Get a kit. Make a plan. Be informed. Get involved.
September is National Preparedness Month - a nationwide effort that encourages Americans to take the necessary steps to prepare for emergencies in their homes, businesses and schools.
The Ohio Department of Public Safety's preparedness site, http://www.ready.ohio.gov/ , contains resources to help Ohioans make a plan, put together emergency kits, and share information with family members, coworkers and neighbors. The site includes preparedness information for business owners, older Americans, people with disabilities and pet owners. It also has material on multicultural needs and weather safety tips.
Everyone is encouraged to log onto http://www.ready.ohio.gov/ , sign up as a preparedness partner, or simply learn more about how to be prepared. Preparing makes sense. Get ready now.
PANDEMIC - SCHOOL & CHILD MITIGATION ACTIVITY:
CIDRAP. WHACK the Flu (City of Berkeley, CA, Public Health Division). Accessed at: http://www.pandemicpractices.org/practices/resource.do?resource-id=317&state-id=6
Description and Reviewers' Comments:
WHACK the Flu is a community education plan designed to teach K-3 school children about improved hand hygiene habits in anticipation of the flu season. University volunteers are recruited and trained to conduct 15-minute classroom skit presentations, each of which requires three volunteers to perform. Incentives are distributed (i.e., stickers, activity sheets) to the children and posters/evaluation forms to the teachers. The skit directions are clear, and a song included in the skits is catchy and age-appropriate. Presentations are usually conducted in the fall, beginning in October.
The WHACK acronym is used for its appeal to children and stands for:
Wash you hands often
Home is where you stay when you are sick
Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth
Cover your coughs and sneezes
Keep your distance from people who are coughing or sneezing.
Since children are considered by many to be a critical "lynchpin" in the transmission of seasonal influenza, an intervention focused on them may reduce general sickness in the schools and community and serve as a potential source of mitigation in the event of a flu pandemic. WHACK the Flu is noteworthy both for its use of University volunteers and for its direct outreach to children - an important population for disease mitigation. This is also conceivably training that the schools could offer directly to parent groups.
PANDEMIC - ETHICS IN THE WORST OF TIME:
Center for Public Health Preparedness, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota. Ethics in the Worst of Times: Rationing to Protect the Public's Health During a Severe Influenza Pandemic. June 5, 2008 video-taped and web-cast conference session. Accessed at: http://cpheo.sph.umn.edu/cpheo/ethics/home.html
Abstract:
Who should be first to receive scarce health-related resources in a severe pandemic? How should scarce resources like antivirals, masks, vaccines, and ventilators be rationed? How will you communicate a public health perspective to your community, supporting rationing strategies to further our common good? How will you educate them and enlist their support of a state-wide plan to ration these resources in ways intended to save the most lives, preserve public safety and order, and be fair?
Ethicists in Minnesota have worked with state and local public health agencies and a diverse community panel to develop an ethical framework to guide the Minnesota Department of Health's decisions in the midst of a severe pandemic, for the statewide rationing of a range of critical health-related resources for prevention, treatment and personal protection.
CAMPUS SAFETY BILL:
Bootz, Anthony. "Ready For The Worst: Local Campuses Aim To Warn Students Faster." DNRonline.com, Aug. 27, 2007. http://www.dnronline.com/news_details.php?AID=30822&CHID=2
Officials at local colleges and universities vowed to conform to the campus safety bill that President Bush signed into law Thursday [H.R. 4137]. But some are concerned that the bill's requirement to notify students "immediately" of a dangerous situation may be unrealistic. The Virginia Tech Victims Act, an amended form of the Higher Education Act of 1965, standardizes the emergency and evacuation response of universities during campus crises. Under the law, universities must disclose and test their emergency and evacuation plans annually. But the legislation's most important change is a requirement that schools notify students and faculty "immediately" upon confirmation of a crisis by campus police, said a spokesman for Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, D-N.Y., the bill's main sponsor.
This new law will impact over 4,000 college and university institutions nationwide, and the local governments and municipalities adjacent to the campuses. It should strengthen coordination between university and college campuses nationwide.
