Roger Knox - Vernon Morning Star Published: July 15, 2009 4:00 PM
“Be Prepared” is the motto of the boy scouts, but it also came in handy for the Canadian military. Aware that the H1N1, or Swine Flu, virus was prevalent in cities where their cadets were coming from this summer, Lt. Col. Allan Dengis, commanding officer of the Vernon Army Cadet Summer Training Centre, wanted to ensure his facility and staff were prepared in every way possible to look after the wellness of the cadets and staff should an outbreak occur. Dengis instituted pre-screening of the disease as soon as cadets arrived on site and had cadets assessed by medical staff. As a result of the pre-screening, a case of the H1N1 virus was diagnosed and confirmed, another case is pending and six cadets who took ill tested negative for the virus. “The pre-screening initially diagnosed the first cadets with symptoms and, subsequently, we identified 27 other cadets with flu-like symptoms,” said Dengis outside his office at the army camp Wednesday. “At the start of the training season, we instituted some training sessions for all of the staff, cadet staff and cadets in training...and given an overview of what to look for so staff could identify it and identify among the cadets anybody who may be ill.”
The cadets who took ill were immediately segregated into a separate area of the army camp and given direct medical care from medical professionals from the base and from the community. The case was identified on July 9, four days into the training session, and the virus confirmed on Wednesday morning. The identity, age and gender of the cadet with the virus has not been released, but Dr. Gary Saunders, deputy base surgeon from CFB Esquimault, said the person arrived in Vernon from the Alberta Prairie Cadet region. The second cadet who has been diagnosed with Influenza A, though not sure what type, is also from the Alberta Prairie Region, and Saunders said it’s likely that cadet will have the H1N1 virus. “We should know in three or four days, but if you have H1N1 in one case, it would be expected it’s H1N1,” said Saunders. “Once the influenza virus is in the population and people are showing flu-like symptoms, we’re not going to test them all but we can assume it’s the same virus.” It’s not known if the two arrived in Vernon already carrying the illness.
Saunders stresses that the sick cadets are showing just mild flu-like symptoms and that nobody has been hospitalized. Five of the 27 cadets originally diagnosed with flu-like symptoms have already been discharged out of the camp’s holding facility which was isolated from the rest of the base. “We anticipate over the next few days we will continue to get people discharged,” said Saunders, adding discussions with public health officials indicate there is no cause for concern among camp staff, cadets or the general public. There is a chance that other cadets will contract the illness. “It’s pretty hard to completely eliminate it, but we’re doing absolutely everything possible to minimize it,” said Saunders. “We would anticipate still getting some people falling ill over the next few days or a week. “We’re still monitoring it on a daily basis, sending the information to Ottawa who are working with us to advice us if we should take any further action.” Once cadets show the symptoms, they are given fluids to help speed their recovery and ordered to stay in bed. Most have sprung back to their feet in two-to-three days.
“The challenge is to keep them occupied in the isolated area when they want to get out and learn military stuff,” said Saunders, who praised the army camp for the fantastic job they did in separating the sick cadets from the rest of the camp, and adhering to preventative and hygiene techniques to minimize the spread of the disease. No cadets were sent home and parents of the virus-stricken trainees have been kept informed of their childrens’ prognosis on a daily basis.
Dengis said no further cadets will be brought to the training centre. “That’s just looking at the wellness of these individuals, and the cadets that are already here,” said Dengis. “With the prevalence of the illness elesewhere, we do not want to introduce any other cases here, likewise we don’t want to bring in any cadets that may contract it.” Cadets already in Vernon will carry on with their training. Cadets are aged between 12 and 19, and come from as far away as Thunder Bay and Dryden, Ont.
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