Social responsibility with H1N1 and Flu vaccine

Have you got your H1N1 vaccine? Are you planning to? or are you one of these individuals that “don’t believe” in vaccines? Yes, its your body and your choice, yet what is your social responsibility if you do get sick?

With the flu you are contagious 24 hours before showing any symptoms. Just staying home when you become sick means that you have likely been spreading the virus for 24 hours already. You continue to be contagious even after you feel fine. If you decide not to get the vaccine you are also exposing your friends and family to the increased risk of the virus.

Without the vaccine this year what can you do to be socially responsible and reduce the spread of the flu? Well if you have children and they also don’t get the vaccine, keep them home if they start feeling sick. You may find that schools will send your child home if they suspect any possibility that they are sick or showing signs of the flu. You should also stay home from work, don’t go to public gatherings. One that is often missed, don’t go to the grocery store or drug store, you could infect a lot of people there when you touch items in the store, the shopping cart or deal with the cashier. Send someone else to the store who isn’t sick or use a home delivery service.

Travel will be interesting this year. Without the vaccine, could the airline stop you from boarding? If you show signs of the flu it will likely restrict your travel plans.

Some feel that the H1N1 scare is overblown, and it may be. Yet, I will error on the side of caution and do what I feel is the socially responsible thing.

H1N1 Vaccination

Since the time of Louis Pasteur there have been detractors of vaccines. Misinformation from seemingly reliable sources against vaccination has cost countless lives. Science is not often definitive and this ambiguity is used to raise doubt in some individuals predisposed to disbelieve.

Should you take the H1N1 vaccine? Many people who don’t get the annual flu shot are already saying they won’t. Otherwise normally intelligent parents who have failed to vaccinate their children will also avoid the H1N1 flu shot. We leave many such decisions to individuals, and for minors to their parents.

H1N1 Vaccine

I am not a medical professional and not qualified to make recommendations to anyone. I will follow my own conscience and listen to the counsel of who I believe to be trusted sources. Where each of us gets our information and how we use it is as unique as our own own decision making capabilities. What I know of H1N1 and the flu shot is limited, having seen people who have it or suspect the have it makes me concerned.

What has been reported is the older people born before 1950 are more likely to have antibodies that will help protect them from H1N1. The consensus of health professionals is that this virus is more likely to infect young adults. Women and more specifically pregnant women are most at risk of infection. The reported mortality rate of H1N1 varies from 1% to 4%; and while it is still young people who are at risk, children with preexisting conditions; diabetes and neurological conditions have higher mortality. Again consider that this high risk is both in the catching the virus and in mortality; once a person has the virus, as with any flu, how you deal with it and how your body reacts will determine the outcome.

My personal fear of H1N1 is how closely it seems to resemble the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918. This flu killed millions over several years. This virus mutated and became less viral over the years; it is likely one of the reasons why people born before 1950 have antibodies that may help fend off the current mutation; H1N1 previously called swine flu.

This week Ontario begins Flu shots for citizens. The US has been vaccinating people for several weeks now and has already seen shortages. I expect governments will do all they can to get vaccines for everyone who wants one. Individuals will have to make up their own minds on if they will get this years flu shot. I will.

Would you wear a bullet-proof vest as a policemen entering potential dangerous situation? Would you wear a gas mask as a firemen entering a smoking building? Wear gloves, put a hard hat on when entering a construction site? The flu shot, in my opinion is the same. If you are offered protect why would your refuse it? Of course the choice is your own.

Praise to the volunteers

This week the eHealth scandal in Ontario hit the press, $ 1 Billion spent to deliver electronic health records with little results. The Auditor General’s report on the eHealth initiative highlighted the cost of consultants hired, and the wasted opportunity to modernize the healthcare system. This same week our neighbor passed away, who volunteered for 48 years at the Etobicoke General Hospital. Consider the value of this selfless act against the actions of eHealth.

In my extensive experience in the health community of Ontario I’ve met many dedicated individuals seeking to improve health care. Nurses, doctors and regular people who directly impact health care. Volunteerism is very important in our health care systems both for fund-raising and in the delivery of care. These unpaid support staff in our hospital system save millions of dollars to the overall health care system.

Dorothy volunteered for 48 years, beginning with the fund raising efforts to build the local hospital; helping to get patients to their appointments and working in the gift shop. Her children were born in that hospital and in the end she passed away there. Last Friday the hospital honoured her work by flying the flag at half-mast. Even though a volunteer received no pay for their work, it is the most valuable gift that can be made.

Compare this with the millions of dollars taken out of the health care system by consultants working at eHealth Ontario. We all pay for our health care through taxes, so this is our money being spent. Even the consultants working at eHealth are tax payers, they should have been watchdogs of our money.

We can make a difference in health care. We need more dedicated professionals and individuals committed to helping improve the system.

Farming in the city

Recently there was an article about industrial and residential properties in Detroit being used for farms. This is an excellent idea and one that will help us all. As manufacturing shrinks the factory land used for constructing cars can be used to feed people.

