I am an interloping admin type with big ideas at a community health centre in Ottawa, Canada.
At the behest of the Public Health Department, our Centre will transform indefinitely into a Flu Assessment hub starting tomorrow morning. No one is really sure what this means yet. We’ve ordered a parking lot-sized tent and put hand sanitizer on every level surface. Other than that, things are up in the air.
Our duties for the next two weeks are mapped out on a rainbow of poster paper – no pushing now, we do things by consensus here. I’ve signed up for as many shifts as possible outside the office and inside the whirlwind that may or may not follow a mass campaign directing an entire mid-sized Canadian city to one of 6 sites, including my very own CHC.
Has the country run out of vaccine? Is everyone going to get sick? Will business grind to a halt? What’s worse: H1N1 the flu, or the pre-Christmas news lull that has created a paralyzing media frenzy out of something so simple as a little piglet tickle? And for my part, what is this all going to look like from the front of the line?
I am curious to see how the next few weeks unfold. We live in a brave new world. This is our first shot at a modern-day, developed nation-style pandemic face-off. And this stuff is interesting – is the public health breakfast machine going to pop out a shiny solution to the paradox of healthy people getting really, truly sick? How the heck did we push this pandemic off for so long, and what is it going to look like if and when it really gets rolling?
Are we ready?
3… 2…
Dunno! But let’s find out.
great idea, I’m looking forward to hearing about all the nuttyness.
I’m on the edge of my seat. What an interesting and promising start. Is it wrong to hope your blog gets more and more interesting? Even if the pandemic fizzles the story will be
riveting.