptoms.?
Staff screened clients during the spring outbreak and isolated 20 people who displayed flu-like symptoms.
Two of them tested positive for the virus.
?If it gets in here, look out,? says John, another Booth Centre client, who declined to give his last name. ?They ain?t gonna stop it. How can they? Wash your hands, wash your hands, they say, but come on, we?re all breathing the same air in there.?
Officials at OICH are already planning to use the Booth Centre, on George St. in the Byward Market, as a quarantine of sorts if the flu can?t be contained.
?For us it?s not a matter of whether or not we?ll have cases. We know we?ll have cases,? says Muckle. ?For us, it?s being vigilant to pick up the cases as soon as they develop symptoms so that it doesn?t spread everywhere.?
Childcare centres are facing the same eventuality, and with an equally vulnerable population.
Doreen Cowin, executive director of the Child Care Providers Resource Network, said there is a real possibility child care centres will have to close for weeks at a time to prevent the spread of illness to vulnerable immune systems.
And with pregnant women ? who face a greater risk of complications related to H1N1 ? representing a significant proportion of home daycare providers, Cowin says steps must be taken to limit exposure to the virus.
?Our message to our caregivers is to have their sickness policies in place ... in some cases it?s easier for a caregiver to send a child home if they?re sick,? says Cowin.
?There?s a real concern around taking children out to play groups, or to any place where there are groups of children congregating. Some caregivers are telling me they?re going to stay home, and they?re doing it now, before the pandemic strikes.?
Coun. Diane Deans, chairwoman of the city?s community and protective services committee, is doing her best to stay on message with the best advice made available by public health officials at all levels of government: Sneeze into your arm, stay at home when you?re sick, and get the seasonal flu shot or H1N1 vaccine as recommended.
?As the board of health, we need to ensure the readiness of our city for any outbreak, but also, we?re an employer and a service delivery organization. So in that regard, we want to ensure that if there is an outbreak, we continue to offer services to the public,? says Deans.
On both fronts, as Deans told council in a briefing last week, ?We are as ready as we can be.?