Ailing after Mexico trip, woman asks if Alberta is ready for swine flu

An Edmonton woman who fell ill after a recent trip to Mexico is raising questions following her treatment about how prepared Alberta is for the swine flu.

Erin Mennie and her two sons, three and one, have been to health facilities and hospitals several times since she returned from Mexico just over a week ago. Neither she nor her family was able to obtain a test for swine flu until Tuesday night.

When she first spoke to CBC News on Tuesday afternoon, Mennie expressed frustration over her experience at Edmonton's Stollery Children's Hospital on Saturday.

"We waited for an hour and a half. They put us in the pediatric ward. They checked both my kids," she said. "And my older son, they said, has flu-like symptoms. He had a pink ear, a sore throat. They listened to his chest and said it sounds very raspy. And she said, you know, he might have asthma, so she sent us home with an inhaler."

On Wednesday, Mennie told CBC News she finally got her tests the previous night. Mennie and her family were advised to quarantine themselves for 72 hours and to wear masks. They should know their test results within 24 hours.

Her youngest son was tested on Wednesday.  

Alberta Health Services has not yet answered questions from CBC News about why Mennie and her family weren't tested immediately. People are tested only after meeting certain criteria, provincial officials said. 

During his now-daily update on Wednesday, the province's chief medical officer of health, Dr. André Corriveau, said Alberta Health Services is investigating Mennie's case.

"The game plan and the direction is to create sort of a fast track for those people and certainly our lab has provided that support as well to fast track samples coming from people," he said.

On Tuesday, Alberta reported its first two confirmed cases of swine flu.  The province originally said both cases were adult males. Corriveau clarified Wednesday that one of the sick individuals was an infant and the other was a young adult.

But Mennie wonders if the province is really prepared to deal with a swine flu outbreak.

"It's sad. I thought coming home and hearing all of this that we would have been prepared for this and we're not at all," she said.

Confusion about protocols, patient says

Mennie's friend, Nicole Mozak, was on the same trip and has also been ill.

On Monday, she went to the Grey Nuns Hospital in south Edmonton where she got tested. While she and her husband were isolated in a room, she could hear staff making calls asking what the treatment protocols were. The disorganization surprised her.

"They were looking for a trolley that has that gloves and the gowns and the masks. And there was a little bit of confusion over the masks that they were supposed to wear," Mozak said.  

"They sorted that out. It took them a while to get a buggy with all the stuff on it and the buggy ran out of supplies quickly. The hospital was, I feel, not prepared."

Mozak is now at home and waiting for the results of her test.

Corriveau said officials are taking the issue seriously. The province activated a public health alert on Sunday.

"Our system is still on high alert," he said. "Actually the fact that we're able to identify those cases really shows that our system is working well."

Anyone who thinks they have the flu should call their doctor or the health link line first before heading to a hospital emergency room, Corriveau said.