Where there's flu, there's panic
By Amy Hansen — CNA staff reporter
I have had a sore throat and cough for the past few days. I started to feel sick Wednesday evening, and the next day at work I found out Creston Community Schools confirmed its first case of the H1N1 flu. It also marked Union County's first confirmed case.
I obviously know my cough isn't H1N1, but talk about timing. It felt like all the news last week was about the virus formerly known as 'swine flu.'
I have empathy for anyone who is going through this new flu virus. I had mononucleosis twice within a year and a half.
Sometimes when I tell people this I get asked who I was making out with. That's not the case because I know the first time I got sick was from another girl who was living in my sorority house and got sick during finals.
One month later, I came down with mono and honestly, it feels like your body is dying on you.
I laid in bed for 14 hours straight drifting in and out of sleep. There would be some nights I would wake up crying because of the pain.
The second time I had mono was over Thanksgiving break of my senior year in college. It hurt so much, but I managed to shove leftover mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie down my throat.
I've been told by many people that going through mono twice is perhaps a little bit worse than H1N1. I don't know whether this is true or not, but I do know when you're sick, no comparison of viruses makes you feel better.
I commend the Creston School District on immediately sending home a letter with its students after receiving news that a student had contracted H1N1.
I am not a parent, but I work with enough of them to be aware there is a concern for knowing the ages of the kids coming down with this flu.
Any child is susceptible to this virus, but if I had a child in grade school, I would like to be aware if my kid had been in close contact with H1N1.
With getting information to the public, there is a roadblock called Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy Rule, which protects the privacy of individually identifiable health information. It also includes the confidentiality provisions of the Patient Safety Rule, which protect identifiable information being used to analyze and improve patient safety events. HIPAA went into effect April 14, 2003.
I see HIPAA as a double-edged sword. According to Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, HIPAA incorporates a "minimum necessary" standard when it comes to how much information should be disclosed. Doctors, hospitals, and others covered are required to limit the amount of information disclosed to others to the minimum necessary to accomplish the intended purpose.
However, what amounts to the minimum is left up to the health care provider. The school did nothing wrong with not immediately releasing the age or grade of the first few children that had H1N1. But, it isn't illegal to divulge that information to the public.
I like the fact that there is medical privacy, and I understand why some information is withheld. It still doesn't make it any easier when there is a flu panic across the nation and my job is to help get the information you need to know now out faster.
As my mother, a nurse in radiology at Iowa Methodist Medical Center, said, "It's frustrating, but that's life."