HEALTH CARE SYSTEM PREPAREDNESS:
Salinsky, Eileen. Strong as the Weakest Link: Medical Response to a Catastrophic Event. Washington, DC: George Washington University, National Health Policy Forum, Backgrounder Paper No. 65, August 8, 2008, 30 pages. Accessed at: http://www.nhpf.org/pdfs_bp/BP65_SurgeCapacity_08-08-08.pdf
Overview:
Natural disasters and acts of terrorism have placed a spotlight on the ability of health care providers to surge in response to catastrophic conditions. This paper reviews the status of efforts to develop the capacity and capabilities of the health care system to respond to disasters and other mass casualty events. Strategies for adapting routine medical practices and protocols to the demands posed by extraordinary circumstances and scarce resources are summarized. Existing federal roles, responsibilities, and assets relative to the contributions of state and local government and the private sector are described, including specific programmatic activities such as the Strategic National Stockpile, the National Disaster Medical System, and the Hospital Preparedness Program. Opportunities for federal policymakers seeking to strengthen and expedite preparations for medical disaster response are highlighted.
NATIONAL RESPONSE FRAMEWORK - BIOLOGICAL INCIDENT ANNEX MADE AVAILABLE:
Federal Emergency Management Agency. National Response Framework, Biological Incident Annex. Washington, DC: FEMA, August 8, 2008, 12 pages. Accessed at: http://www.fema.gov/pdf/emergency/nrf/nrf_BiologicalIncidentAnnex.pdf
The objectives of the Federal Government's response to a biological terrorism event or to a naturally occurring disease outbreak with a known or novel pathogen are to:
1. Detect the event through disease surveillance and environmental monitoring.
2. Identify and protect the population(s) at risk.
3. Determine the source of the disease.
4. Assess the public health, law enforcement, and international implications.
5. Control and contain any possible epidemic (including providing guidance to State, tribal, territorial, and local public health authorities).
6. Augment and surge public health and medical services.
7. Identify the cause and prevent the recurrence of any potential resurgence, additional outbreaks, or further spread of disease.
8. Assess the extent of residual biological contamination and conduct response, restoration, and recovery actions as necessary.
NATIONAL RESPONSE FRAMEWORK - FOOD AND AGRICULTURE INCIDENT ANNEX AVAILABLE:
The objectives of a coordinated national response to an incident impacting food and agriculture are to:
1. Detect the event through the reporting of illness, disease/pest surveillance, routine testing, consumer complaints, and/or environmental monitoring.
2. Determine the primary coordinating agency.
3. Determine the source of the incident or outbreak.
4. Control and contain the distribution of the affected source.
5. Identify and protect the population at risk.
6. Assess public health, food, agriculture, and law enforcement implications.
7. Assess the extent of residual biological, chemical, or radiological contamination, then decontaminate and dispose as necessary.
EXERCISES - NOT JUST FOR HOSPITALS:
Cosgrove SE, Jenckes MW, Wilson LM, Bass EB, Hsu EB. Tool for Evaluating Core Elements of Hospital Disaster Drills. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins Evidence-based Practice Center, under Contract No. 290-02-0018, Public Health Emergency Preparedness Research Program, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Department of Health and Human Services, December 2007, 55 pages. At: http://www.ahrq.gov/prep/drillelements/drillelements.pdf
Excerpt:
Drawing from the published literature on disaster drills as well as input from a variety of experts in the field, the Johns Hopkins University Evidence-based Practice Center (JHU-EPC) developed a set of evaluation modules and addendums for operationalized hospital disaster drills in 2004 entitled Evaluation of Hospital Disaster Drills: A Module-Based Approach. This document includes substantial detail on evaluation of hospital disaster drills. In 2005, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) requested that the JHU-EPC develop an abridged version of the original evaluation tool that focuses on the critical elements of drill evaluation that all hospitals should address as part of disaster preparedness.
This document describes the principles behind the approach used to develop the abbreviated evaluation modules and addendums and recommendations for their use. (p.2)
