They call it a pandemic.  The World Health Organization (WHO) panel of experts examined the evidence and concluded that novel H1N1 influenza is infecting people around the world at a rapid rate.

We are all at risk – ourselves, our families, and co-workers.  Entire healthcare systems are in danger too.  As healthcare workers, we are the frontline where the danger is greatest.

But don’t panic: we can increase our chances of avoiding H1N1 influenza (formerly know as Swine Flu) by arming ourselves with the facts and by acting on them now. Click here to download the fact sheets, also available on our Health Care Workers Council page and Health, Safety and Environment.

Safety in Action

The USW has developed and recently updated factsheets on the H1N1 flu.  These resources will help you understand the steps you and your local must take to protect our members against H1N1 so that we can stay healthy and provide the care that will be so greatly needed in our communities.  An ounce of prevention now is truly worth a pound of cure.

Click here to download the fact sheets, also available on our Health, Safety and Environment site.

The fall has always been the flu season.  But the novel H1N1 flu virus is capable of spreading much more quickly than common influenza because people have little natural immunity to this pathogen.  And while young children and the elderly have always been at risk of complications from the seasonal flu, the H1N1 flu virus can cause medical complications for young and middle age adults who are usually less at risk.

That’s why it is so important that each local educate our members and build member involvement in the local’s efforts to get protections that health care workers will need. Unions have the right to bargain over the elements of employer policies and plans regarding the H1N1 flu virus, and how these plans get implemented. Please download these factsheets and share them with your local – and particularly with your local’s Health and Safety Committee. For sample letters requesting to bargain, sample information requests and related  items,  or if you have any questions, please contact Tara Widner, USW Health Care Workers Council at twidner@usw.org or call 412-562-2589.

The fall is upon us, so much is at stake, there’s no time to lose.  Thank you.