Last of the York picspam - including bubonic plague and threatening breakfast cereal...

[curiouswombat]

I really do think this is the last of the York picspam! I am hoping it all makes sense - you can blame typos etc on the fact that D-d and I just shared a bottle of wine over dinner! Hic!

There are a couple of pictures from the North Yorks Moors Railway, one is simply of a couple of gentlemen, taken from the station bridge in Pickering, who look like characters from Thomas the Tank Engine






And one of the historical metal advertising sign that caught our eyes - especially S2C and D-d, who both burst out laughing before I even noticed it -






Also - as you may know - York Minster is one of the greatest gothic cathedrals in the world. (With one of the world's best archbishops, IMHO!) This year some of the worn or broken carvings at the roof level are to be replaced by new carvings, as part of a conservation project, which includes training new craftsmen.

The new figures are currently on display before they are put into place - after which it is unlikely that many people will ever see them again.

In keeping with the original figures, these new ones represent illnesses and tribulations of medieval life -

Here are Toothache and Madness -



Backache -



Bubonic plague - see the buboes in the armpit and groin -



And finally the dreaded Plague Doctor -





The plague doctor seems a fitting place to finish - I will spend most of tomorrow gowned up and out in the community taking swabs from people suspected of having the Swine Flu...

Comments

[zanthinegirl.livejournal.com]

Those are great carvings! I love them!

Are you guys testing everyone for swine flu? We're testing anyone with even a sniffle. All that isolation gear is not doing my summer any favors!

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

On the UK mainland they are at the point where people are just filling in a form online, or ringing a helpline where the workers are simply working to a script- basically doing the online thing for them - and if they are likely they give them a code nimber and they get someone to go to the pharmacy and pick up the Tamiflu.

But we have only had 15 confirmed cases on the island, and so we are still swabbing anyone who rings their doctor with a temp over 38C and any two other symptoms. If they have the above, and less than 48hrs of symptoms, we are giving them the Tamiflu during the visit as per a protocol. That way the possibles are staying at home and not coming into contact with anyone else.

So today I decided one person definitely didn't have flu, swabbed the others, but the quick test results for those are negative.

We are making use of a whole lot of us who usually do work in the community to do the visits because we are less likely to get lost than if they send out hospital staff, and less fazed by having to work with our stuff spread out on the floor of someone's living room, or the patient being in an attic bedroom with a very low roof!

We are only using masks, gloves and plastic aprons - one ten year old a few weeks ago was really disappointed that we weren't in full HazMat gear...

[zanthinegirl.livejournal.com]

We do the full hazmat thing in house. For the positive cultures it's PAPR hoods, double gowns, double gloves. Negative flow rooms. I'm just waiting for a case in a non-private room. We still have a few in Adult ICU, and the NICU is all multiple pt wards. And we're supposed to change srubs/ shoes before going out into the community.

::sigh::

I'm pretty sure it's overkill like who, but the H1N1 pts I've actually seen were really sick. Of course, they were mostly pretty sick already-- heme-onc pts, mostly.

We're not allowed to call it Swine Flu BTW. That's "offensive"-- who knew pigs took things that seriously? :D

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Being community staff I'm only seeing those who are not ill enough to be in hospital - but I think that in the hospital they are ready for the whole Hazmat thing - only none of our 15 have been ill enough to need hospitalisation so far, and are all recovered or recovering.

My mother was just commenting that people would be less scared if we just called it summer flu - I think she has a point, but we are, as far as I know, still calling it swine flu!