Hand sanitizer, thermometers short in west coast pharmacies CORNER BROOK CLIFF WELLS The Western Star

Corner Brook pharmacist Jeff Fost holds a packet of Tamiflu for pandemic use only and a bottle of clarithromycin at City Pharmacy Friday afternoon. The drugs have been flying off the shelves in the face of the recent H1N1 pandemic. — Star photo by Cliff Wells

The swine flu has hit the western region of the province hard, but Jeff Fost hopes some lessons have been learned from it.

Fost, a pharmacist at City Pharmacy, said he thought he’d never see people walking around Corner Brook wearing masks during flu season. He believed that was something you’d only see on the news from places like Asia where masks during flu season are an accepted part of the culture.

Now he’s seeing people walk around Corner Brook wearing surgical masks and taking care to cover their cough.

“If one good thing is going to come of this, people will realize ‘gee maybe I should wash my hands more,’ and ‘maybe I should cough in my sleeve,’” Fost said. “There’s education coming from this, which is a good thing.

“It’s good to see. There’s a large number of people wearing their masks, which is pretty cool.”

He’s seen hundreds of prescriptions for Tamiflu and clarithromycin go out the door of the pharmacy for people who are feverish, aching and coughing. He said the Tamiflu is an antiviral, not specifically for H1N1, but it reduces the severity of flu symptoms and the duration of the flu. He said the clarithromycin is an antibiotic prescribed to prevent infections of the lungs because of the flu.

“I’ve even seen pre-printed prescriptions, already done and all the doctor had to do was check off the box for the drug,” Fost said. “Those were for Tamiflu and clarithromycin.”

Two of the six pharmacy staff at the store have come down with the flu. A pharmacy technician is back to work after being off for five days and one of the pharmacists is recovering at home after being hospitalized.

Meanwhile, there are a few items that have become difficult to come by.

Hand sanitizer, thermometers and masks are in short supply in pharmacies around the region.

Fost said his suppliers can’t get any to keep up with the demand for those items.

There’s a similar state in pharmacies around the region. In Port aux Basques, Kim Carter, pharmacist at the Medicine Cabinet, said some antibiotics and name-brand acetaminophen — Tylenol — are in short supply, too.

She said they’ve had to wait a day for certain antibiotics. She said acetaminophen for fever has been at a premium.

It’s manageable, but it has been, at times, overwhelming,” Carter said.

She said the swine flu is a big topic of conversation in the community.

Tempers can flare about the restrictions on vaccine. She said people get really irritable when they talk about sports teams and prisoners getting the vaccine when the general public can’t.

She’s steering away from those conversations when she can.

“I’m getting tired of it, actually,” she said. “I’m really getting tired of it already.

“I’ve got two young kids. Some people aren’t allowing their kids in the mall and have taken them out of school for the last couple of weeks. I guess it’s a personal choice.”