Feeling ill… and not just because of the flu!
All my vague memories of staying home sick as a child involve watching the Price Is Right, being waited on hand and foot, and generally having a very good time of it. Now that I’m an adult, being home sick absolutely blows.
I started to feel under the weather on Tuesday evening. By Wednesday afternoon, I was canceling my evening’s plans. On Thursday morning I called in sick and hadn’t left the house until Saturday. And being home alone all day with an aloof cat, a raging headache and no energy to do anything is a far cry from the delights of sick days when I was a kid.
I haven’t been hit that hard by an illness for about 5 years. I don’t get sick very easily. And while I didn’t think I had H1N1 — because I didn’t have a fever — I think I had nearly every symptom.
Calling in sick… seems like something both the federal and provincial governments have basically done. That, at least, would provide some context for the utter mismanagement of the H1N1 vaccination debacle, particularly in Alberta. More articulate men than I have provided far more lucid comments than I could on the matter. Such as Chris LaBossiere, who wrote two excellent posts on the matter over the last few days:
“But there are two segments of the population I think need to take more accountability in managing the hype and panic spreading across our region. Government and Healthcare leadership and those of use who are not considered a great risk for contacting and being harmed by the virus. The concept of free access to healthcare does not equal the public’s feeling of entitlement to its unmanaged distribution. We must consider that like all complex issues, there needs to be a complex management of said issue.” — From “Time for H1N1 Leadership. A shared responsibility.”
Chris followed this post up with a far more urgent one — one that calls on the leadership in this province to get their shit together:
“The distribution of the H1N1 vaccine should not have been so difficult. All along, Dr. Gerry Predy and the government have had a strategy on dealing with pandemics. I heard him speak over 4 years ago to the Edmonton South Rotary Club about what he called then, a certainty. He said that a flu pandemic was not a matter of if it might happen, as much as when it will happen. Minister Liepert is now coming across like a cat chasing a ball of yarn. He has lost control of the messaging in this situation and the Premier seems happy to watch from the sidelines, delegating the entire situation to his Minister and senior bureaucrats. This is NOT leadership.” — From “So far so… what? Where are you Ed?“
I may have felt like utter piss this past week… and this sick feeling is only compounded by the negligent leadership demonstrated in the handling of the H1N1 vaccination debacle. I fail to understand how a government so explicit in its messaging of the importance of being vaccinated could be so unprepared when citizens actually heed their word. Now, they’re scrambling and implementing restrictions on vaccination delivery that, frankly, should have been in place from the beginning.
Bunch of Eddie-come-latelies, this provincial government. Thank the gods we have guys like LaBossiere upset enough to speak out about it!
Just my two cents:
(a) we are, don’t forget, in a pandemic. Not everything is going to run smoothly and personally, I think things could be a lot worse and we could be farther behind the eight ball than we are. I’m glad I’m in this country and not a third world nation where they would be happy to be in our shoes b/c we have clean water and access to medicine.
(b)It would have been difficult to only grant access to the vaccine to high-risk people as healthy people can be carriers and come in contact with high-risk groups such as the elderly or children. Although I am considered high-risk, I was more inclined to get the shot to protect my ailing grandma and young nieces and nephews from coming in contact with it. It was less for me and more for those around me.
Everyone’s entitled to their opinion on how things should be run but it seems to me that lately, all anyone wants to do is complain. If we look at the big picture, we have it pretty good and in a pandemic situation, there’s no where else I would rather be than in this great country.
Again, just my two cents. No disrespect intended.
I guess I just don’t see this as all the governments fault and quite frankly am sick of people (not you) who do nothing but complain when they haven’t done any actual research to substantiate what they’re complaining about. And the media just encourages them.
There is one maker of the vaccine. One. And they can only make so much at a time. They also can’t make both versions of it at the same time so right now they’re focused on producing the non-booster type. We will get more. In a few weeks. Just relax everyone. At least there is a vaccine and we have access to it (and yes, we will all have access to it) with no cost out of our pocket.
While I agree that the Walkerton issue was sad, it’s not like it’s a daily occurrence in this country. We still live in a world run by humans and ultimately humans make mistakes. And I’m not trying to diminish what happened at Walkerton at all; all I’m saying is that a handful of “fiascoes” aren’t how I choose to remember or judge my country or it’s government. The people responsible need to be held accountable and then, quite frankly, we all need to move past it. I know that’s not easy for people who lost loved ones but dwelling on the past won’t bring them back.
Personally, I just think people need something to complain about and I’m sick of it. We live in this amazing world filled with all the privileges we could ask for. Is it perfect? Absolutely not. But it never will be so let’s appreciate what we have access to now rather than focus on the few things we don’t. As a culture we have developed this disgusting right of entitlement that has spiraled way off course; especially those people who don’t bother to do any research and believe whatever they hear on the news or from friends.
Also, I’m glad you’re feeling better! 🙂