The Orange County Health Department  will be working with the Orange County School Board to vaccinate all school age children against the H1N1 virus next month.  There will be free clinics on three consecutive Saturdays around the county beginning December 5th:

Saturday, December 5, 2009
East River High School (Gymnasium)
654 Columbia School Road,
Orlando, 9:00am-5:00pm

Saturday, December 12, 2009
Freedom High School (Gymnasium)
2500 W. Taft-Vineland Road,
Orlando, 9:00am-5:00pm

Saturday, December 19, 2009
Olympia High School (Gymnasium)
4301 S. Apopka-Vineland Road,
Orlando, 9:00am-5:00pm

The free vaccinations will be offered while the supply lasts on a first come, first serve basis to not only the schoolage children, but also the priority groups established by the CDC.  Those considered a priority include pregnant women, caregivers of infants under 6 months old, emergency and medical personnel, and anyone ntween 25 and 64 years old with chronic health conditions or a weak immune system.

According the Health Department’s website, 135,000 doses of the vaccine have been designated by the CDC for Orange county thus far and are being sent directly to clinics, physicians offices, hospitals and pharmacies.   Additional doses are expected to arrive later in January.  At that time vaccinations should be opened up to everyone.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) in conjunction with Maclaren USA has recalled approximately 1 million baby strollers.  The defective products have amputated the fingertips of twelve toddlers thus far.

The injury occurs when a child puts its finger in the hinge area of the stroller when it is folding or unfolding.  The injuries include lacerations as well as amputation and happens on either the single or the double stroller.

The stollers have been sold at Babies R Us, Target and other stores where baby items are sold from 1999 thru this month and were priced between $100 and $400.  The are marked with the name “Maclaren” (see just one image below) and sold under the names of:

Volo, Triumph, Quest Sport, Quest Mod, Techno XT, TechnoXLR, Twin Triumph, Twin Techno and Easy Traveller

Consumers are urged to stop using the strollers immediately and to order a free repair kit from Maclaren at (877) 688-2326 or on their website www.maclaren.us/recall.  

According to the Tampa Tribune, the teaching hopsital Rhoda Island Hospital has been fined again for errors made on surgical patients, and as a result will be required to install cameras in all operating rooms.  It is this type of error that would be cause for a medical malpractice attorney to file a claim on the patient’s behalf.

RI Hospital’s fine this time was $150,000 for the five wrong-site surgeries that have happened since  2007  when it was fined $50,000 due to wrong-site operations during three brain surgeries.

Video cameras in the operating are unheard of and it is an extreme measure to which the RI hospital has agreed.  Each surgeon will be taped while operating at least twice a year.

As part of the agreement with the state health department, the  hospital will be required to have a non-surgical team, clinical employee  observe the protocols that are followed before each surgery including: watching the surgeon mark the body parts to be operated on and see that the surgical team takes a time out before each surgery to discuss the procedures to be performed and confirms the area of the body that will be operated upon.  The observation clinical employee must be in place for at least a year.

Hospital errors happen all too often and patients should do whatever they can to make certain that a wrong-site surgery doesn’t happen to them.  There is nothing to prevent you from marking your left hand “not this one” if the surgery is to be on your right hand, or having a family member mark on your chest that you are to have your gall bladder removed and then confirm with everyone along they way that they know who you are what procedure you are there for.