Friday, May 1, 2009

New Item for the "I Am Awesome!" file

On the corporate call for my company, not the account I'm on, the exec for HSSE knew my name from initial pandemic preparedness planning in 2006 and put me out as a POC for questions and info on current H1N1 virus.

Then I got kudos because a person who is on another account was talking about what their customer was saying and I was able to explain that we have an opportunity to educate our clients on this flu. I again got kudos from the exec and from my boss and our regional group leader.

I am awesome! I am awesome! I am awesome!


Plus I had Mello Yello this morning because they were out of the other thing that I typically drink so... I'm running on high as I have not had Mello Yello in weeks again. I am running on high so much so that I was walking down the hall and wondering why it was so windy in the building and what was going on with the air pressure to cause such a wind. So I stopped to see where the wind was coming from (to look for a propped open door) and it stopped. Yeah, I was walking so fast that I was creating a wind... Dude. No more Mello Yello. None.


Anyhow, I've been busily working on making sure that everyone has supplies that I have not seen nor heard any new flu news in 4 hours. Must go check the online news outlets.

Ta ta for now!

And go wash your hands! =)

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Because I have about 5 minutes to spare

Ahh... Elton John & Billy Joel concert tickets are being given away on the radio... Sigh.

Yesterday, I went home exhausted. A couple of years ago, I was incredibly interested in the bird flu H5N1 and became the Subject Matter Expert (SME) on our account. Well, now this swine flu has come along and all of my days are full of swine flu news and data and statistics and planning and prevention and... and... and... I don't get to turn it off though when I've had enough because I have to be on top of it as much as possible. So it is all flu all day. I suspect that today, I will go home exhausted as well.

Meanwhile, the school district is closing schools and making decisions that don't seem to go along with the community's focus nor that seem to make fiscal sense. The school that the boy goes to and we were intending sending Itty Bitty to is on the list of closing schools. They are closing down the newer school that is appropriate for elementary kids and is smaller... and reopening it (same teachers, still elementary) in a older, middle school location. The 'new' location is an old building that looks like a prison. It is huge and currently has no playground. It is not appropriate for an elementary school. They are going to have to spend a good deal of money to make this building feel right for little kids. It is just beyond me. I hear that this bigger building though brings in outside revenue from renting out space to a theater group and several different intermural community sports.

Minneapolis, like most cities, has many neighborhoods that each have an individual feel to them. I like to think that ours has a sort of laid back, young family, environmentally conscious feel to it. There is a good deal of focus on shopping locally, urban environmentalism, usage of the community centers, etc. It's a fairly safe part of the city without being in the upper middle or upper class sections.

The school board says that it wants to create community schools. I like this idea. I like the idea of my kids going to school with their neighbors and getting to know them. Let's face it -- we adults don't often do a good job of meeting and getting to know our neighbors. But the kids do! They don't really care who they are as long as they find a playmate.

However they are removing the urban enviromental focus. They are putting the kids in a big school. The school is not elementary age ready.



And now... my five minutes are up... Back to Flu, flu, flu

Monday, April 27, 2009

This is just taking up space

What is the most useless thing in the house?


Me. Okay, part of me is in fact useful, however that part seems to have disappeared when I got home. I'm tired. I'm cold. My head hurts. I want to go to sleep.

Swine Flu Info

Resources:
http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/whatsnew.htm
http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/swineflu_you.htm http://www.who.int/csr/don/2009_04_24/en/index.html

You can follow the CDC on Twitter or get email updates or an RSS feed. The CDC seems to be updating faster or more frequently than the WHO.

General recommendations:

  • Wash your hands often.
  • Cover your cough properly. Sneeze and/or cough into the crook of your arm. This is the best way to thoroughly capture as many germs as possible.
  • Clean all surfaces as often as is viable. The virus can live on surfaces for over 2 hours.
  • Maintain 'safe' distances (3 to 5 feet is good in most instances)
  • STAY HOME IF YOU ARE SICK!!!
  • Adults are likely to be able to spread the virus for one day prior to symptoms and up to 7 days after symptoms appear. Kids can spread it for about 10 days after symptoms appear.
  • Symptoms are typical seasonal flu symptoms.9. If you are going to get medicated for the flu, you need to have either a preventative shot (but I don't think there is one for this strain yet) OR you need to get antiviral drugs within the first TWO DAYS of symptoms.

Prepare at home:
The preparation is the same as any shelter-in plan.

  • Have a few weeks of food on hand, up to two 6 week waves of pandemic flu was/is expected for the H5N1 virus (bird flu). I don't know what the info is on swine flu yet. But if you can stay out of the stores when/if it gets bad, then you are one step safer. Plus if they start shutting things down, like in Mexico City, then you'll have food on hand for your family.
  • Make sure you have cash on hand.
  • Make sure you have a full tank of gas.
  • Make sure that you have plenty of meds to treat the symptoms of flu -- decongestant, anti-diarrhea, cough medicine, Tylenol or other fever reducer.
  • If you can, have surgical grade or better masks on hand and non-latex gloves. If it gets bad and you have to go out, you'll want these to protect yourself. Also, if someone in your house gets it, you may want to protect your family by having the sick person wear them.

For herbalists, cat's claw tinctures would be good. They are anti-viral.

Keep in mind that HEALTHY YOUNGER ADULTS have been the ones sick -- not the elderly, not the children. This has been typical of other pandemic flus. The healthy adults are usually the care takers and the ones out and about the most to catch it. Do not assume that since you are usually as healthy as a horse that you don't or won't catch it. You are the group that is getting hit the worst so far. Also, keep in mind that we have less people infected and/or dead from the swine flu (H1N1) than the bird flu (H5N1).

Lastly, check with your HR if you or your family get sick. Many of the corporate pandemic plans have a clause in them that allow you to not come to work and not be docked or fired for absences in a pandemic flu outbreak.

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Rain

I've been sitting here, trying to figure out what that smell was. It wasn't entirely unpleasant but it was very earthy. Richness, thickness, and earthiness. Finally it came to me, it is the rain. It has been so long since we've had a good deep cleansing rain. I'd forgotten what the smell was like.

We've had rain here and there between but deep clean rain.

I'm glad that spring is here.


Even if the tree pollen is super high.