Shiloh
Editor, Senior Moderator
Source: http://www.batemansbaypost.com.au/news/local/news/general/swine-flu-hits-bay-family/1602497.aspx
Swine flu hits Bay family
BY SALLY FOY AND EWA KRETOWICZ
21/08/2009 9:02:00 AM
Anger as man fights for life in hospital
A Batemans Bay man is fighting for his life in Canberra Hospital following his positive diagnosis with the deadly swine flu disease.
Alan White, 55, and members of his extended family tested positive for H1N1 influenza after he was transported to Canberra from Batemans Bay Hospital last Thursday.
Aaron Dixon and his partner Donna White, who are maintaining a vigil beside Ms White?s father?s bed, believe health authorities in Batemans Bay are responsible for allowing the deadly virus to spread through their family.
Four days before Mr White was admitted to Batemans Bay Hospital, Mr Dixon and Ms White took their asthmatic six-year-old daughter Jordan to the Emergency Department at Batemans Bay Hospital.
?She was taken straight through when we arrived because she had a temperature of 39.8 and was severely dehydrated,? he said. ?They put her on a drip and did a urine sample, and then they kept her overnight.?
Mr Dixon said the doctor who saw Jordan told them that there was no ?big case? of either influenza or swine flu in the area at the time, and that it wasn?t really a worry.
?He just said it was a general virus and didn?t even check her,? Mr Dixon said.
The couple had removed all of their children from Batemans Bay Primary School on the previous Wednesday for fear of a reported influenza outbreak.
?Because of Jordan?s chronic asthma, we can?t take any risks,? he said.
Following her release from Batemans Bay Hospital on Monday, Jordan slept for 21 hours. In the days after, the family followed her grandfather to Canberra Hospital, where the entire family was tested for the virus.
?We?ve all got it,? Mr Dixon said. ?My wife, my mother-in-law, my youngest son, I?ve got it. Our oldest daughter is sick but they don?t think it is swine flu.?
Mr Dixon said he had also met another woman at Canberra Hospital whose mother was transported from Moruya Hospital suffering from swine flu.
Mr Dixon and Ms White are horrified by the thought that their daughter?s incomplete diagnosis at Batemans Bay Hospital could be the reason her grandfather is now fighting for his life.
?We don?t know who gave it to who,? Mr Dixon said. ?But it is definitely a worry.?
According to Mr Dixon, doctors have told the family Mr White will remain in intensive care.
?They said he was stable but it is going to be weeks before they really know,? he said.
?They tried to take his tubes out, to take him off the life support, but his lungs just weren?t strong enough and he couldn?t expel CO2.?
The couple say a lack of information about the potentially deadly strain of influenza in the Eurobodalla could cost lives.
?Our first thought seeing Alan up here was what if that had been our daughter. She?s six years of age with chronic asthma,? Mr Dixon said.
?The thing is, they are turning around and saying there are no positives for swine flu in Batemans Bay. They?re just letting it run rampant.?
Greater Southern Area Health Service said there had been 49 confirmed cases of swine flu in the region but would not comment on outbreaks in specific areas.
Mr Dixon said this policy was counter-productive as people would take more care if they were aware there was an outbreak in their community.
Mr Dixon said if he had been aware of the possible severity of the disease and his daughter?s positive status, he would have been more vigilant about keeping her quarantined from school friends, her grandfather and siblings.
?I know if people have bad lungs there is a good chance of not going well. It needs to be caught earlier they need to be testing in the Bay hospital,? he said.
A spokeswoman for NSW Health Minister John Della Bosca said Greater Southern Area Health was investigating.
Swine flu hits Bay family
BY SALLY FOY AND EWA KRETOWICZ
21/08/2009 9:02:00 AM
Anger as man fights for life in hospital
A Batemans Bay man is fighting for his life in Canberra Hospital following his positive diagnosis with the deadly swine flu disease.
Alan White, 55, and members of his extended family tested positive for H1N1 influenza after he was transported to Canberra from Batemans Bay Hospital last Thursday.
Aaron Dixon and his partner Donna White, who are maintaining a vigil beside Ms White?s father?s bed, believe health authorities in Batemans Bay are responsible for allowing the deadly virus to spread through their family.
Four days before Mr White was admitted to Batemans Bay Hospital, Mr Dixon and Ms White took their asthmatic six-year-old daughter Jordan to the Emergency Department at Batemans Bay Hospital.
?She was taken straight through when we arrived because she had a temperature of 39.8 and was severely dehydrated,? he said. ?They put her on a drip and did a urine sample, and then they kept her overnight.?
Mr Dixon said the doctor who saw Jordan told them that there was no ?big case? of either influenza or swine flu in the area at the time, and that it wasn?t really a worry.
?He just said it was a general virus and didn?t even check her,? Mr Dixon said.
The couple had removed all of their children from Batemans Bay Primary School on the previous Wednesday for fear of a reported influenza outbreak.
?Because of Jordan?s chronic asthma, we can?t take any risks,? he said.
Following her release from Batemans Bay Hospital on Monday, Jordan slept for 21 hours. In the days after, the family followed her grandfather to Canberra Hospital, where the entire family was tested for the virus.
?We?ve all got it,? Mr Dixon said. ?My wife, my mother-in-law, my youngest son, I?ve got it. Our oldest daughter is sick but they don?t think it is swine flu.?
Mr Dixon said he had also met another woman at Canberra Hospital whose mother was transported from Moruya Hospital suffering from swine flu.
Mr Dixon and Ms White are horrified by the thought that their daughter?s incomplete diagnosis at Batemans Bay Hospital could be the reason her grandfather is now fighting for his life.
?We don?t know who gave it to who,? Mr Dixon said. ?But it is definitely a worry.?
According to Mr Dixon, doctors have told the family Mr White will remain in intensive care.
?They said he was stable but it is going to be weeks before they really know,? he said.
?They tried to take his tubes out, to take him off the life support, but his lungs just weren?t strong enough and he couldn?t expel CO2.?
The couple say a lack of information about the potentially deadly strain of influenza in the Eurobodalla could cost lives.
?Our first thought seeing Alan up here was what if that had been our daughter. She?s six years of age with chronic asthma,? Mr Dixon said.
?The thing is, they are turning around and saying there are no positives for swine flu in Batemans Bay. They?re just letting it run rampant.?
Greater Southern Area Health Service said there had been 49 confirmed cases of swine flu in the region but would not comment on outbreaks in specific areas.
Mr Dixon said this policy was counter-productive as people would take more care if they were aware there was an outbreak in their community.
Mr Dixon said if he had been aware of the possible severity of the disease and his daughter?s positive status, he would have been more vigilant about keeping her quarantined from school friends, her grandfather and siblings.
?I know if people have bad lungs there is a good chance of not going well. It needs to be caught earlier they need to be testing in the Bay hospital,? he said.
A spokeswoman for NSW Health Minister John Della Bosca said Greater Southern Area Health was investigating.