Mayo principal criticises lack of swine flu guidelines

Principal criticises lack of guidelines in tackling swine flu


Anton McNulty

A NATIONAL school principal has criticised the HSE for not providing schools with guidelines on dealing with potential swine flu outbreaks just days before schools reopen.
A public information campaign targeting parents and children on preventing the spread of swine flu at the start of the new school term was launched on radio and television during the week.
However, Tony Varley, Secretary of West Mayo INTO and the principal of Cloggernagh National School, Islandeady, told The Mayo News that while teachers and parents will use their commonsense in relation to swine flu, they have received no guidelines from the HSE on tackling the pandemic.
The only confirmed case of swine flu in Mayo occurred last June when a seven-year-old girl who attended Breaffy National School was treated for the illness after showing symptoms. Class mates of the first class pupil were told to keep their children away from school and public gatherings such as birthday parties for the next week, while parents of children were given anti-viral medication.
Mr Varley said he thought the school dealt with the situation very well but added that teachers are not there to provide health assistance to parents and that was the job of the health service. He said they had received no information from the HSE on how to deal with the problem and felt it should have been coordinated before the schools re-open.
“As of today [Monday] our school has received no literature from the HSE and I’d imagine it is the same with most schools. The only literature we are getting is from commercial companies sending out flyers for soap dispensers. Our school was lately renovated and we have hot water but even in this day there are a huge amount of schools that don’t have hot water. Soap dispensers are not cheap to install and keep and not many schools will go on a solo run and put in soap dispensers in case they might not be up to standard. There is a lot of confusion out there and the HSE should sent out guidelines to allay any fears,” he said.
The public information campaign will run for five weeks until October 4 with the 30 second television ad first broadcast on RTE on Friday while the 30 second radio ad was first broadcast yesterday (Monday) across RTÉ Radio 1, Today FM, Newstalk and 22 regional and local stations.
The radio ads have two executions; the first is targeted to parents preparing their children for the new school term and the second cycle gives general information on the Pandemic, and how to recognise the symptoms and where to get advice on stopping the spread of the virus.
In the radio script, health experts advise parents to ensure their children go back to school as usual with parents advised to teach their school-going children to protect themselves. They are told to show their children how to cough or sneeze into a clean tissue, bin it and kill it by washing their hands. Children who are sick are advised to always stay at home from school or college.