GOVERNMENT PLANS Federal, provincial, and regional health authorities are appropriately formulating and refining their respective pandemic preparedness plans. Existing emergency response agencies such as the Red Cross continue year-round with excellent general and specialized volunteer training. All of these should be both applauded and supported. The scope of a major pandemic will be, by definition and historical records alike, unlike any other emergency: it happens, then it happens some more, and it keeps on happening for weeks, then it appears to recede before returning even more severely than before; and it happens in virtually all communities, leaving little possibility for outside help; and with it, being a novel infectious disease, comes a fear of infection of self and family. The challenge now before us is to connect authoritative and experienced response structures with our communities and neighbourhoods across the country.