POCKET SERMON 3: H1N1 ‘SWINE FLU’ COMES TO STAMFORD, CT

POCKET SERMON 3: H1N1 ‘SWINE FLU’ COMES TO STAMFORD, CT

Take this little sermonette, print it and share it! The way I see it, three things are necessary in order for us all to handle this H1N1 virus pandemic. They are (not necessarily in order): 1) Excellent, state-of-the-art medical care 2) The willingness and ABILITY to not panic over every news report or story we hear and 3) Having a true sense of caring for and having respect for our fellow human beings.

I’ll tell you right now that even in an upscale area such as Stamford, CT it will be difficult for all of us to meet these criteria because the very essence of our ‘human nature’ works against us!

I understand the ‘resentment’ people feel about not being offered the H1N1 vaccine. But the truth is that the shortage is real and even some healthcare workers have yet to be vaccinated and they are exposed to infection every day. But if YOU or your loved one were a healthcare worker, wouldn’t you want them or yourself to be given vaccination priority?

I understand the fear parents feel when they are not appropriately informed, as happened recently at St. Cecilia’s School, about the existence of or the number of H1N1 influenza cases. It is natural for a parent to want to protect their children at all costs. Besides keeping parents informed, I would suggest that school officials keep a flexible absentee policy for the duration, as parents decide to keep their kids at home. The importance of school year calendars pales in importance next to the need to keep our children well.

And for Heaven’s sake, our educators, administrators and school healthcare providers need to COMMUNICATE with each other like their or their children’s lives depend on it. And enough dickering over whether it’s ‘seasonal flu or H1N1 flu’. Infectious disease specialist Dr. Michael Parry reports the same information as the CDC does, that is, that virtually ALL the cases of flu seen this flu season are H1N1 virus flu cases and that is the case in Stamford, apparently.

UPSIDE FACTS: Many can and have already HAD the H1N1 variant, suffered and survived it and lived to tell about it. For some it has been like ‘regular (seasonal) flu’. For some, it was less severe with a H1N1 ‘flu-like’ syndrome. Healthy Individuals with good immune systems should have adequate defenses to deal with this infection, especially with the aid of anti-viral drugs such as Tamiflu and Relenza. Additionally, healthy persons over the age of 65 are particularly resistant to infection by the H1N1 virus, per the CDC and Stamford's Dr. Parry.

DOWNSIDE FACTS: Persons with underlying conditions such as asthma, COPD, heart enlargement, concurrent cancer/chemotherapy/radiotherapy, etc., infants, very young children, pregnant women and the extreme elderly ARE more likely to suffer a more severe case of H1N1 virus, including death from things like pneumonia. Also, data on the efficiency and efficacy of the H1N1 vaccines is yet being collected and the safety of the vaccine, itself, is not completely certain. Additionally, there are questions about the injectable H1N1 vaccine ('dead' virus) vs. inhaled ('live') nasal vaccine not to mention the thimerosal preservative controversy with autism and the adjuvant squalene used in the deposition (single dose) form of the vaccine.  We will be addressing these in the future.

UPSIDE OR DOWNSIDE FACTS, DEPENDING ON HOW YOU LOOK AT THEM: At this time, not that much flu-testing is going on outside of hospital-admission settings. A good number of non-reported cases are probably around in persons who nursed themselves with chicken soup and Oscillococcinum, OTC ('over the counter') drugs and home remedies and comfort measures.  For them personally,  the H1N1 pandemic is no big event.  Intelligent people know when they are sick, know how to treat themselves, know when to see their doctors, and know when they are feeling better.  There is a time and place to bug your doctor for an official 'swine' flu test, but if you have a mild case, please consider that someone else--maybe even a loved one of yours--may need that test more urgently!

As both a member of the faith community and as an alternative healthcare provide who combines the best of traditional medicine with complementary modalities, here is what I suggest: We need to keep our heads, value others while caring for our own, use great common sense (utilizing hand and surface sanitizers, practicing good sneeze and cough hygiene into the sleeve or a disposable tissue, staying HOME while sick and out of circulation in order to not infect others, etc) and, finally, to NOT be afraid.

Jesus, the Great Healer, tells us himself:

25"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life[a]?

"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Matthew 6:23-34 (NIV)

Just remember this: it does seem like the H1N1 virus will, indeed, continue to impact Stamford and environs, maybe severely and maybe not so severely, but it will certainly end eventually. And when it does, how will we be remembered? Will we be one of the ‘panickers’ or will we, instead, channel our energy into useful assistance to conquer this rogue RNA varmint? What kind of face will we present to our children regarding concern for others? How will our bosses and colleagues regard us after we weather this time? Whatever we do and however we react, we will own it forever and it is definitely worth considering our words and actions starting now.

I’m not saying we should be foolish or careless. But the negative energy of fear, anger, dissension, selfishness and bigotry, to name a few ‘sins’, gains us nothing at all in the end. So I am suggesting that we understand the shared plight we potentially face, emboldened by the fact that the community medical care here is superlative and human beings with the help of God can overcome anything that comes their way.

With Love in Christ, Reverend Barbara Sexton 10/29/09