I was looking the the other Disaster/Pandemic thread that Florida1 started. She mentioned that after the hurricanes, that they had problems getting basic supplies and food stores were often closed for weeks after the storm.
That concerns me. I wonder in case of disasters like hurricanes, earthquakes and pandemics if the nurses who work in the area have problems like that. I'd be worried about leaving my family if there was no heat or electric. After loosing electric in the ice storms in the Carolinas a few years back, my husband bought us a generator. I try to keep enough gas stored so that I could run that and maybe have an extra tank of gas for getting back and forth to work, if things were shut down. I never want to wait in the cold on those gas lines again; or have to risk driving around to find necessities!
What disasters have you been through? What lessons did you learn about what things would make life easier if it happens again to you? What can we learn from your experience, and how can we prepare for so we dont have to go through th esame problems you did?
Where there any sepcial tricks or issues that came up that helped you at work? Any special problems that nurses in disasters face?
I have a confession- my home first aid kit is pretty anemic right now :) DH burned his hand prety badly at work last week. I hadnt checked my kit in awhile, and was shocked to see how low I was on some stuff. I only had one roll banfage and had to make a run to WallyWorld the next day! If the stores were shut or the roads iced in or otherwise impassible that would have been an issue. Maybe not life threatening- but its a small example of how not being well prepared can be a problem.
I'd have been so embarrased to admit to hubby I couldnt take care of it, or come thru when he needed me to.
What do you do to prepare? I'm going to restock my kit, and get some more OTC stuff to keep on hand too. What else should I be thinking about?
U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce, and the District of Columbia
Title: Forestalling the Coming Pandemic: Infectious Disease Surveillance Overseas
Date: 10/4/07
Time (EST): 2:30 PM
Place: Dirksen Senate Office Building, Rm. 342
Due to the evolving nature of infectious diseases, environmental changes, and the easiness of global travel, the nature of newly emerging disease is increasingly transnational and is disproportionately zoonotic (diseases that can be transmitted to humans). Thus, we need to detect not only emerging disease, but zoonotic disease outbreaks, which depend on establishing effective new partnerships between disciplines, institutions, and nations. There are a number of executive branch agencies with programs in place to help developing countries monitor the outbreak of infectious disease and to provide the U.S. with early warning of potential public health emergencies. These programs were most recently reviewed by the Government Accountability Office (GAO). This hearing will examine the results of the GAO report, assess the effectiveness of the U.S.-funded programs to assist other countries in monitoring emerging infectious disease and how those programs help the U.S. provide early warning of imminent public health threats, and work being done by the animal health community to identify emerging zoonotic disease.
...Banks and insurers must have "business continuity" plans in place for a wide range of emergencies...The flu efforts have been under way for two years, since November 2005.
The exercise-the largest ever of this type in the United States-is designed to simulate as best as possible the conditions that companies would face when the virus hits America.
At its core, the test expects about 25 percent of a company's staff to be absent the first week, and almost half the second.
"What we're trying to do is recreate as much as we can what would happen should a pandemic eventually reach America," said Louis W. Pietroluongo, deputy New York state...
... Rather than affecting just a limited geographic area or even a single building, a pandemic would hit the entire country. ]And it would last for 12 to 18 months, in multiple waves, instead of a few minutes or hours.
Employees also are being actively cross-trained in multiple functions, and companies are identifying key people to fill critical roles. And significant work is already automated.
Many companies like M&T, Citi and KeyBank are considering whether employees can do work from home to avoid exposure, and are assessing whether they have enough Internet "bandwidth" to handle such an increase in Web traffic. Indeed, that's become a major question.
"It's such a great unknown," said M&T's Shaw. "We've never pushed the limit of the Internet to this point where we know what this would do to us."
KeyBank officials are looking at whether they could handle more activity through call centers, online banking, and ATMs, since many routine activities can be done remotely, said spokesman William Murschel.
Billittier said some banks have talked of closing branch lobbies to minimize physical contact.
Pietrolongo said companies also need to maintain building security to keep sick people from coming to work, and might need to provide cafeteria service around the clock. And they have to consider the psychological impact on workers.
HSBC, with its global reach in 83 countries and territories, has gone a step further. After seeking advice from leading experts on avian flu, the company is purchasing and stockpiling the anti-viral drug Tamiflu that has been recommended by the World Health Organization. The drug would be available to all employees and, where possible, could be purchased for their family members.
The financial services industry is among the most advanced in planning, because it's highly regulated and those regulators want to ensure the nation's financial system remains intact.
I did a CEU last year on the Avion flu and in the read there was discussion about also safe proofing your home with stuffing certain vents ,etc. I have since lost track of the CEU booklet. Have you haerd of these kinds od precautions as well as those you have already listed?
About 200 school nurses and district administrators from Stanislaus County gathered Thursday to discuss how to keep schools in business during a pandemic flu outbreak.
Unlike flu season, which happens every year, a pandemic flu outbreak happens about three times a century and can sicken one-third of the population. History has shown that adults younger than 35 are disproportionately affected by pandemic flu.
Stanislaus County Deputy Fire Warden Mike Wilkinson estimated about 40 percent of students would be absent from school at the peak of a pandemic outbreak, which could last 18 months.
Why they would even try to keep schools open during a pandemic, if it is a highly virulent virus such as
Results. Compared with noninoculated mice, those inoculated intranasally manifested cross-reactivity of mucosal IgA and serum IgG with H5N1 virus, as well as both a reduced H5N1 virus titer in nasal-wash samples and increased survival, after challenge with H5N1 virus. Subcutaneous inoculation did not induce a cross-reactive IgA response and did not afford protection against H5N1 viral infection.
Conclusions. Intranasal inoculation with annual influenza vaccine plus the Toll-like receptor–3 agonist, poly(I):poly(C12U), may overcome the problem of a limited supply of H5N1 virus vaccine by providing cross-protective mucosal immunity against H5N1 viruses with pandemic potential.
indigo girl
5,173 Posts
Thank you!