Find a 'flu buddy'

There is an idea that everyone should identify a "flu buddy" willing to help care for them should they get sick with human swine flu.

People should "talk with family, friends and neighbors and figure out how to help each other during the H1N1 pandemic." Also identify elderly or vulnerable relatives who may need your help.

"During a pandemic outbreak, keep an eye on these people, especially those living alone and phone them if you suspect they might be ill."

Concentrate on family preparedness plans, immunization and keeping stockpiles of prescription medication, non-perishable food and water.

The World Health Organization has recommended a flu buddy system.

In the U.K., experts from the Royal College of GPs and the British Medical Association said that in the event of a pandemic, public information campaigns would warn patients to stay away from the GP surgery, even though that would make access to anti-viral drugs, which could reduce the severity of a flu bout, more difficult.

Anyone with flu symptoms would be told to phone a national flu helpline. If the nurse taking the call believed they had flu, the caller could be prescribed drugs after supplying their NHS number and other identification.

Since the patient would be too ill to leave the house, the prescription could be collected by a "flu buddy" – a friend or family member the patient nominates, who must have the patient's identification details.

All of this has to take place within 48 hours of the onset of the flu symptoms, otherwise the drugs do not work.

Nearly 27 million adults in the United States lives alone.

Add to that the number of households with one adult caring for one or more minor children or caring for elderly, disabled, or otherwise unable to fend-for-themselves individuals, and the number goes up dramatically.

During a pandemic (even a relatively mild one), households with only one responsible adult (regardless of the number of inhabitants) are going to be at greater risk.

If single parents, or adults living alone, get sick with the flu, "you won't be sick enough, likely, to go to hospital, but you are not necessarily going to be well enough to go to the drugstore to buy some Tylenol, you're not going to be well enough to check if you need to be driven to the emergency. You won't be well enough to do that.

"We cannot overwhelm our system by having everybody call 911 and say: 'I'm really sick, I need to go the hospital' when you don't. You need to organize, in your community, who is going to be your flu buddy," she said.

While the H1N1 virus has proved to be `relatively mild’ for the vast majority of people infected, that term may be a just a bit deceptive.

`Mild’ generally means not requiring hospitalization.

It doesn’t mean that this flu won’t knock you on your backside for 4 or 5 days. And while the vast majority will recover, that assumes some basic level of care.

Something that some flu victims may be unable to provide for themselves.

It doesn’t take long for the flu, with its fever (and sometimes vomiting and diarrhea), to begin to dehydrate even healthy individuals. Dehydration, if it isn’t reversed, can become a serious, even life threatening condition.

But for this to work, it has to be administered.

And if someone is already dehydrated or otherwise incapacitated by the flu, they may be unable to do that for themselves.

All of this points out the pressing need for those that live alone, or who are the sole responsible adult in a household, to establish a pandemic `safety net’ with friends, relatives, or neighbors by arranging to have (and to be) a `Flu Buddy’.

A `Flu Buddy’ is simply someone you can call if you get sick, who will then check on you every day, make sure you have the medicines you need (including fetching Tamiflu if appropriate), help care for you if needed, and who can call for medical help if your condition deteriorates.

Those people who are charged with the care of others, like single parents, also need to consider who will take care of their dependents if they are sick.

Once again, having a flu buddy or two, who could help with those matters, could prove invaluable.