Roman Catholics who enter a church usually dip their fingers into a small bowl filled with Holy Water. They make the sign of the cross and then proceed to enter the main part of the church. Many repeat this motion when they leave the church.

Because of the H1N1 fears, many churches have removed their holy water, leaving some Catholics upset, unable to perform this important tradition or ritual. No matter, because an Italian inventor has come to the rescue with an automatic holy water dispenser.

The set up is designed like touchless liquid soap dispensers. Church-goers just wave their hand underneath the device and a preset amount of holy water. This allows the person to perform the ritual without dipping their hand into a communal bowl. According to this news report, the church-goers are pleased with the invention. And the inventor? He may be reaping the benefit of a good idea and good timing.

~~~

Image: PhotoXpress.com

Post from: Healthbolt

Trust the British to come up with a unique, even bizarre, way to combat Swine H1N1 flu.

Most governments are focusing on helplines, information on anti-viral drugs, and specialized clinics.

But British health chiefs have looked outside the square and created The Flu Pandemic Game.

It’s a role-playing game that simulates ‘the effects of a flu pandemic on staffing in an imaginary group of small businesses’ through the role of the dice and chance cards.

The players (3 to 60) assume staff identities at imaginary workplaces. The game has 15 rounds that represent 15 weeks of work. The players learn whether or not they will go down with the flu through the roll of the dice, with certain sets of numbers indicating their fates. As the rounds progress, the risk increases.

But it’s not all fun. At the end of each round, surviving players are asked to discuss the impact that the flu pandemic is having on their ‘imaginary’ workplaces.

The game, by the way, comes with this government health warning:

‘Some people may find it disturbing to play using details of their own organisation.
The game is a simulation and has no effect on subsequent events, but it can seem a little like fortune telling.’

By the way, do not expect the be seeing this game any time soon at the local Toys r Us.

It’s not for sale.

It was designed for use simply as a training resource for local businesses and voluntary organizations to develop their own business continuity plans.

(image source)

Post from: Healthbolt

So it’s best not to assume that because it seems to have originated in Mexico, it would stay only in Mexico. Everyone  needs to be aware of and prepared to deal with the possibility that it could arrive in their corner of the world.

Here’s the best way to keep up to date of what’s happening…

1. Learn key facts about Swine Flu and what to do to protect yourself can be found at the Center for Disease Control and Protection (CDC) website. Traveler’s should keep an eye on the CDC Travel Notices. Currently there is one Travel Health Precaution listed for Mexico.

2. Visit the WHO Disease Outbreak News Center and use the  WHO Global Disease Alert Map to see where Swine Flu has spread…

This HealthMap correlates information from numerous news feeds and uses it to map out disease outbreaks.

3.  Set up Google News Alerts with the keyword ’swine flu’ to get up-to-date information emailed to you. Of course, if you are only interested in your country or location, you can add keywords to narrow the alert.

Google Alerts via kwout

4. Keep up-to-date via twitter. Many people seem to think that twitter is just a fun and social network system but it can also be a useful and informative tool in finding out what’s happening.

Reliable resources who are twittering about Swine Flu…

• HealthMap
• SwineFlu 2009 and CDCemergency (CDC twitter)
• whonews (WHO twitter)
• DHSJournal (Homeland Security)

(virus image from CDC)

Post from: Healthbolt