Updated H1N1 Information

By Jeff Howatt

Toronto Public Health is now posting flu shot wait times on-line. The turnout at clinics has increased this week, now that clinics are open to the general public. They had a thousand people out to Metro Hall on Wednesday. The wait time, at times, was an hour and a half. 

For more information, visit the City of Toronto website.

All 10 Toronto Clinics will open to the general public Wednesday November 18.

City of Toronto:
Metro Hall – Rotunda, 55 John Street

East York Civic Centre - Lower Level, 850 Coxwell Avenue

North York Civic Centre - Members Lounge, 5100 Yonge Street

North Toronto Memorial Community Recreational Centre, 200 Eglinton Avenue West

Etobicoke Civic Centre - Committee rooms 1, 2, 3, : 399 The West Mall

Melody Public School – Gym, 24 Strathburn Blvd. (closed school)

Masaryk-Cowan Community Recreational Centre, 220 Cowan Avenue

Scarborough Civic Centre – Rotunda, 150 Borough Drive

North Kipling Community Recreational Centre, 2 Rowntree Road

Timothy Eaton Business and Technical Institute – Cafeteria, 1251 Bridletowne Circle (closed school)

Hours:

Monday to Friday: 1 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Saturday and Sunday: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Peel Region

Brampton clinics – Nov. 13 to Dec. 11

Brampton Soccer Centre – 1495 Sandalwood Pkwy. E. Monday to Friday 9:30 a.m. to 9.30 p.m. Saturday to Sunday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

11 Indell Lane – Airport Road and Walker Drive. Monday to Friday 9:30 a.m. to 9.30 p.m. Saturday to Sunday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Caledon Clinics 

November 18 – Inglewood Community Centre – main hall – 15825 McLaughlin Rd. 3 p.m. to 8 p.m.

November 23 to 28 - Albion Bolton Community Centre – 150 Queen St. S. Mon./Tues./Sat. 9:30 am to 3:30 p.m. Wed./Thurs./Fri. 3:30 p.m. to 9.30 p.m.

Mississauga Clinics – Nov. 13 to Dec. 11

International Centre: 6900 Airport Rd., Hall 6, Monday to Friday 9:30 a.m. to 9.30 p.m. Saturday to Sunday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Blessed Trinity Catholic School: 2495 Credit Valley Rd. Monday to Friday 9:30 a.m. to 9.30 p.m. Saturday to Sunday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Nov. 19 - Bronte College: 88 Bronte College Crt. (gymnasium) 3 p.m to 8 p.m. 

Halton Region

Halton Region is also offering vaccines to all elementary and high school age students and people age 65 and over.

Clinics open on Nov. 16 at 2 p.m.

Halton Regional Centre in Oakville - 1151 Bronte Rd.  Adjuvanted & Unadjuvanted Vaccines Nov. 16: 2 p.m. - 7 p.m., Nov. 19: 2 p.m. - 7 p.m., Nov. 20: 2 p.m. - 7 p.m., Nov. 21: noon - 4 p.m.

Burlington - Gary Allan High School - Gymnasium, 3250 New St. Nov. 16: 2 p.m. - 7 p.m, Nov. 18: 2 p.m. - 7 p.m., Nov. 22: noon - 4 p.m.

Georgetown - Gellert Community Centre - Kinsmen Hall 10241 Eighth Line, Halton Hills Nov. 16: 2 p.m. - 7 p.m., Nov. 18: 2 p.m. - 7 p.m., Nov. 20: 2 p.m. - 7 p.m.

Milton - New Life Church - CYC Black Box Theatre, 824 Thompson Road South Nov. 16: 2 p.m. - 7 p.m, Nov. 19: 2 p.m. - 7 p.m.

Durham Region

Durham is also offering the vaccine to all children from six months to 18-years of age.

October 28 to November 28: all five sites open

Monday to Friday 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. & Saturdays: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Bowmanville - 2849 Hwy. 2 (formerly Veridian Connections Inc.)

