This pissed a lot of people off a few years back:
Paula Simons @Paulatics Flames doctor says Calgary flu clinics a "
Paula Simons @Paulatics
....sorry, said he didn't want to take his team to clinics unannounced, because people wouldn't respect player privacy.
#abhealth #abpoli
Paula Simons @Paulatics He spoke to a nurse patient, said he needed his team "to be safe in the line-up." Asked her to speak to her superiors.
#abhealth
Paula Simons @Paulatics
"It was never my intention to ask for a private clinic, an off-site clinic," says the Flames' doctor.
#abhealth #abpoli
Paula Simons @Paulatics
Inquiry counsel asks if players couldn't have just gone on their own to be vaccinated, instead of arriving as a whole team en masse.
Paula Simons @Paulatics
Flames doctor says knowing the players, they wouldn't have gone. Might still have been hassled by fans.
#abhealth #abpoli
Paula Simons @Paulatics
Hah! Thorne argues it was a PR benefit that Flames vaccinated so publicly, because it encouraged more people to get flu shots.
#abhealth
Paula Simons @Paulatics Flames doc Jim Thorne says the decision was taken high enough up at AHS for the vaccine to be released for private clinic.
#abhealth
Paula Simons @Paulatics
Flames doc says AHS came to HIM with proposal for private clinics. AHS's idea, not his.
#abhealth #abpoli
Paula Simons @Paulatics
Thorne says Flames players came with their families. Originally, clinic was just supposed be for players and traveling team staff.
#abhealth
Paula Simons @Paulatics
Thorne insists it was AHS idea for Flames players to bring families, because it was more efficient use of opened vials of vaccine.
#abhealth
Paula Simons @Paulatics
MT
@j_komarnicki: “There were five hour line-ups and we weren't going to be in that lineup.”
#abhealth
Paula Simons @Paulatics
Thorne says the supply was taken from stock at the Brentwood health clinic in Calgary.
#abhealth #abpoli
Paula Simons @Paulatics
Brentwood clinic nurses who were off-shift came to Thorne's clinic to administer vaccines. Thorne says they volunteered.
#abhealth
Paula Simons @Paulatics
Thorne says his own daughter was vaccinated at Flames clinic. But his wife wasn't because she doesn't believe in vaccinations.
#abhealth
Paula Simons @Paulatics
Counsel asks about allegations "volunteer" nurses were paid. Thorne says there was "appreciation" after the fact - game tickets.
#abhealth
Paula Simons @Paulatics
RT
@j_komarnicki: Thorne: "They refused." No tickets traded hands
#abhealth
Paula Simons @Paulatics
But, Thorne says, the nurses' kids did get Flames autographs.
#abhealth
Paula Simons @Paulatics
Thorne stresses that AHS initially said enough vaccine for all Albertans - that rationing didn't happen until later.
#abhealth
Paula Simons @Paulatics
Thorne insists he was totally surprised. "We didn't know a shortage was coming. If we knew 1 was, we wouldn't have proceeded."
#abhealth
Paula Simons @Paulatics
"In hindlight, we probably should have got into the line-up with our own security." - Flames doc Jim Thorne.
#abhealth
Paula Simons @Paulatics Unless I missed it, Thorne didn't really offer any apologies for the Flames' jump of the H1N1 queue - he's only sorry about the PR fallout.