Have You Seen My Sandwich Come Through Here?

It’s my week to blog and my first thought was “I haven’t an idea what to write about.” That’s not to say things around the office aren’t moving at their normal “get it done yesterday” pace; they are.

From there I started thinking how I wanted a turkey sandwich like the ones I used to get at the diners back in Pennsylvania – one with turkey oven-roasted that day, lettuce, heirloom tomato and real mayo on fresh bread. And then … WHAMMO … REALITY CHECK! I live in Arizona and have leftover whole wheat spaghetti packed for lunch today.

Devastated, racked my brain for a silver lining – you get turkey on Thanksgiving and Thanksgiving is in November. Comforted by inductive reasoning, my mind turned to last November and how we (the ADEM PIOs) spent all of it downtown at the Department of Health Services (ADHS) helping with the H1N1 response. “I could write about that,” I said. I actually said it out loud. I sometimes talk to myself.

Coincidently, my morning sweep of the “Tech” page on CNN.com revealed an article about some cool needless injector that uses a “high-velocity liquid stream to deliver meds” in like 1/3 of a second. The article said that the devices were used to give seasonal and H1N1 shots at a smattering of clinics in New Jersey last year. Needle-free injectors aren’t new, but this one is plastic and priced for commercial use. Read the article at http://bit.ly/cZoJm5.

Stop me if you’ve heard this one. Getting a flu shot is one of the best ways to prevent … What? You say you have?

But do you know where to get a flu shot? Google and the Flu Vaccine Finder do. Plug in your ZIP and you’re redirected to a Google map dotted with nearby locations offering flu shots and/or nasal spray.

Flu prevention is also about good hygiene, which means washing your hands and doing the “Vampire Cough” (did you see last week's episode of The Office? … capital “C” Classic!). There’s lot of fine flu preparedness and prevention information on the ADHS and Flu.gov websites.

Flu.gov includes an extensive frequently asked questions section with information on everything from vaccine to bird flu, which brings me back to my original observation. Anyone have a suggestion on where to find a proper turkey sandwich?