Oshawa - 850 King St. W, Unit 26 (King and Thornton-lower entrance at back) (formerly social services)

Whitby - 3050 Garden St. (Garden and Rossland) (formerly TruestarFitness)

Pickering - Pickering Town Centre, Unit 14, 1355 Kingston Rd. (formerly Fabricland)

North Durham-Uxbridge - 2 Douglas Rd., Uxbridge (Toronto and Douglas) (formerly Williamson’s Auto)

Rotating Clinic Locations:

Ajax - Ajax Community Centre: 75 Centennial Rd., HMS Ajax Room Thursdays & Fridays (2 p.m. to 8 p.m.)

Brock - Brock Community Health Centre: 123 Laidlaw Street South, Cannington Tuesdays & Wednesdays (2 p.m. to 8 p.m.) * By appointment only. Call 705-432-3388.

Scugog - Scugog Community Recreational Centre: 1655 Reach Street, Port Perry Mondays & Tuesdays (2 p.m. to 8 p.m.)

York Region

Open from Nov. 2

Vellore Village Community Centre - Villa Royale Avenue, Vaughan Monday to Friday, 2 p.m. to 8 p.m., Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Ray Twinney Complex - 100 Eagle Street West, Newmarket - Monday to Friday, 2 p.m. to 8 p.m., Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Sutton Kin Community Hall - 3 Fairpark Lane, Georgina - Monday, Tuesday Wednesday 2 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Rouge Woods Community Centre - 110 Shirley Drive, Richmond Hill - Monday to Friday 2 p.m. to 8 p.m., Saturday and Sunday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. 

8100 Warden Avenue - Former Markham Hydro building, Markham -Monday to Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Flu Assessment Centres

The assessment centres do not offer vaccine and are for residents who do not have a family doctor or who are unable to get an appointment. Doctors there may prescribe an anti-viral medication but are not offering the H1N1 vaccine.

York Region

York Region Flu Assessment Centre at 9401 Jane St. in Vaughan. The centre is open 1 p.m. to 7 p.m., Monday to Thursday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday, and 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

Markham - 9255 Woodbine Avenue, Unit 13 (located between Noodle Star and Kaze Restaurant) Monday to Friday 3 p.m. to 9 p.m., Saturday and Sunday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Toronto
 

Scarborough Hospital

3000 Lawrence Ave. E, Building "A", 2nd floor

Opens: Nov. 12

South East Toronto Family Health Team - 840 Coxwell Ave. Suite 105

Opens: Nov. 16

York Community Services

1651 Keele St.
 

Opens: Nov. 16

Humber River Regional Hospital, Finch Professional Building

2115 Finch Ave. W

Opens: Nov. 17

Sherbourne Health Centre
 

333 Sherbourne St.

Opens: Nov. 18

Concerned About the H1N1 Vaccine?

Odds are you've received an email or two about this new flu vaccine, from someone worried about the possible side effects of the shot. There are medical experts who suggest the shot could do you more harm than good.

If you Google "Swine flu concerns" or "Vaccine side effects", you'll get pages of hits offering medical opinion.

Popular medical web site WebMD poses a list of questions and answers  

And the Centre for Disease Control has addressed the concerns on their site. Here's a link 

Flu Assessment Centres

If you think you might have H1N1, you can visit the York Region Flu Assessment Centre at 9401 Jane St. in Vaughan. The centre is open 1 p.m. to 7 p.m., Monday to Thursday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday, and 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

The assessment centres do not offer vaccine and are for residents who do not have a family doctor or who are unable to get an appointment. Doctors there may prescribe an anti-viral medication but are not offering the H1N1 vaccine.

The City of Toronto is planning to open nine assessment centres of its own, although their opening dates and locations have not been announced.

Vaccine Numbers Don't Add Up

While Ontario's Health minister is predicting we could run out of H1N1 vaccine this week, a Globe and Mail report today says half of the available vaccine in this country is in storage.  According to the Globe, there will be 6.5 million doses in circulation in Canada by the end of the week, and another 1.8 million will be shipped next week. But a survey of the provinces indicates provincial authorities have injected fewer than three million doses so far. The other 3 million doses are in fridges somewhere. There's a lot of fingerpointing here, but public health officials suggest the provinces just weren't ready. They thought Ottawa's approval process would go more slowly.

