Sally Furniss
Well-known member
Looking back on a pandemic
29 April 2006 <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="5"><tbody><tr><td height="5">
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[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]While in Wellington on one of my many visits lately, my copy of the Dominion Post had a headline story: "Is Bird Flu a Threat?" Being several levels up in my hotel room I was only too aware that Wellington sits on a major fault line and isn't that a greater risk? We all remember Y2K and Sars and what fizzers they turned out to be, writes Frana Cardno in this week's Our Region.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]However, there is a real concern that the Kiwi "she'll be right" attitude means many people may not be prepared but the Ministry of Health is taking things very seriously with a $1.4 million advertising campaign in action. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]About 50 million people died worldwide during the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918-19 and Southland suffered along with most other areas. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]In New Zealand 0.78 percent of the population – or 8250 people – died, while in the Pacific Islands a devastating one in four people were killed. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]Believed to have been brought to this country by soldiers returning from World War 1, the flu killed a disproportionately high number of people between 20 and 40. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]Today some experts are concerned that if bird flu does become a pandemic it may spread rapidly due to global travel and again strike hard at those in their prime. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]Like the current potential threat, which is now present in 53 countries throughout Asia, Europe, Africa and India, this was an Avian flu. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]Often my mum talked about the "Black flu" , as it was referred to, when she lived on the West Coast and I have found it very interesting to review how we coped in Southland during this time. [/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]
[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]Cr Paul Duffy has spoken to a Seaward Downs resident, now in his 90s, who has a clear memory of events that unfolded there. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]He said that the directors of Seaward Downs Dairy Factory decreed that no one could leave or enter the district. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]All supplies were delivered to the local store and residents abided by the ruling, although some factory workers used to ride their motorbikes to the boundary and back as if they were in a cage. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]Interestingly, there were no deaths from the Spanish Flu in the area. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]The mother of one woman I spoke to was a teacher from Western Southland travelling on the train from Gore to Mosgiel during the pandemic to visit her family. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]Her mother said she was fumigated as she got on and off the train. Only one other person was travelling on this journey and there were no staff apart from the driver. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]During this time the true spirit of Southland shone through with many locals doing what they could to help others. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]One such case was that of those who were too sick to milk their own cows often struggling to their door in the morning to discover a bucket of milk already there. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]Often the butcher was the local hero, as they continued to deliver meat to those who were suffering and desperately in need of food. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]Meanwhile, different practices were used to try and avoid the flu, including a London delicatessen which remained opened during the pandemic, keeping a freshly cut onion on the counter, while perhaps also partly in drowning your sorrows, I understand that many Southlanders tried to keep the flu at bay by drinking whisky. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]Skipping back to today, the Health Ministry has spent $26 million stockpiling 855,000 courses of the anti-viral drug Tamilflu, enough for 21 percent of the New Zealand population, and it is stored in several secret and secure locations. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]In addition, drug funder Pharmac is securing extra supplies of antibiotics to cope with secondary infections.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]So what can we as Southlanders do? Perhaps the wisest thing would be to beef up your home preparations well beyond the basic earthquake scenario preparations where you'd store a bit of water, batteries, a spare radio and a wee bit of extra food. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]You may need to store a few weeks worth of food, get some extra basic medicines, store some additional cleaning, disinfectant and anti-bacterial products, have some special things stored away for the kids to do and connect to the internet so you can have detailed information on outbreak progress without having to get a newspaper. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]Because the health system in particular will be overloaded, effective support networks down to street level will be the only way communities can survive intact. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]Not many people think about it but our supermarkets tend to operate on "just in time" delivery systems and at any time only stock about two days worth of products. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]Having said this I understand at any one time there is around 10 days worth of food supply travelling through this network but with panic buying during a pandemic this would only last one or two days. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]Meanwhile, the council is involved in ongoing planning efforts to address the potential threat of a pandemic. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]Local meetings have been held with the district police commander and the emergency planner for the Southland District Health Board. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]Because the health response for both Southland and Otago will be co-ordinated from Dunedin, meetings have also been held with the Otago DHB and civil defence. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]Agreements are anticipated to be signed between the mayors and emergency services chief executives by the end of May. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]So what am I doing? I must say that I am making sure that my pantry is kept very full – and I can achieve this until the grandchildren arrive and then I must start again – while Murray has suggested that we keep our whisky stocks up in preparation for any outbreak. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]Where would we be without good planning?