Southern Ontario and Michigan are renowned as car country. Detroit, aka Motown, home of GM and Ford, automotive capital of North America and its little brother, Windsor home to Oldsmobile and Chrysler are also found in some of the most productive soil in Canada. The temperate weather in this area makes it suitable for fruit trees, vegetables and grains.

Detroit Farming

Early spring, late summer and the warming affects of the Great Lakes makes this area excellent for farming.

As a child growing up in Windsor, Ontario I watched as the orchard at the end of our street was bought, ploughed over and turned into a Ford factory. Down the road the corn, wheat and a tomato farms became parking lots and industrial sites. The land was converted to manufacturing. Now its returning to is orginal purpose.

I remember being taught that this land could sustain four cash crops in one year. Winter wheat could be planted in the fall, in spring the seeds would germinate early allowing for a quick harvest in April or May. Beans and corn could be planted along side tomatoes and harvested by August, before the end of summer crops of cabbage and root vegetables could grow right into October. Factories had replaced all this, now we can regain this farm land for what it was created for.

Farming in Detroit

Happy New Year

Maya

It is September, the true start of the new year. If you are or have been a student you know what I mean. For those of us born in this month it truly is the beginning of a new year.

We rotate around the sun. One full year’s journey. Our system of counting age. Calendars are very much human inventions. There are not natures mechansim for tracking time.

Consider how each culture from Chinese, Arabic, Hebrew, Aztec, Mayan, Roman and Egyptian have created their own unique calendar. Is there a universal method of tracking time? I don’t believe we have found it. I believe there are still mysteries of time that we have not discovered.

We still measure time like ancients; using a fixed point in time; the birth of a king, the start of dynasty or position of stars. We count days using sunrises and sunsets. Yes, we have developed time-zones and standard time but this is arbitrary as well.

We can measure the approximate age of fossils using carbon dating. Radition half-life can be used to measure time, but only in human terms. What is cosmic time?

Our universe is ever expanding, from the start to the end all the matter in the universe existed and will contiue to exist. This implies that what makes us also will exist beyond our time on this planet. Therefore we have always been part of the universe. Which makes us all ageless.

So have a great journey one more time around the sun!

What do you believe in?

When we become conscious of something, we bring about the critical collapse of the wave function, so that the perplexing mixed states of life and death disappear – Eugene Wigner (1902-95)

Man has learned to create life in a test tube and by cloning. Talking to GOD the scientists said “we don’t need you anymore”. God impressed by the progress of man suggested that the scientist create a man the way He had done at the beginning of the universe. The scientist said “sure” and reaches for some dirt. “No, no,no” said God, “get your own dirt”. -Anon

Quantum physics evolved during the 20th century to explain the universe and the atom. What is difficult to explain in classical physics is explained by quantum mechanics. The Law of Conservation states that energy can be neither created nor destroyed. In every equation we are left with the core question how did we get here?

I have been asked several times in the last few months if I believe in God? It’s a simple question with a complex answer. It is important to separate this question from “what religion are you?”

Man has always needed God to explain the universe. Ancient man attributed lighting to God. Zeus threw bolts of lighting, in India and Asia the Gods where the creators and the destroyers. We have had multiple Gods, even in monotheistic religions there are aspect of plurality. Does man always need a God to explain the universe?

“God created man in His own image”, this is a typical Judeo-Christian belief. It is our shallow thinking to believe that this means physical attributes. I tend to believe man created God in their own image. We envision a grey bearded old man sitting on a cloud. Perhaps “His own image” is our consciousness.

Our essence is star dust, we are particles of the universe gathered and configured to be living creatures. Yet, every explanation and theory about life and the creation of the universe ends up at the same point. Nothing.

How is it possible?

Island Caretaker needs help

Sailing Maxi into arlie

Best Job in the World is Tourist Queensland promotion for Islands of the Great Barrier Reef. This last winter thousands of hopefuls made viral videos and applied to be the “island caretaker” of Hamilton Island. Yours truly included. The winner was a blond brit; Ben Southall, a young enthusiastic beach and surf poster boy. An obvious choice, second only to a female version backpacker adventurer type.

Now only one month after the start of the Island Caretaker job was awarded, Tourism Queensland is looking for 4 mates; Island caretaker helpers for Ben Southall. It seems the job was just too much for this “bloke” from UK. Perhaps experience should have been the choice over blond beach hair? Or its just that after the fanfare of the “best job” competition the PR drive was not able to be sustained and a new way to grab attention and capitalize on those million of internet hits was needed.

Personally I would love to win a 7 week trip to Queensland for me and 3 of my friends. It is just my type of trip. My wife and I have done much of this trek already. In 2004 and 2005 we travelled from Perth to Ayers Rock to Cairns, Australia, doing several weeks in Queensland. Flying down to Rockhampton and then driving up the sunshine coast to Townsville, MacKay, Arlie Beach, Tully, Mission Beach and up to Port Douglas, Cooktown and Kuranda. Along “Bruce” the only highway I know with a proper name (Where else but Queensland?), We experienced the people and places of Queensland and blogged about it on http://Mytripjournal.com/Queensland2005.

