breaking my social media fast, which may or may not exist anymore, to share something i found really really helpful from today's therapy sesh. i figured out why i (we?) have so much trouble celebrating our wins

[Thread]: Old school "medicine" ads obviously created by aliens.

Let's begin with cocaine toothache drops, for only 15 cents.

Dr. Batty’s asthma cigarettes were not recommended for "children under 6.”

Best prescription for malaria, chills and fever: Grove's tasteless Chill Tonic, obviously.

"It is simply iron and Quinine in a tasteless form".

The cheapest specific for the relief of cough: heroin.

There's also Dr Williams' Pink Pills for Pale People.

THIS IS A CATCHY & ATTENTION-GRABBING TITLE

Today, the Province will likely announce what zone of the reopening framework we'll shift into as of Tuesday. Whatever is announced, though, doesn't change what we need to do. Why?

Kindly read these 14 tweets & we'll tell you. (1/14)

Fun fact: COVID-19 does not follow us on Twitter. COVID doesn't know, or particularly care, if we're in the Red or Orange zone.

The behaviours of the virus do not depend on the current ‘zone’ of public health restrictions. And, to be perfectly candid, neither should ours. (2/14)

Once upon a time we used to say #WeAreInThisTogether in our messaging. Here's the thing: we are, but we aren't. Not everyone is experiencing this pandemic the same.

Nurses, doctors, paramedics & healthcare workers have experienced things much differently than most of us. (3/14)

Some people have been home & isolated for months, while others haven't been able to stop working.

Business owners & hospitality workers have been on a rollercoaster of openings & closures.

Students, parents, teachers & school staff have had to adapt to going from online (4/14)

to in-person learning (and back again) numerous times.
And this virus has disproportionately affected some groups more than others.

But there's the thing: while our experiences of this pandemic haven't been shared, we do have a shared goal.

And we can reach it together. (5/14)

1/23 We haven't had a lot to celebrate during this pandemic. But achieving the milestone of offering vaccine to the over 70s, health and care workers and the most clinically vulnerable just before target date is a huge cause for celebration, given the scale of the achievement.

2/23 When Margaret Keenan got her first jab in Coventry on December 8th last year, who’d have thought that, by Valentine’s Day, we’d have vaccinated over fourteen million people across the UK in just ten short weeks? Amazing, extraordinary and truly, really, world class!

3/23 I’ve been struck by how much joy and relief has been brought to those doing the vaccinations and those receiving them. A GP told me yesterday that nothing had given him greater pleasure in his long career. And that the patient's relief was sometimes overwhelming.

4/23 It's vital to recognise the extraordinary contribution of the staff and volunteers who have made this happen. One of my close family had their jab yesterday and was in awe of the volunteer standing outside in the freezing cold for a four hour shift meeting and greeting.

5/23 What I wanted to share in this thread was the slightly untold story of some of the extraordinary challenges the NHS has had to overcome to deliver this target. Requiring superhuman effort from NHS leaders and staff, way beyond the call of duty. Five challenges set out below.

New NHS reforms announced today. Seems to be a story of two parts, plus a missing character. Quick thoughts (1/):

Part 1 of the story is a set of technical fixes wanted by NHS leaders to encourage collaboration in the health system. The direction here makes sense—and fits with what the NHS has been doing for ages. Competition is (mostly) out; collaboration is in: good (2/)

And the need for legal changes to tidy the mess left by Lansley’s 2012 Act has long been recognized. But... (3/)

The benefits of integration are often way overstated, and the risk of reorganizations underplayed. In its first 30 years, the NHS’s structure was relatively stable. But over the past 30, the NHS in England has been on an almost constant treadmill of reform and reorganization (4/)

Overall, evidence suggests that previous reorganizations have delivered little measurable benefit. They can also distract and disrupt, depending on how they’re done. The list of other things for the NHS to be doing during and after the pandemic is very long. So be cautious (5/)