H1N1 virus still captures our attention

There is so much to talk about — everything from the health care debates in Washington, D.C., to the state of our local health care.

Of course, it would be easy enough for this column to turn into a monthly or even weekly update about all things H1N1 influenza and such. While we cannot escape the effects of influenza, nor the way information is communicated to us via the media or our local health care officials, it should not become the sole or even the preeminent health care issue for residents of the West Side.

Having said that, as we pass into autumn and head toward winter, our whole country faces a significant challenge. With H1N1 still causing concern and the subtypes and strains of seasonal influenza looming, there exists the potential for an insidious season, to say the least.

However, through Stanislaus County’s Westside Healthcare Advisory Taskforce, in which I am now actively participating, there are a few channels through which several of the different West Side clinics, pharmacies and health care providers are now openly talking about how to handle the upcoming flu season.

If nothing else, this committee has provided a forum in which health professionals can discuss and possibly formulate a plan to deal with such issues. In my opinion, this is a forum that should have been instituted a long time ago. My thanks go out to Supervisor Jim DeMartini and Keith Boggs for showing the leadership to make this happen.

In the coming weeks, there will be much information disseminated about the seasonal flu vaccines and the new H1N1 vaccine due to be released sometime in October.

Hopefully, our local medical providers and pharmacies are going to follow the guidelines set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — specifically in regards to who is at the highest risk of being exposed to H1N1 and should therefore receive the vaccination. If you go to www.cdc.gov, it spells out the five priority groups. By following this recommendation, we can prevent a debilitating effect on our West Side communities.

I want to close by saying that the schools, some practitioners, the media and the various levels of government are putting a lot of responsibility on parents to recognize certain medical manifestations and to make certain assumptions about what is wrong with their children.

Let me balance that by saying that the symptoms of H1N1 are really no different from any other type of influenza, common cold virus, strep throat, bacterial bronchitis, inner ear infection, bacterial pneumonia and even meningitis.

Good, responsible medicine cannot be practiced by phone or by blog, so if there are any questions as to the health of you, your children or other loved ones, it is my opinion that you should seek an immediate assessment by your health care provider. If he or she refuses to see a patient, you should find one who will.

• Richard O’Bryan is a nationally board certified and licensed physician assistant and former Patterson paramedic who practices at the Patterson First Care clinic. You can e-mail him questions and suggestions at AskHealthMatters@yahoo.com.