Here in Ontario, the government says all federally-supplied vaccine has been distributed to the province's 36 local health units. Arlene King, Ontario's chief medical officer of health, is still hoping to have 2 million shots "in people's arms" by tomorrow, but she admits only  "several hundred thousand" people have been inoculated so far. And Dr. King claims it's because of a shortage of vaccine. She was predicting on Wednesday that Ontario could run out of vaccine by the end of the week (see story below).

Waiting for H1N1 Vaccination? A List of Do's and Don'ts While You Wait

With supplies of H1N1 vaccine slowing to a trickle across the country, some Canadians may be wondering how to stave off infection while they're waiting to get the shot.
Experts say most people already know what to do - follow the common-sense medical practices they've been hearing about since the beginning of the swine flu  outbreak. Doctors say practices such as frequent hand-washing, coughing into one's sleeve and disposing of used tissues are more relevant than ever as flu season shifts into high gear. They admit it's not new advice but say it's still effective and should be standard practice as people wait for vaccine shortages to ease. One expert also says people who do fall ill should take advantage of huge stockpiles of antiviral drugs. Michael Gardam of the Ontario Association for Health Promotion says Tamiflu and Relenza are abundant, and he says people should make use of them where necessary.
 

H1N1 By The Numbers

According to Federal Health Officials, more than 17-hundred Canadians have been hospitalized since H1N1 first appeared in April.
The Public Health Agency of Canada says 95 patients have died from H-1-N-1.
By comparison, they say the common flu sends 20-thousand Canadians to hospital each year and anywhere from 4 to 8 thousand Canadians die of
influenza and its complications every year.

In each of the last 3 weeks, Ontario received about 720,000 doses of the GH1N1 vaccine, but this week, the province received 275 thousand doses

Toronto Public Health plans to deliver 100,000 doses of vaccine to doctors' offices. As of Saturday, 110 doctors had received their shipments.
 

Change in H1N1 Thinking 

We're still waiting for Canadian officials to react to this, but, the World Health Organization has just announced that one dose of H1N1 vaccine is sufficient for all age groups, even children.
And the WHO has changed it's mind on the need for adjuvant-free vaccine for pregnant women.  In this update today, the WHO says the safety profile of adjuvanted and unadjuvanted vaccines appear to be the same, so there is no need to worry about it.
The way the WHO is thinking now, they figure the risk to pregnant women of catching swine flu is high enough,  that getting vaccination, either kind, is more important.

Supply Shortage?

Health Canada is telling Ontario health people that supply shipments for H1N1 vaccine will be reduced next week because of a production change. 
GlaxoSmithKline, the company making Canada's supply, it has to change on of it's one of its production lines to make adjuvant-free vaccine for pregnant women. The change will last at least a week.
Ontario received 1.4 million doses of the vaccine last week, 750,000 doses this week, and will find out later today how much they'll get next week 

Self Assessment Tool

Not feeling well? Think you might have the flu?

There is no shortage of information available online these days, but this may be THE place to start: The Ontario Health Ministry web site and their Self Assessment tool. You click your way to figuring out if it might be the flu. And help you decide on seeking health care

Click here for the site
 

 National Health Site

The federal government has a full section of it's website devoted to H1N1.

Click here for the link.

Bosses Should Change Their Thinking

The Canadian Medical Association is now asking Canadian businesses to ease their worplace rules on sick notes. The CMA wants doctors to spend more time with patients rather than doing paperwork. At the same time, the CMA is asking employers to encourage workers who are not feeling well to stay home in order to prevent the spread of H1N1.
 

Line Ups on the Phone too

Not only are Ontario residents spending a lot of time in lines at flu clinics, there's a waiting line at the provinces health phone-line too. Telehealth Ontario's been getting as many as 13-thousand calls a day. They say it's taking an average of 18 minutes for a caller to reach a receptionist.

