Tweet
Flames take heat for flu shots
Alberta government orders investigation into how NHL players and their families scored treatment at special clinic
The Alberta government has launched an investigation into how members of the Calgary Flames and their families scored swine flu shots at a special clinic as thousands of people waited in line for the vaccine or were turned away.
Premier Ed Stelmach said Alberta Health Services is looking into what happened.
“I can’t speculate on what happened, but we will have a full report very shortly.”
Ken King, president of the NHL club, said the players and their families received their shots on Friday at a private location. He said the organization contacted Alberta Health Services and requested the clinic based on the guidelines available at the time.
“Our organization and our medical staff felt that our players should receive the vaccination, given the risks associated with frequent physical contact, extreme exertion and onerous domestic and cross-border travel,” King said in a statement Tuesday.
The team’s doctors worked with Alberta Health Services to assess the risk to players and the “potential commotion and intrusion that sending the team to one of the locations would cause.”
“Our players did not seek to either avoid lineups or get special attention.”
The revelation is one more hit for the Alberta government, which is facing mounting criticism for the way it has managed its swine flu vaccination program.
Initially, anyone who came to one of the mass clinics set up across the province was vaccinated. But that led to huge lineups and the clinics have been closed since the weekend so the plan could be rejigged to focus on high-risk patients.
Opposition politicians said the hockey players should not have been given special treatment while thousands of Albertans waited for hours at clinics.
“It’s a failure of leadership that we are providing vaccines willy-nilly to whoever has money, to whoever has access, when cancer patients, when chronic lung patients, when pregnant women and their children can’t get it,” charged Alberta Liberal Leader David Swann.
“It’s a violation of the basic principles of public health care.”
Edmonton Oilers general manager Steve Tambellini told globesports.com hockey columnist Eric Duhatschek on Monday that the team was waiting to be vaccinated.
“We’re waiting like a lot of people for access to the vaccine,'' Tambellini said. "I don’t know when we’re going to be able to get it. Hopefully soon.”
As many as Oilers eight players – from defenceman Ladislav Smid, the only confirmed case of the H1N1 strain on the team to centre Shawn Horcoff - have been affected to some degree by the flu.
The Oilers have followed all the NHL’s protocols to minimize the spread of flu through the team. In fact, according to Tambellini, they took the proactive step of introducing precautionary measures back in training camp already, knowing that H1N1 could be an issue that they’d need to deal with.
“This isn’t something that just happened to us,” said Tambellini. “We’ve been doing all these things since day 1 – water bottles for every player, separate towels for every player. Our doctors and training staff have been on it since the start of the year.”
The province is expected to announce a new swine flu plan Tuesday that will initially focus on providing shots to pregnant women and children between the ages of six months and five years.
Alberta government orders investigation into how NHL players and their families scored treatment at special clinic
The Alberta government has launched an investigation into how members of the Calgary Flames and their families scored swine flu shots at a special clinic as thousands of people waited in line for the vaccine or were turned away.
Premier Ed Stelmach said Alberta Health Services is looking into what happened.
“I can’t speculate on what happened, but we will have a full report very shortly.”
Ken King, president of the NHL club, said the players and their families received their shots on Friday at a private location. He said the organization contacted Alberta Health Services and requested the clinic based on the guidelines available at the time.
“Our organization and our medical staff felt that our players should receive the vaccination, given the risks associated with frequent physical contact, extreme exertion and onerous domestic and cross-border travel,” King said in a statement Tuesday.
The team’s doctors worked with Alberta Health Services to assess the risk to players and the “potential commotion and intrusion that sending the team to one of the locations would cause.”
“Our players did not seek to either avoid lineups or get special attention.”
The revelation is one more hit for the Alberta government, which is facing mounting criticism for the way it has managed its swine flu vaccination program.
Initially, anyone who came to one of the mass clinics set up across the province was vaccinated. But that led to huge lineups and the clinics have been closed since the weekend so the plan could be rejigged to focus on high-risk patients.
Opposition politicians said the hockey players should not have been given special treatment while thousands of Albertans waited for hours at clinics.
“It’s a failure of leadership that we are providing vaccines willy-nilly to whoever has money, to whoever has access, when cancer patients, when chronic lung patients, when pregnant women and their children can’t get it,” charged Alberta Liberal Leader David Swann.
“It’s a violation of the basic principles of public health care.”
Edmonton Oilers general manager Steve Tambellini told globesports.com hockey columnist Eric Duhatschek on Monday that the team was waiting to be vaccinated.
“We’re waiting like a lot of people for access to the vaccine,'' Tambellini said. "I don’t know when we’re going to be able to get it. Hopefully soon.”
As many as Oilers eight players – from defenceman Ladislav Smid, the only confirmed case of the H1N1 strain on the team to centre Shawn Horcoff - have been affected to some degree by the flu.
The Oilers have followed all the NHL’s protocols to minimize the spread of flu through the team. In fact, according to Tambellini, they took the proactive step of introducing precautionary measures back in training camp already, knowing that H1N1 could be an issue that they’d need to deal with.
“This isn’t something that just happened to us,” said Tambellini. “We’ve been doing all these things since day 1 – water bottles for every player, separate towels for every player. Our doctors and training staff have been on it since the start of the year.”
The province is expected to announce a new swine flu plan Tuesday that will initially focus on providing shots to pregnant women and children between the ages of six months and five years.
The week the Flames got their vaccinations, it was a free for all. You go to a public clinic if you want one. There was no risk-groups for priority.
People are getting very upset over the team getting their vaccinations while "our children are unprotected" and the like. What the flying **** is wrong with people.
Do people really think NHL players wait 6 months for MRIs like the rest of people too?
Frankly NHL players ARE high-risk. Look at the Oilers for Christsake, 8 infections already?
Comment