Welcome

Welcome to Gardner's Gate. I am the first ever official American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) blogger. I am a practicing emergency physician and I currently serve as the Secretary/Treasurer of the Board of Directors of ACEP. I plan to use this space to talk about the business of the college, the state of medical care in America, interesting events in the news, the ethics of healthcare, my family, my friends, and my fellow colleagues on the Board of Directors.

As my first official blog, it seems fitting to point out that this is "National Flu Vaccine Week." The center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has designated the week of November 25 through December 3, 2006 as "National Flu Prevention Week." There is a widely held public belief that the flu vaccine must be obtained before Thanksgiving to be useful during the flu season. The truth is that while it is wise to obtain the vaccine as early as possible, it is still beneficial to obtain the vaccine now.

Influenza, commonly known as the flu, kills about 36,000 people every year. Five to twenty percent of the population becomes ill with the flu every year, and more than 200,000 of those who become ill will be hospitalized for complications. Although the flu season varies from year to year, most cases occur in January and early February. Some years, flu continues to cause illnesses as late as May.

For more information, please log on at http://www.cdc.gov/flu/keyfacts.htm.

Well, the seeds are planted. See you soon at Gardner's Gate.