VITAL SIGNS | Report card looks at a variety of issues and the health of the local community [A7]
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Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2013
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Family wants to avoid future tragedies MARTHA WICKETT Black Press
Six weeks after his mother was rushed to hospital and three weeks after she died, Dick Vander Linde learned that his mother’s illness was caused by an e.coli infection. Corry Vander Linde, 82, of Vernon, was admitted to hospital July 29 after experiencing terrible abdominal pain and internal bleeding. She died Aug. 16. On Sept. 13, Dick and his father John were informed that Corry had been suffering from an e.coli 0157:H7 infection linked to Gort’s Gouda Cheese Farm in Salmon Arm. Throughout this time, a wheel of cheese purchased at Gort’s remained in John’s fridge, being consumed regularly. Dick tells his story because he would like to see improvements to the system, with information being provided sooner. “My dad’s fridge would have been cleaned out earlier – we didn’t find out about the e. coli word until Sept. 13. That stretch of time is an incredibly long stretch of time,” he says. “As far as the system goes, the system isn’t working. I think the public deserves a better way of being looked after.” He emphasizes that the physician and nurses taking care of his mother did a fantastic job; he has no complaint with them. “It’s really the procedures and protocols… I shudder to think of my dad eating that cheese six weeks after my mom went into hospital.” Another upset for him regarding health agencies was an official statement he heard noting that 11 people were infected with e.
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Dick Vander Linde holds a photo of his mother after explaining that she was not frail before she became ill from e.coli. coli-related illness linked to the cheese and one elderly person had passed away – but had underlying conditions. “It kind of sounds like, she was 82 and had to die anyway. This wasn’t my experience… This lady was in very robust health. This wasn’t a person half a year from passing away,” he emphasizes. Corry had three children, 28 grandchildren and 39 great-grandchildren. Dick says his mom suffered from rheumatoid arthritis which limited her mobility,
but she had no problems connected to the illness. He explains that both his mom and dad were sick for about a week before he received a call from his dad at 3 a.m. July 29. They had first eaten the cheese about a week earlier. Until July 29 his mom seemed to have been recovering from what he thought was a flu of some sort, although she continued to complain about pain in her stomach and side. In hospital it soon became obvious how
serious her condition was, he said, with doctors eventually saying a slim hope was to remove her colon. Although she lived through the surgery, the infection continued unabated. “What we watched was unbelievable. We learned a lot about e.coli and infections. You don’t understand what it does to a human body. It’s like a nightmare.” One of Corry and John Vander Linde’s favourite outings was to go to Gort’s farm. Each month, they would go buy a wheel of cheese. “They were regular customers. They loved the place, they always talked about it.” Dick says while his family holds no grudges towards the owners of Gort’s and is not vindictive or looking for a lawsuit, he doesn’t think forgiveness is the right word to use at this point. “I’m not blaming the owners of the cheese farm, I don’t believe they did this intentionally. Their intention was to put out a great product…,” he acknowledges, adding that it doesn’t negate the fact damage was done. “When I cause damage to my neighbour’s property, I’m either going to go there and repair it or I’m going to pay somebody to repair it.” Along with all the pain, the day Corry died was a beautifully spiritual day for her son. Dick was in the hospital when he ran into his youngest son – whose spouse had just had a baby. “I was able to hold my 14th granddaughter two or three hours after she was born,” he explains. Then, a few hours later, “I held my mother in my arms while she left this earth.”
IHA explains process for issuing public alert The fact there were no ‘clusters’ of E. coli cases reported meant the public was not informed earlier of the health hazard related to gouda cheese from Salmon Arm. The E. coli-related illness was first reported in July, with the majority occurring at the end of August and beginning of September. A public statement was issued Sept. 17. The Interior Health Authority stated that when the onset occurred in July, Rob Parker it was a cause for concern but, as an isolated case, did not ring alarm bells. The province gets a number of E. coli cases throughout the year and, while they try to identify the
source, people are sometimes unable to pinpoint the cause of the illness. It takes anywhere from two to four weeks from the time a person gets ill to get the bacteria fingerprinting done and matched. In terms of the outbreak linked to Gort’s, health officials saw a cluster developing only the week of Sept. 9, said Dr. Rob Parker, IHA medical health officer. Parker describes the process and time required to determine Gort’s as the suspected source of the e.coli 0157:H7 outbreak. He says IHA gets anywhere from 15 to 20 cases a year, more often in summer than winter. “As soon as we get lab confirmation, we follow up the same or next day, asking people what they might have eaten, have they been around farm animals, travelling,” Parker said, noting symptoms occur usually within two to four days but
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as long as a week after ingestion. Getting an indication that e.coli is the culprit takes longer as it usually takes a protracted case of diarrhea or bloody diarrhea to convince many people to go to their doctors. Blood tests are taken and by the time the results are in, there can be a three-week delay. Asking people to remember what they ate that long ago often does not provide useful data. Lab results that are positive for e.coli O.157 are sent to the B.C. Centre For Disease Control where they are fingerprinted – in a format that resembles a retail item barcode. The “fingerprints” are shared across Canada, with the provinces and the federal government watching for clusters of the same fingerprint. “That’s what happened here, some Alberta people matched up,” Parker. “Nobody immediately identified Gort’s, but when asked, they all said yes and by Tuesday morning (Sept. 17) it was clear we had to warn people.”
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