Man, I feel better already

 Man, I feel better already,

I opened the door this morning and saw a bunny perched on my patio. Earlier, while I was making my coffee, a chipmunk was sitting on his haunches on my deck. Don't mention these critters to my husband. The magnolia tree is in full bloom and every tree is ready to burst. The birds have suddenly descended. I didn't even mind their chatter at 5:30 am. Spring has been a long time coming this year. It's been tough for those of us who are eager to get into our gardens or on our bikes. Today may be the day I pull that bike out of it's dark corner in the barn. I am not watching the news, at least not for a bit but I did read one of Ryan Imgrund's tweets and it too made me smile. Whether masks were removed too early or not, and they were in my opinion, the Reproductive Values for the Omicron variant are under 1.0 in every province and territory. Seventy-five percent of Canadians have had COVID-19 in the last 6 weeks since mask mandates were lifted and now 90 % of Canadians either have immunity from vaccines or natural infection. Ninety percent is huge and that immunity is what is driving down the ability for the virus to spread from person to person. https://www.imgrund.ca/canada-rt The Omicron wave has officially plateaued but it's curve has flattened not receded. On average, there are 1500 people in hospital with COVID-19 ( 1800 yesterday) , 200 plus in the ICU ( 204 on the 6th and that number is climbing) and 20 new deaths from COVID-19 a day. That number is also climbing. So, we reached a high level of immunity but we did that at great and needless cost. Our healthcare system in Ontario is in ruins. Strong words, right? Those of us in the system have just soldiered on with packed emergency rooms and hospital beds occupied by elderly folks who linger there for weeks waiting for a longterm care spot. These spots are almost non-existent. I have a patient who broke her hip 8 weeks ago. She is still in a hospital bed at our local hospital. Her suffering, being trapped in an acute care hospital is one thing. I can't even imagine. But she represents as system that is absolutely jammed. Patients who should be in longterm care hold acute care beds leaving other patients with acute problems in hallways, again. The emergency rooms are clogged with, often times, a line of paramedics standing by their patients brought into the ER by ambulance....in hallways. No beds in ER for these patients. Operating rooms that were starting to address the hundreds of thousands of delayed surgeries in the province or now empty because a well functioning OR needs pre-op beds, post- op beds, ICU beds and if these beds are occupied by patients who can't be moved to where they should be because everything is so bloody bottle-necked......And who is addressing this crisis? Of course, the frontline workers and administrative staff who have been pushed so far in the last two years that everyone who has not left the system is struggling with burn out. This is the state of your health care system which prides itself on services that are free and universally available to everyone. We took off masks too early and yes, our R values across the country look fabulous. But the multi-layered, complex and disastrous consequences will continue for months if not years to come and the struggling system will be ignored by governments and not even known to you until you need the system and end up in one of those gurneys in the hallway with a broken hip or a fever or heart failure. The politicalization of the pandemic makes me rage as a healthcare worker. The wonton neglect of this precious healthcare resource for political purposes was egregious before the pandemic. Now it is criminal. Please make sure you carefully review the platforms of all the political parties before June's provincial election. If there is no plan to address the pervasive problems in healthcare and education and, for God's sake, no platform to address climate change, move on. The greatest risk to our health and education is an uninhabitable planet. If governments refuse to address that, push them aside. We have the power to do that. Back to the good news. It is safer now than any other time in this pandemic to be out and about. You need three doses of vaccine if you are eligible, four doses for those over 60 and those at risk. Wear a mask in public spaces like grocery stores and large public events at least until the Omicron wave recedes. If the folks in your workplace are not wearing masks, you can wear one if you want that added protection. By far most Omicron infections are 'mild' but it is now everywhere with so many families home ill sometimes for weeks. I am going to try to avoid a two week illness and the risk of serious acute COVID and long COVID. That mask is still my friend. An Omicron-focused booster will likely be available to you in the fall but make sure you are up to date on your boosters now. This is a good document that reviews the recommended COVID-19 vaccine schedule for all age groups. It is a great review. Focus on page 4.

https://www.health.gov.on.ca/en/pro/programs/publichealth/coronavirus/docs/vaccine/COVID_19_vaccine_up_to_date.pdf And may I just say, on this beautiful Mother's Day, that despite the poor politics of late, we have done a marvellous job as a province and a country. Here we are, through our efforts, heading into a summer that will be more like a pre-2020 summer. That will be grand. Happy Mother's Day. Anne-Marie Please share. As we continue to work to help vaccinate the beautiful people of Lesotho, consider donating on behalf of your mom. You can click to donate here: https://www.braceletofhope.ca/ways-to-give/ For non-Facebook users, you can find this post here: https://braceletofhope.blogspot.com/ For mental health support here: https://familyserviceguelph.on.ca/ For local assistance with anxiety and depression: www.here4help.ca CMHA WW Website: www.cmhaww.ca Here 24/7 at 1-844-HERE-247 or www.here247.ca. And for post-secondary students, Good2Talk https://good2talk.ca/