‘There is H1N1 in the Valley’

BY SARA KEDDY

Kings County Register

The best most of us are going to get this week is limited: only people in risk groups will be getting the H1N1 vaccinations

The worst we could get: the H1N1 flu itself.

“We hear from physicians and they are tracking an increase in emergency rooms,” says Dr. Richard Gould, the medical officer of health for Western Nova Scotia.

“There is H1N1 in the Valley.”

Annapolis Valley Health, in fact, opened a separate walk-in assessment clinic at the Eastern Kings Memorial Health Centre in Wolfville October 31. The centre is open from 12:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. and is meant for people with mild to moderate flu-like symptoms who feel they need to see a healthcare worker. Emergency departments at Valley Regional and the Western Kings Memorial Health Centre will redirect anyone with flu-like symptoms to Wolfville. On its first day open, the centre saw 20 people; by Sunday and Monday, between 70 and 80 people were walking through the doors. Of those, one-third were under the age of five.

“We opened the clinic at the right time,” Dr. Lynne Harigan, vice president of medicine for AVH, said Nov. 3.

“We were seeing it as a surge in our ERs in the district, and when flu cases hit over 20 per cent of the visits, it was a heads-up flu is coming.”

Setting priorities

AVH is also following a national shift to limit H1N1 vaccinations for the immediate future to those in risk groups only. A huge line in Kentville at the Valley’s first immunization clinic Oct. 29 was shut down early in the evening, leaving many who had been standing for hours out of luck.

“It’s only going to get worse,” says Fred Harvie of New Minas, who was one of those turned away within 100 feet of the door after a three-and-a-half-hour wait. Looking at the list of provincial clinics, and estimating each is seeing about 450 people a day: “You do the math - there are enough clinics to do 12,000 people.

“The delivery system is shameful - they should double the number of people delivering the shots and get the lines down. I have very little chance of getting the shot at a Kings County clinic.”

At the Middleton clinc Nov. 2, 446 people received the H1N1 vaccine, while 227 people had the seasonal flu shot - all of them in risk groups.

“That clinic went really well with the prioritization, but the situation is changing almost hourly, sometimes,” says Tamara Gilley, AVH’s spokeswoman.

‘Don’t fret’

Gould agrees there has been a heightened sense of panic as the second wave of H1N1 illness rises - as expected, but “don’t fret.

“There has been a little bit of overreaction, but it’s not totally unwarranted: H1N1 in some people can be quite serious. We can’t trivialize that.

“But getting the flu is not inevitable.”

The precautions health officials are advertising - washing hands with soap and water, coughing and sneezing into a sleeve and keeping a few feet between you and someone with flu symptoms - will “buy you time.

“If you can’t get the needle until the end of November, this flu is no more infectious than normal flu. People need to be reassured.

“You’re not in danger.”

If you’re sick

And for those who do become ill, there is a large enough supply of Tamiflu to help those with the most severe symptoms, Gould says. Healthcare staffing is being reviewed, with retired nurses and doctors adding their names to lists for extra help if needed at immunization clinics and institutions. Non-essential projects are also on hold.

If you’re sick, stay home until the worst of the symptoms improve, which could take two or three days. Healthcare workers are still being asked to take seven days off. A lingering cough, say, doesn’t mean you’re still infectious if peers in the workplace, school or community are looking at you with suspicion, Gould says.

Vaccine is coming

Government is telling all Canadians there is enough vaccine to immunize everyone who wants it; this week’s “glitch,” as Harrigan calls it, was unforseen, as vaccine manufacturers switched production methods to issue a limited supply of antigen-free vaccine.

“The federal government will reassess its stockpile Wednesday, the provinces will know Thursday and we’ll find out here in our district Friday how to distribute it for the next period,” Harrigan says.

“This is thinking on your feet, but nothing has surprised us. We’ve been planning since May.”

Scheduled clinics

Annapolis Valley Health is sticking to the same schedule of H1N1 and seasonal flu vaccination clinics it set two weeks ago, but only people in risk groups will be needled. The authority anticipates a supply if H1N1 vaccine will arrive next week for a return to full service clinics.

For seasonal flu, people over age 65 and long-term care residents are at the first of the line.

For the H1N1 vaccine, risk groups include those younger than five, pregnant women, health care workers, people living in First Nations communities and people younger than 65 with a chronic medical condition.

All clinics are open between 1 p.m. and 8 p.m.

• Annapolis Royal fire hall, Nov. 9 and 18

• Bridgetown Legion, Nov. 17

• Middleton NSCC, Nov. 19

• Kingston fire hall, November 12 and 25

• Berwick fire hall, November 5 and 24

• Kentville fire hall, November 16

• New Minas Baptist Church, November 10 and 26

• Canning (Glooscap elementary), November 17

• Wolfville (Acadia auxiliary gym), November 4 and 23

WEBLINKS

www.avdha.nshealth.ca