A Public Service Announcement

I frequently hear stories about men who live their entire lives virtually friendless. Thankfully, the hubby will not be one of those guys. He is fortunate to have an abundance of male friends. His oldest and dearest friend, the one he's known since he was a boy, is truly like a brother.

Aside from being the hubby's best pal, K.'s day job is the Chief of Emergency Medicine for a large city. K has been working in emergency medicine for almost twenty years. In short, the man knows his stuff.

Over the years, the hubby and I have bombarded K. with our various medical questions. K., who is a very measured man, happily offers his advice. I have never known him to overreact, even under the most stressful circumstances. He is always calm, cool and collected, the perfect disposition for someone in his line of work.

Two days ago, when the hubby and K. were having one of their regular phone conversations, the talk turned more serious. K. began to talk about the literally dozens of calls his department has gone on as a result of the H1N1 virus. Yes, I'm talking about the so called swine flu, or pork plague as the hubby likes to call it.

Before all the pork people start sending me hate mail, I want to let you know that I am in no way telling anyone to avoid eating pork products. Since the H1N1 virus cannot be contracted by eating pork, the Ha family is still happily consuming our fair share of the other white meat. Bacon wrapped pork loin anyone?

I am not trying to sound like an alarmist. Our family, like K.'s, is not one to race out and get a flu shot. We try to avoid taking medications and prefer to rely on a nutrient-rich diet and natural remedies whenever possible. We also believe that exposure to various germs helps to build our immune system. I guess you could say we are a little crunchy that way.

The reason for K.'s concern is that his department has seen a 300% increase in the number of H1N1 related illnesses. The majority of those affected are otherwise healthy individuals... people like us.

Over the course of their conversation, K. implored the hubby to take some simple precautions. Things like wiping frequently touched surfaces (door knobs, light switches, toilet handles, steering wheels, phones, remotes...) with antibacterial wipes on at least a daily basis. He also urged him to make sure that we were washing our hands frequently and had a ready supply of hand sanitizer to keep at home, the hubby's work, in the cars and my purse, and to send with the boy to school.

Apparently there has been some kind-of link between a vitamin D deficiency and contracting the H1N1 virus. As a result, K. said that simply taking a multivitamin would be beneficial.

I hope that your family will consider taking these simple precautions, as my family has. As they say, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Rest assured, you will not see a member of the Ha family wearing a mask. The boy will continue to attend his public school. We will not panic. Our life will continue as usual... there will just be a little more hand sanitizer involved.