Helping Children Deal with The Needle

These are tough times for people who don't like needles. More than a few parents with a fear of a needle are being brave to get their children through the process. 
Experts suggest you spend time getting mentally prepared. And try distractions for the children like toys, books or an i-Pod.
Something that doesn't work, they say, is if the parents try to reassure their child, or apologize to them, because parental reassurance during pain may actually
signal to kids that their parents are worried about what's happening and that'll draw even more attention to the pain.
 

 Vaccine Clinics Moved Up

Toronto Public Health officials are changing the schedule of the H1N1 shots for the PUBLIC. So starting this Thursday, October 29th  members of the general public who are in the high risk groups can now go to a clinic and get vaccinated. Clinics will stay open Thurs, Fri, and Saturday and then again next week. The clinics are opening 3 days before the original November 2nd start up date.

You can get all the information you need about H1N1 - whether it be the location and times of local clinics, information to help you determine whether you are sick and links to other sites.

Information on hours and locations will be posted at 
http://www.toronto.ca/health

Priority groups include:
• People with chronic medical conditions under the age of 65
• Healthy children from six months to five years old
• Care providers and household contacts of persons at high risk who cannot be immunized or may not respond to vaccines
• Health care workers
• Pregnant women - adjuvanted vaccine is available for women who are more than 20 weeks pregnant. Women less than 20 weeks pregnant and who do not have an underlying medical condition may wish to wait until unadjuvanted vaccine is available.

Workplace Etiquette for H1N1

Ontario physicians are asking employers to reconsider asking employees for a doctor's sick note if they are absent from work due to influenza. Dr. Suzanne  Trasberg, president of the Ontario Medical Association, says it's wise for patients to stay home when they have flu-like symptoms, to help reduce the transmission of H1N1 and other illnesses. She says employers need to recognize that by requiring a sick note, they are encouraging those who are experiencing their worst symptoms and are most infectious, to go out when they should be home in bed. At the same time, the O-M-A stresses that employees should not take advantage of the pandemic flu as an excuse to simply take a day off from work. The association says those who have mild flu-like symptoms and no pre-existing illnesses of concern should stay home to prevent others from getting infected with the flu. But the group says those who have a chronic or pre-existing health condition, are in a high-risk population group, or whose symptoms worsen should seek care from a health professional.

Flu and Travel

Health officials say people who are feeling ill should postpone travel plans and they say travel staff - from bus drivers to air cabin crews - should watch out for ill passengers. Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq says the government is encouraging travel companies to make it easier for people to re-book flights and buses if they have to cancel because of sickness. Her officials are also sending guidelines to travel companies to help them cope with the H1N1 virus. These guidelines suggest regular cleaning of public areas in stations and vehicles and say companies should provide hand-washing facilities for passengers and crews. Health officials continue to encourage people to get flu shots. The minister says six million doses of vaccine will have been shipped by the end of this week, with millions on the way.

 Flu and Sports

Canadian hockey associations are urging players to avoid sharing water bottles to avoid the spread of swine flu. They say the flu death of a 13-year-old player earlier this week has hammered that message home. Tony Foresi, president of Alliance Hockey, says it's essential to educate players, coaches and parents about the dangers of sharing personal items. Foresi says his organization, which represents 20 Ontario minor league teams with more than 31,000 members, is also looking at whether to recommend against the traditional handshakes before and after games in favour of some other way of showing sportsmanship. Experts say the risk of spreading the swine flu from shared water bottles is huge.

Flu and Family Doctors 

Family doctors in some parts of Canada have been slow to sign up to deliver H1N1 vaccine to their patients, pointing to a number of obstacles they say are  eterring them from giving the shots. Issues include the size of the minimum order of vaccine, which is 500 doses, and the need to mix the vaccine and the adjuvant, an additive that boosts the immune system's response to the vaccine. Some are complaining about the amount of paperwork required and others have been told their office fridges aren't large enough to ensure that the vaccine is kept cold. Dr. Doug Mark, head of the Coalition of Family Physicians of Ontario, says many family doctors feel the program is too cumbersome to take part. In Toronto, only 500 of 4,000 family doctors have so far agreed to give vaccine, a situation which could place enormous pressures on the 10 public health clinics that will be operating from Monday.