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(Copy of SnowyOwl's post, also at Health Care Professionals)
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Que. pandemic planners seek volunteers to fill in for ill health workers
Dene Moore, Canadian Press
Published: February 21, 2006 MONTREAL -- The Quebec government is looking for volunteers to keep the public health care system running in the event of a flu pandemic.
Leaked internal documents lay out different scenarios in the province, including a "catastrophic" situation with 35 per cent of the population falling ill with a new strain of human influenza.
Under that scenario, up to 13,000 Quebec residents could die, 34,000 would need hospitalization and 1.4 million would need to consult a doctor.
Professional organizations, including the Quebec Order of Nurses, have been asked to compile lists of inactive and retired members and students who could step in.
Louise Cantin, secretary general of the nurses' organization, said it has identified more than 25,000 people who could potentially fill in for some of the province's 55,000 practising nurses.
"We have to be able to react promptly when the pandemic situation appears," Cantin said Monday. "We know it will happen; we don't know when."
A pandemic can occur when a new strain of flu virus develops to which humans have little or no immunity. Historically, there have been three to four each century.
The Spanish flu pandemic in 1918 was the worst in recent history, killing more than 20 million people worldwide.
The last pandemic was in 1968, when more than one million people died of the Hong Kong flu virus.
With the H5N1 avian flu virus making its way from southeast Asia to Europe, concerns have increased that the next pandemic could soon be upon us.
Dr. Paul Gully, deputy chief public health officer for the federal Public Health Agency, said community and provincial health workers are on the front lines of a pandemic and making contact with potential reinforcements makes sense.
"You can't just sort of bring people in at the time because you cannot organize people at the time," Gully said. "They need to know ahead of time precisely what they are doing. You also want to make sure that they're appropriately trained."
A spokeswoman for the Quebec health department said the leaked documents are from a presentation made to various health care groups as officials put the finishing touches on a pandemic plan they hope to release in mid-March.
"We're looking at many different scenarios," said Helene Gingras.
Ontario, Alberta, Manitoba, British Columbia and New Brunswick have already released their plans.
The federal government has a pandemic plan in place which includes stockpiling possible antiviral drugs and essential service levels for utility workers, funeral service personnel and the transport of essential goods like food.
<HR style="COLOR: #cccccc" SIZE=1> <!-- / icon and title --><!-- message -->
Que. pandemic planners seek volunteers to fill in for ill health workers Dene Moore, Canadian Press
Published: February 21, 2006 MONTREAL -- The Quebec government is looking for volunteers to keep the public health care system running in the event of a flu pandemic.
Leaked internal documents lay out different scenarios in the province, including a "catastrophic" situation with 35 per cent of the population falling ill with a new strain of human influenza.
Under that scenario, up to 13,000 Quebec residents could die, 34,000 would need hospitalization and 1.4 million would need to consult a doctor.
Professional organizations, including the Quebec Order of Nurses, have been asked to compile lists of inactive and retired members and students who could step in.
Louise Cantin, secretary general of the nurses' organization, said it has identified more than 25,000 people who could potentially fill in for some of the province's 55,000 practising nurses.
"We have to be able to react promptly when the pandemic situation appears," Cantin said Monday. "We know it will happen; we don't know when."
A pandemic can occur when a new strain of flu virus develops to which humans have little or no immunity. Historically, there have been three to four each century.
The Spanish flu pandemic in 1918 was the worst in recent history, killing more than 20 million people worldwide.
The last pandemic was in 1968, when more than one million people died of the Hong Kong flu virus.
With the H5N1 avian flu virus making its way from southeast Asia to Europe, concerns have increased that the next pandemic could soon be upon us.
Dr. Paul Gully, deputy chief public health officer for the federal Public Health Agency, said community and provincial health workers are on the front lines of a pandemic and making contact with potential reinforcements makes sense.
"You can't just sort of bring people in at the time because you cannot organize people at the time," Gully said. "They need to know ahead of time precisely what they are doing. You also want to make sure that they're appropriately trained."
A spokeswoman for the Quebec health department said the leaked documents are from a presentation made to various health care groups as officials put the finishing touches on a pandemic plan they hope to release in mid-March.
"We're looking at many different scenarios," said Helene Gingras.
Ontario, Alberta, Manitoba, British Columbia and New Brunswick have already released their plans.
The federal government has a pandemic plan in place which includes stockpiling possible antiviral drugs and essential service levels for utility workers, funeral service personnel and the transport of essential goods like food.