by CPA

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Disasters and infectious diseases, like any life stressor, challenge the way we cope. Whether we learn about them on television or experience them personally, we can feel upset, fearful and anxious as a result, both for our own personal safety and that of our family, friends and community. Stressful events can also bring up feelings and memories of previous traumatic events thereby compounding the distress that we feel.

The H1N1 Influenza A virus (human swine flu) is one such infectious illness that currently poses some risk to public health and challenges all of us to cope with this risk. It is important to remember that it is normal to be emotionally affected by events like disasters and wide-spread illnesses, and that there are steps we can take to help us cope.

The information that follows is intended to help people cope psychologically in the face of health risks like the H1N1 virus. It does not convey important information that you should know about how the virus is contracted, its signs and symptoms, how to decrease your risk of contracting the virus and how the virus is treated. You are well advised to obtain this important and up to date information about the H1N1 Flu Virus, by visiting the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC)
website at http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/alert-alerte/swine_200904-eng.php.

Who is Vulnerable?

Certain factors may put people at greater risk for contracting an illness. For the H1N1 flu virus, travel to Mexico was one such risk factor because that is where the first human cases were reported. Other risk factors for contracting viruses like H1N1 are being an infant or elderly person, having pre-existing health problems, and/or living in poor economic or social conditions.

Many more people are affected psychologically by the risk posed by an illness such as the H1N1 flu virus than will actually develop the illness. People who tend to worry – particularly about their health, or who have experienced a previous or recent traumatic event, who live alone or have few social supports are more likely to experience psychological distress when faced with a stressor such as the recent concerns about the spread of the H1N1 flu virus.

Assessing and Coping with Risk

• Staying informed and consulting experts can help you to most accurately assess your personal risk of getting physically sick. Consult expert sources such as infectious disease practitioners, family physicians or nurse practitioners, public health hotlines, or government websites (such as Health Canada, Public Health Agency of Canada, and the World Health Organization) for information.
  
• Follow the health and safety guidelines of such agencies as the Public Health Agency of Canada and Health Canada to minimize your risk of contracting the virus. In the case of infectious disease, it is important to protect against infection by cleaning one’s hands. Proper hand washing involves:
  
  
  
  • Cleaning one’s hands regularly
    
  • Washing one’s hands with soap and water, and drying them thoroughly
    
  • Using alcohol-based hand-rubs when immediate access to soap and water is not available.
    
  • Proper hand washing takes about as long as singing “Happy Birthday” twice, which is a helpful guide in getting children to properly wash their hands – see the WHO website for images on proper hand-washing techniques.
    
  
  
• Remember that the media reports things that go wrong or exceptional events more often than things that go right or common events. We hear about and pay more attention to the few people who might have been made very sick or even died from an illness than we do about the many more people who successfully recovered from an illness.
  
• Remember that you need to balance gathering information and heeding safety guidelines to reduce risk with not letting the gathering of information or the attention to safety guidelines unduly preoccupy you. If you have become unable to carry out your usual roles and responsibilities at work, school or home because of your pre-occupation with a stressor, this might be a sign of psychological distress for which you need help.