05-28-2009, 08:45 AM
Slightly different take on this thread..
I am not personally terribly concerned about this particular virus. As someone without health insurance, all the advice about hand washing and such has become habit over the past 4 years, pretty successfully. That said, I do have two personal observations...
My grandmother on my Mom's side died in the 1918 flu outbreak. It was devastating for her family, and my Mom ended up spending several years in an orphanage because of loss of her mother. I am not going to comment on the reason why my grandfather did this rather than care for the large number of children. Different times. However, it had a lasting effect on their lives. Pandemics are not to be taken lightly, both in the lives lost and lives impacted in bad ways.
I contracted the "Hong Kong" flu as a teenager in 1968, and spent a week or more in misery, and remember very little of what happened during that time, despite it being a very special family time. Really really really sick and miserable, and memories are shady of those days. It took a couple of weeks to get feeling really better.
Finally, over the years I've worked in many offices where people arrived at work sick -- have even done it myself in the past when it was required. This is insane. If you are sick, stay home and away from people to stop the infection cycle. Employers who respects the need for sick leave or at least compassionate treatment of their employees, are acting completely correctly. Yes, it may cost them effort, money and such, but in the long run they gain from their respectful treatment of their employees. This goes for kids of those parents as well. No child should be sent to school ill, and employers should recognize the need for parental leave for employees with sick children. Besides, do you want the parents spreading it around the office and the kids around their school???
So, got a good employer who does business in the Puna community who respects their emplyees' needs? Show your support of their respect by spreading the word that these are good folks and deserve our business.
-- side note -- misuse of sick leave benefits is equally as bad. We need to be pono with our employers and our employees. It's a two-way street. I've been on management and staff sides of this, and misuse or mistreatment benefits neither side.
Jane
I am not personally terribly concerned about this particular virus. As someone without health insurance, all the advice about hand washing and such has become habit over the past 4 years, pretty successfully. That said, I do have two personal observations...
My grandmother on my Mom's side died in the 1918 flu outbreak. It was devastating for her family, and my Mom ended up spending several years in an orphanage because of loss of her mother. I am not going to comment on the reason why my grandfather did this rather than care for the large number of children. Different times. However, it had a lasting effect on their lives. Pandemics are not to be taken lightly, both in the lives lost and lives impacted in bad ways.
I contracted the "Hong Kong" flu as a teenager in 1968, and spent a week or more in misery, and remember very little of what happened during that time, despite it being a very special family time. Really really really sick and miserable, and memories are shady of those days. It took a couple of weeks to get feeling really better.
Finally, over the years I've worked in many offices where people arrived at work sick -- have even done it myself in the past when it was required. This is insane. If you are sick, stay home and away from people to stop the infection cycle. Employers who respects the need for sick leave or at least compassionate treatment of their employees, are acting completely correctly. Yes, it may cost them effort, money and such, but in the long run they gain from their respectful treatment of their employees. This goes for kids of those parents as well. No child should be sent to school ill, and employers should recognize the need for parental leave for employees with sick children. Besides, do you want the parents spreading it around the office and the kids around their school???
So, got a good employer who does business in the Puna community who respects their emplyees' needs? Show your support of their respect by spreading the word that these are good folks and deserve our business.
-- side note -- misuse of sick leave benefits is equally as bad. We need to be pono with our employers and our employees. It's a two-way street. I've been on management and staff sides of this, and misuse or mistreatment benefits neither side.
Jane