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Title: MLA Report

The province is working hard with Manitobans throughout the province to address the swine flu pandemic

I was pleased to be able to represent the province at the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs assembly that was held in Nelson House this week.

My message was straightforward. We are working hard in co-operation with Manitobans throughout the province to deal with the flu pandemic.

H1N1 swine flu continues to be a global threat to health but it is clear that Manitoba has already been impacted. It became apparent from the start that Northern and aboriginal people in this province have been significantly impacted. That is why we identified the fact that if we were going to address the impact of the flu in Manitoba we had to go beyond jurisdictional issues and work with the AMC and individual First Nations to support them in this challenging time. We need to acknowledge the leadership that many communities have taken in addressing this serious health pandemic.

At the assembly, Dr. Joel Kettner, chief provincial medical officer and Arlene Wilgosh, the deputy minister of health, made presentations about the current state of the pandemic and pandemic response. I stressed that our government recognizes the importance of working with First Nations on H1N1. We are not going to simply wait for the federal government to act.

I pointed to some of the things we have already done. These include appointing Dr. Catherine Cook as aboriginal health advisor on H1N1 flu. We have established a tripartite H1N1 co-ordination group that meets regularly to discuss H1N1 issues with aboriginal leaders. It includes federal government reps, Manitoba Health, Emergency Measures Organization, Aboriginal and Northern Affairs, RHA representatives, the Northern Medical Unit and AMC, MKO, SCO, MMF.

Last week the province, working with AMC, committed support in the forms of public health advice and funding for the AMC medicine kits for all First Nations communities. We have worked with the AMC on this important initiative to ensure that First Nations households have basic medical supplies such as Tylenol and thermometers readily available.

We have provided supplies to First Nations Inuit Health for Northern First Nations including respirator masks, surgical masks and 858 litres of hand sanitizer.

We partnered with the AMC, MKO, SCO and the federal government to provide training sessions to First Nations emergency managers.

We initiated the "Call to Action" to health professionals to enhance primary care where it is most needed. Sixty-seven volunteers from a number of health care professions responded to the call to action. Nineteen have been deployed to Northern communities to date.

Provincially we have already purchased 20 additional ventilators and another 15 from the national stockpile available for us in Manitoba if needed. We are also gearing up our preparations across the province. Approximately $50 million in H1N1-related expenses are currently projected, including $21 million for the H1N1 vaccine (or purchase and administration of the vaccine.

We are particularly focused on the need to prepare for the anticipated resurgence of H1N1 in the fall. We continue to work with our partners to finalize the vaccine prioritization and distribution plans.

This is expected to be released in September. We are also working with Regional Health Authorities to fine tune mass vaccination plans and assist with efforts to increase ICU capacity across the province.

There is also work going on throughout government beyond the health sector in terms of business continuity planning to minimize the social disruptions which might accompany a more severe H1N1 resurgence in the fall.

We are committed to working with Manitobans throughout the province to deal with this major health emergency.

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