Oink?

Yes, this is my acknowledgement of the swine flu panic that is going around our country. I've sat back now for several days being cautiously worried about it, but also realizing that it is the media's job to make us all want to panic and run for the hills.

Unfortunately though, we had a young boy die yesterday in Houston from this illness - he actually came for treatment and was a Mexican citizen, but still sad that a young boy lost his life over this illness.

This morning, we learned that the high school next door to my office has a confirmed case of the swine flu as well - and has shut down the school for the time being.

In addition, there was a flurry of meetings that our executive team took part in this morning because we are currently waiting to get confirmation of a case at one of our own sites. Which hits really close to home being that the people I work with all day everyday - have a lot of access to those sites and could easily pick up the germs and bring them into the office.

In case you don't know it - my company does childcare, head start programs, healthy start programs, and charter school education for the city of Houston - but our client base is about a 60% immigrant population. So there is likely a lot of contact with our clients and their families from Mexico and other nations in Latin America.

We are unsure what the plan will be for our offices as well as programing if the case is confirmed... but it could be another crazy flurry of activity here pretty soon.

I hope that you are all taking special care to wash your hands after contact with others - and all the other precautionary measures that have been recommended by the media. While I don't truly worry about death being a problem with this flu - I don't particularly enjoy being sick either... so I'll do my best to avoid it at all costs!

I pray for all of those that do get it, and that they will recover from the illness with minimal problems. I pray for doctors around the world to have the knowledge to help as many lives as they can - and figure out a way to keep as many from getting it as possible.

*Edited to add: I also think it's sad and unfair that the pigs of the world are getting a bad rep over this... Poor little piggies... I hope that no one is miss treating any of them out there.