[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/southlandtimes/0,2106,3651386a16346,00.html
[/FONT]
29 April 2006 <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="5"><tbody><tr><td height="5">
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]While in Wellington on one of my many visits lately, my copy of the Dominion Post had a headline story: "Is Bird Flu a Threat?" Being several levels up in my hotel room I was only too aware that Wellington sits on a major fault line and isn't that a greater risk? We all remember Y2K and Sars and what fizzers they turned out to be, writes Frana Cardno in this week's Our Region.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]However, there is a real concern that the Kiwi "she'll be right" attitude means many people may not be prepared but the Ministry of Health is taking things very seriously with a $1.4 million advertising campaign in action. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]About 50 million people died worldwide during the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918-19 and Southland suffered along with most other areas. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]In New Zealand 0.78 percent of the population – or 8250 people – died, while in the Pacific Islands a devastating one in four people were killed. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]Believed to have been brought to this country by soldiers returning from World War 1, the flu killed a disproportionately high number of people between 20 and 40. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]Today some experts are concerned that if bird flu does become a pandemic it may spread rapidly due to global travel and again strike hard at those in their prime. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]Like the current potential threat, which is now present in 53 countries throughout Asia, Europe, Africa and India, this was an Avian flu. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]Often my mum talked about the "Black flu" , as it was referred to, when she lived on the West Coast and I have found it very interesting to review how we coped in Southland during this time. [/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]
[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]Cr Paul Duffy has spoken to a Seaward Downs resident, now in his 90s, who has a clear memory of events that unfolded there. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]He said that the directors of Seaward Downs Dairy Factory decreed that no one could leave or enter the district. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]All supplies were delivered to the local store and residents abided by the ruling, although some factory workers used to ride their motorbikes to the boundary and back as if they were in a cage. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]Interestingly, there were no deaths from the Spanish Flu in the area. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]The mother of one woman I spoke to was a teacher from Western Southland travelling on the train from Gore to Mosgiel during the pandemic to visit her family. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]Her mother said she was fumigated as she got on and off the train. Only one other person was travelling on this journey and there were no staff apart from the driver. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]During this time the true spirit of Southland shone through with many locals doing what they could to help others. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]One such case was that of those who were too sick to milk their own cows often struggling to their door in the morning to discover a bucket of milk already there. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]Often the butcher was the local hero, as they continued to deliver meat to those who were suffering and desperately in need of food. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]Meanwhile, different practices were used to try and avoid the flu, including a London delicatessen which remained opened during the pandemic, keeping a freshly cut onion on the counter, while perhaps also partly in drowning your sorrows, I understand that many Southlanders tried to keep the flu at bay by drinking whisky. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]Skipping back to today, the Health Ministry has spent $26 million stockpiling 855,000 courses of the anti-viral drug Tamilflu, enough for 21 percent of the New Zealand population, and it is stored in several secret and secure locations. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]In addition, drug funder Pharmac is securing extra supplies of antibiotics to cope with secondary infections.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]So what can we as Southlanders do? Perhaps the wisest thing would be to beef up your home preparations well beyond the basic earthquake scenario preparations where you'd store a bit of water, batteries, a spare radio and a wee bit of extra food. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]You may need to store a few weeks worth of food, get some extra basic medicines, store some additional cleaning, disinfectant and anti-bacterial products, have some special things stored away for the kids to do and connect to the internet so you can have detailed information on outbreak progress without having to get a newspaper. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]Because the health system in particular will be overloaded, effective support networks down to street level will be the only way communities can survive intact. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]Not many people think about it but our supermarkets tend to operate on "just in time" delivery systems and at any time only stock about two days worth of products. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]Having said this I understand at any one time there is around 10 days worth of food supply travelling through this network but with panic buying during a pandemic this would only last one or two days. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]Meanwhile, the council is involved in ongoing planning efforts to address the potential threat of a pandemic. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]Local meetings have been held with the district police commander and the emergency planner for the Southland District Health Board. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]Because the health response for both Southland and Otago will be co-ordinated from Dunedin, meetings have also been held with the Otago DHB and civil defence. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]Agreements are anticipated to be signed between the mayors and emergency services chief executives by the end of May. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]So what am I doing? I must say that I am making sure that my pantry is kept very full – and I can achieve this until the grandchildren arrive and then I must start again – while Murray has suggested that we keep our whisky stocks up in preparation for any outbreak. [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]Where would we be without good planning?
[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, MS Sans Serif]http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/southlandtimes/0,2106,3651386a16346,00.html
[/FONT]