(Mark Hand, guest blogger extraordinaire. Thanks for another awesome entry, Mark!)
"Swine Flue Hits Manna Project!
No, not like that, mothers. We at MPIE are all happy and relatively healthy (if you ignore for the moment that both Dana and Holly have pink eye of all things) and - while sometimes the men act like pigs - none of us are suffering from H1M16 or whatever it is that has replaced sharks as America's obligatory summer phobia.
But MPIE has been hit by the gripe in a way we hadn't anticipated. Over the last two weeks, our library attendance has fluctuated wildly - falling from a range of 20-35 children in April to 8-25 children in May. We've been scratching our heads, reorganizing, playing a lot of Blokus and re-engaging to make sure our library is at full tilt.
At a community meal last week, however, the mother of one of library's youngest patrons informed Holly as to why Rumilomans were avoiding MPI headquarters: that's right, swine flu. Given that Ecuador's ten cases of swine flu have all stemmed from foreign travel, our new summer volunteers are, apparently, suspect.
The solution? According to our informant, we should a) take our next round of summer volunteers to the Ministry of Health for H1N1 screening, and b) publicly post a "None of us have swine flu" notice outside the library. Thoughts?
~Mark"
6 comments:
Certainly such testing is not medically indicated but if it alleviates a concern of the lay community it would be worth considering. I would not do it in the United States but the ability to communicate and coordinate the health care monitoring and response plan here seems much superior to your ability there. Also fears may be heightened there because access to treatment may not be as readily available to the general public.
So, I would consider it, if it can be done easily and affordably, and if by doing so the attendance could be boosted. By the same token,at this time, it is definitely overkill and you are not being remiss by not doing it.
cauf cauf
tengo gripe
mi tío me recomendó 2666 aunque no lo conozco el libro ni al bolanos, pienso comprarmelo el sábado. ¿cómo es?
Craig - dicen que es muy bueno; preguntale a Duncan.
So I probably should have mentioned the fact that I had swine flu while I was down visiting you guys... uh, yeah -- sorry about that.
(On a positive note, at least I didn't have that zombified version of swine flu they've been suffering in the UK)
disclaimer: NO, Aravon McCalla did NOT have swine flu when he came to visit. Nor does he have it now.
Just to make absolutely sure no parents are hyperventilating.
:)
I would agree with Charlie. I suppose my parents would be concerned if I were a kid there, and I'd wish for there to be some way to get back to learning! If it is a concern for parents and prevents a great number of children from coming to the programs, then why not? It is a small price to pay for the assurance of these awesome kids attending :)
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