Queensland Vacation

Should I enter this competition? Of course. At least this time I wouldn’t have to sit in the snow.

Transparency is Critical

I am of the opinion that transparency reduces errors as well as corruption. My belief is that you should behave as if the world is watching you. And in this day and age this would seem to be the case.

Everywhere you turn there are cameras, all forms of media channels, and lurkers. Do you remember Rodney King? Do you think the policemen would have acted the way they did if they knew a camera was recording their actions?

Access to information laws make it possible for reports to get detailed information from meeting schedules, bills and invoices along with any public document. There is just no hiding the facts, and if someone tries this it is more damning than the actual evidence.

Politics and healthcare have been linked for many reasons this past year. Primarily it is because of the escalating costs associated with government run programs, our aging population and our rising chronic diseases. Some believe that government should not run our healthcare system. I believe if we trust the government to collect our taxes, pay for education, build our roads, and manage the military than why is healthcare any different?

We need to be transparent on the cost of healthcare and the delivery of it needs to be focused on the people involved. You don’t want a doctor or nurse to pause for a second, when delivering care to check if you can afford it. If a patient needs help then provide the care needed. No insurance company, private or public should get in the way of patient care. No secret decisions or exclusions; transparent public scrutiny is the best way to achieve better care.

I recall reading about a hospital that not only allowed but encouraged patients to review doctors’ notes and entries in their paper charts. What the administrators noticed is that very quickly the doctors’ handwriting improved. The reason is obvious, patients would ask questions of notes they couldn’t understand or read, this increased the time doctors’ spent to explain what they wrote. Clearer written notes also became more explicit and coherent. Imagine.

Now if this was electronic, the patient could also review, annotate and correct errors. The system could provide full audit trail and timestamps. No more questionable practises, short hand notes or incorrect doctors’ orders. And also better drug management would be possible.

Shining a light on health practices, giving access to those that need it while securing privacy of personal details, I believe will lead to better health outcomes. The same is true of financial investments and government.

Would Bernie Madock have been as successful with his ponzi schema if everyone knew how their money was being invested? Would Watergate have happened? It’s all well and good for newspapers and investigators to find and report on these events, yet it would be to everyone’s best interest to prevent them from happening, and the means to achieve this is greater transparency.

Who’s your keeper?

When you go on vacation you give a key to your home to someone. You may even have a neighbour that keeps an emergency key for you. And you trust them not to go through your stuff; just water the plants and bring in the mail. Who does this for your health information?

When you are travelling do you have enough information with you about your health? Can you get your health information? What if you are unconscious, perhaps your spouse or travel partner can convey the information needed.

Of course your family doctor has your health information, right? So is your doctor your keeper? Can they provide this info when you are out of town? When you are in the waiting room of a hospital in another city or country, when you can’t speak for yourself, who is your keeper?

Medic Alert has a great message; “we speak for you”. Their service includes more then allergy alerts it includes health information. Other services provided phone support for medical emergencies.

As a Scuba Diver my wife and I belong to Divers Alert Network(DAN), along with travel insurance DAN provides a 24-7-365 phone services in case of medical emergency. But they don’t have my medical record.

Perhaps all you need is a sheet of paper folded up in you pocket, with a list of numbers, perhaps drug prescriptions and contact details. Is this enough?
With my bank card I can go to any ATM almost anywhere in the world and withdraw money. I may not be able to deposit a physical cheque but with ATM access and internet access I can do almost all of my banking anywhere I go.

Clarity Health Journal

Yes the same is possible with my health information. A smartcard with PIN access, that can be read in any computer in a hospital of doctors’ office. And you can use the internet to access what you need. Of course you will still need a neighbour to water you plants and feed the cat.

Manage your diabetes

Architecture and Human Scale

Ancient cities and civilizations are fascinating to me. What we humans have created are structures that always seem grand and beyond the imaged scale of ancient cultures. From the Great Wall of China, the Pyramids of Egypt, the ancient African city of Zimbabwe, Inca and Mayan temples of the Americas and countless other ruins in England, India, and Asia show us the tremendous labours of the ancients.

Architecture for the most part reflects our interpretation of nature. The columns of the Acropolis are the Greek representation of the towering trees of ancient forests that were lacking in the peninsula.

Giza

The roman arch is a reflection of the primitive caves that prehistoric human used as dwellings. Pyramids are mountain substitutes for civilizations, tall outposts that can be used as observation points. All are artifacts to represent the glory of the society.

In the pacific, Easter Island artifacts became sculptures of human forms larger than any human. Some believe that this civilization used up all their resources to make these stoic busts and caused the demise of the island culture.

While ancient ruins are incredible, I am more intrigued at two civilizations that seem to have left no permanent structures. In Australia there is evidence that the aboriginals lived there for over 60,000 years. Yet, there are no ancient structures, pyramids, or city dwellings. The other similar civilization to have left no permanent markings on the land in which they live is the American native cultures of Northern Canada. While it can be argued that the “Inukshuk” used by the Inuit were permanent structures, for most the part from the Arctic Circle to the Great Lakes the First Nations of Canada had little to no permanent.