Health officials, businesses ready for pandemic

[Guest guest]

Health officials, businesses ready for pandemic

Wednesday, September 05, 2007 By Josh McCoy

Boosted by federal and state grant money, the Amador County Public

Health Department has been meeting with medical facilities to discuss

the possible outbreak of a pandemic flu virus since early spring.

Meetings with large companies, such as Lowe's, Raley's and Safeway,

are soon to follow, according to Lori Jagoda, pandemic flu program

coordinator, and are meant to prepare businesses for possible travel

restrictions, limited business hours or employee absences.

With outbreaks of " pan flu " historically occurring every 40 to 50

years, officials fear that we may be on the verge of another one,

Jagoda said, with the last one having occurred in 1968 in Hong Kong.

The department has hired extra staff, including Mel Welsh, public

health nurse, to host the meetings, giving people suggestions for what

to store at home and what to do, in the case of an outbreak, to help

slow the spread of the disease.

" The question is not 'if' - it's really 'when' it's going to happen, "

said Welsh, at a meeting at Hospice of Amador, a non-profit healthcare

provider that works with terminally ill patients.

Welsh emphasized the difference between pandemic flu, which has, in

the past, caused as many as one in four people to become sick, and

seasonal flu, which comes in predictable strains every year and which

can be prevented with a flu shot in September or October.

She warned that the " bird flu, " now present in Asia, could morph into

a new virus for which there is no vaccine and which is transmittable

between humans. One-hundred ninety-two people have died from the virus

in 2007, Welsh said.

Some of the tips for controlling an outbreak were as seemingly simple

as washing hands often or as involved as businesses adjusting with

less staff and telling workers to telecommute if there is an outbreak.

Welsh also showed a video in which judges rated people on the safety

of their sneezing habits, with high scores going to those who sneezed

into a sleeve and low scores to those who sneezed into their hands.

" If we do some really smart things, we won't have total morbidity in

this room, " Welsh said to laughs.

" Maybe we need to start wearing disposable gloves, " said Gretchen

Kingsbury, a volunteer " griefbuster, " after the meeting.

Ann Metherd, hospice volunteer coordinator who organized the events,

said the meetings are " not meant to scare you but to prepare you. "

A flier handed out at the meeting encouraged people who become ill

during an outbreak to isolate themselves at home for two weeks, except

as medical appointments are needed.

It also warned that services and supplies could be limited, in which

case an emergency stock of food, water, prescription medicines and a

cell phone would be helpful. It also suggested storing disinfectants,

a face mask, plastic gloves and a rehydration solution made of water,

sugar and salt.

Last summer, the public health department organized a mass vaccination

exercise to see, logistically, how many county residents could be

vaccinated in a short period of time if needed. They gave fake shots

during the exercise.

" We do feel there is a real possibility of pandemic flu and what we're

trying to do is lessen the impact, " said Angel LeSage, public health

spokeswoman. She added that any outbreak of the disease here would

likely last between one and one-and-a-half years.

LeSage said this overall effort " is part of this bigger umbrella "

having to do with homeland security preparations since 9/11, even

though, she says, a pandemic flu outbreak is " something more of a

reality " than another terrorist attack.

She does want to make sure people aren't needlessly frightened,

though. " We just don't want people to get scared, " she said, adding

that the education campaign the department is undertaking should help

lessen fear rather than add to it.

The department has received All-Hazards Preparedness federal grant

money and state Pandemic Influenza Preparedness Funds.

Raheem Hosseini contributed to this report.

http://www.ledger-dispatch.com/news/newsview.asp?c=224516