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Source: http://www.canada.com/health/Manitob...292/story.html
Manitoba seeks medical volunteers to treat northern flu outbreak
By Arielle Godbout, Winnipeg Free PressJune 11, 2009 8:48 PM
WINNIPEG ? Manitoba's health minister has issued a public plea for doctors and nurses to volunteer in remote northern First Nations communities hit hard by the swine-flu pandemic.
Theresa Oswald met Thursday with leaders of Manitoba's health-care professionals to stress the need for more primary-care workers in the northern communities, where an alarming outbreak of H1N1 flu is responsible for most of the province's swine-flu cases.
"We have called for help, and we're going to be there to assist Manitobans who need the most help right now," Oswald said. "Our aboriginal people have health status that is quite disparate from non-aboriginal people; that is a fact. And in such a situation, as they would in any situation of illness, (First Nations) are more compromised and we are seeing that to be true."
Dr. Joel Kettner, the province's chief provincial public health officer, said a disproportionate number of Manitobans from First Nations appear to be infected with a severe form of the flu.
Out of 24 Manitobans who are in intensive care for severe flu-like symptoms, two-thirds are aboriginal, Kettner said.
Nine cases of swine flu have been confirmed in St. Theresa Point First Nation, about 600 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg, said Chief David McDougall ? that includes five new cases on Thursday. The neighbouring community of Garden Hill First Nation has at least two confirmed cases of the virus.
The provincial government has sent antivirals, surgical masks and respirators to the First Nations and Inuit Health branch of Health Canada, and arranged for doctors to be flown to both St. Theresa Point and Garden Hill, said Terry Goertzen, Manitoba Health's assistant deputy minister.
Garden Hill Chief David Harper on Wednesday called on governments to set up a temporary hospital in the region, adding he's struggling to bring in even the most basic medical equipment.
"Whatever it takes," he said. "We're in a war zone, we have to protect . . . our children. Especially our children, and our elderly."
First Nations officials say the outbreak in northern Manitoba is being driven by a chronic shortage of medical care on reserves, coupled with poor public sanitation and overcrowded housing. They say Ottawa and Manitoba have been unable to provide the afflicted reserves with basic medical care ? such as a doctor, or even hand sanitizers.
"It is important that Manitobans and the Canadian public understand the obstacles and hurdles First Nations are facing in accessing the basic health-care services that many others take for granted," Ron Evans, Grand Chief of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, told a gathering on Thursday to mark the first anniversary of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's apology to Indian residential-school survivors.
"We are on the verge of a full-scale pandemic, and we are once again calling upon all levels of government, the minister of health and Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, for immediate action," Evans said, adding systemic poverty problems such as poor housing and lack of access to decent medical care need to be quickly remedied. "We have no time for jurisdictional battles. We must all work together on this."
Oswald said the initial response to her appeal to the medical community has been positive, and now the logistics must be worked out.
"If every health-care professional in Manitoba were to do even one shift in a remote northern community, we would have the best primary care of any jurisdiction in Canada," she said. "I believe Manitobans are second to none when they are called to serve."
As the World Health Organization declared H1N1 influenza a full-blown pandemic Thursday, Kettner said he expected at least a half of all Manitobans will be infected with swine flu before the virus runs its course.
"I suspect, by the time this virus has worked its way through Manitoba, as many as half, if not more, Manitobans will have been infected," said Dr. Kettner, while confirming another 22 cases of the flu Thursday. In total, there have been 78 confirmed H1N1 cases in the province, but Kettner said the actual number of infected could be higher, since not everyone gets tested.
Manitoba seeks medical volunteers to treat northern flu outbreak
By Arielle Godbout, Winnipeg Free PressJune 11, 2009 8:48 PM
WINNIPEG ? Manitoba's health minister has issued a public plea for doctors and nurses to volunteer in remote northern First Nations communities hit hard by the swine-flu pandemic.
Theresa Oswald met Thursday with leaders of Manitoba's health-care professionals to stress the need for more primary-care workers in the northern communities, where an alarming outbreak of H1N1 flu is responsible for most of the province's swine-flu cases.
"We have called for help, and we're going to be there to assist Manitobans who need the most help right now," Oswald said. "Our aboriginal people have health status that is quite disparate from non-aboriginal people; that is a fact. And in such a situation, as they would in any situation of illness, (First Nations) are more compromised and we are seeing that to be true."
Dr. Joel Kettner, the province's chief provincial public health officer, said a disproportionate number of Manitobans from First Nations appear to be infected with a severe form of the flu.
Out of 24 Manitobans who are in intensive care for severe flu-like symptoms, two-thirds are aboriginal, Kettner said.
Nine cases of swine flu have been confirmed in St. Theresa Point First Nation, about 600 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg, said Chief David McDougall ? that includes five new cases on Thursday. The neighbouring community of Garden Hill First Nation has at least two confirmed cases of the virus.
The provincial government has sent antivirals, surgical masks and respirators to the First Nations and Inuit Health branch of Health Canada, and arranged for doctors to be flown to both St. Theresa Point and Garden Hill, said Terry Goertzen, Manitoba Health's assistant deputy minister.
Garden Hill Chief David Harper on Wednesday called on governments to set up a temporary hospital in the region, adding he's struggling to bring in even the most basic medical equipment.
"Whatever it takes," he said. "We're in a war zone, we have to protect . . . our children. Especially our children, and our elderly."
First Nations officials say the outbreak in northern Manitoba is being driven by a chronic shortage of medical care on reserves, coupled with poor public sanitation and overcrowded housing. They say Ottawa and Manitoba have been unable to provide the afflicted reserves with basic medical care ? such as a doctor, or even hand sanitizers.
"It is important that Manitobans and the Canadian public understand the obstacles and hurdles First Nations are facing in accessing the basic health-care services that many others take for granted," Ron Evans, Grand Chief of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, told a gathering on Thursday to mark the first anniversary of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's apology to Indian residential-school survivors.
"We are on the verge of a full-scale pandemic, and we are once again calling upon all levels of government, the minister of health and Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, for immediate action," Evans said, adding systemic poverty problems such as poor housing and lack of access to decent medical care need to be quickly remedied. "We have no time for jurisdictional battles. We must all work together on this."
Oswald said the initial response to her appeal to the medical community has been positive, and now the logistics must be worked out.
"If every health-care professional in Manitoba were to do even one shift in a remote northern community, we would have the best primary care of any jurisdiction in Canada," she said. "I believe Manitobans are second to none when they are called to serve."
As the World Health Organization declared H1N1 influenza a full-blown pandemic Thursday, Kettner said he expected at least a half of all Manitobans will be infected with swine flu before the virus runs its course.
"I suspect, by the time this virus has worked its way through Manitoba, as many as half, if not more, Manitobans will have been infected," said Dr. Kettner, while confirming another 22 cases of the flu Thursday. In total, there have been 78 confirmed H1N1 cases in the province, but Kettner said the actual number of infected could be higher, since not everyone gets tested.
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