My heart goes out to these parents.
You’re not kidding. The only consolation is that their daughter never really suffered.
When I go, I’d like to go that quickly.
Ireland:
Hospitals to open separate emergency units for swine flu
Sunday, August 02, 2009
By Susan Mitchell
http://www.thepost.ie/post/pages/p/story.aspx-qqqt=IRELAND-qqqm=news-qqqid=43532-qqqx=1.asp
Hospitals are introducing special measures, including the establishment of separate units to manage the 20,000-plus patients expected to present with the H1N1 pandemic strain in the coming months.
Mr Niall O’Connor, spokesman for the Irish Association for Emergency Medicine, said there had been a gradual increase in the number of people presenting with symptoms of the so-called swine flu at emergency departments.
He said there was concern among emergency medicine doctors that the ongoing overcrowding at emergency departments would hinder efforts to deal with an upsurge in swine flu. The Department of Health has estimated that between 20,000 and 25,000 people will be hospitalised with swine flu over a four-month period.
These estimates are based on 1 million people in Ireland becoming infected with swine flu and between 1-2 per cent of these requiring hospitalisation.
O’Connor, a consultant in emergency medicine at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda, said treatment for swine flu patients who required hospitalisation had ranged from five days to several weeks in other countries.
‘‘It will place huge strain on an already creaking hospital system,” said O’Connor, who said that the issue of staffing levels posed a significant challenge for hospitals. Despite assurances from the HSE that the recruitment embargo did not apply to frontline staff, O’Connor said that was not the experience of many hospitals.
Healthcare workers will undoubtedly be hit by the virus, and O’Connor said it was vital for frontline staff to be replaced in a ‘‘timely and expeditious fashion’’. He said that, while the HSE contingency plan for swine flu ‘‘may look great on paper, if we don’t have the staff to implement it, then it will not be effective’’.
By last week, 19patients had been admitted to hospital with swine flu. Many had underlying health problems, and three required treatment in intensive care.
Pandemic virus could get nastier in year two
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hbCX-4RsL0_8G6M8l7pnyMcKIdXg