Consider if:
- 1/3 of staff is down with flu
- tamiflu and vaccine are limited (who gets?)
- N95 and surgical masks are in short supply (when to use which?)
- what, if any, protocol changes (diversion, triage, long-distance medical control, etc)
From Wisconsin pandemic plan:
“Unlike the typical disaster, because of increased exposure to the virus essential community services personnel such as healthcare personnel, police, firefighters, emergency medical technologists, and other first responders, will be more likely to be affected by influenza than the general public.”
From the Massachusetts Draft Template for Local Infectious Disease Emergency Planning and Response:
Assumptions: Influenza Pandemic
- An influenza pandemic is inevitable.
- There may be very little warning. Most experts believe that we will have between one and six months between the time that a novel influenza strain is identified and the time that outbreaks begin to occur in the United States.
- Outbreaks may occur simultaneously throughout much of the United States, preventing shifts in human and material resources that normally occur with other natural localized or regional disasters.
- The effect of an influenza pandemic on individual communities will be relatively prolonged — weeks to months.
- The impact of the next pandemic could have a devastating effect on the health and well being of the American public. MDPH estimates that in Massachusetts alone, during a 2 – 3 month period -
- Up to 4 million persons will be infected
- Up to 2 million persons will become clinically ill
- Up to 1 million persons will require outpatient care
- Up to 24,000 persons will be hospitalized
- Up to 6,000 persons will die
- Effective preventive and therapeutic measures — including vaccines and antiviral agents — will likely be in short supply, as well as antibiotics to treat secondary infections.
- Health-care workers and other first responders will likely be at even higher risk of exposure and illness than the general population, further impeding the care of victims.
- Widespread illness in the community will also increase the likelihood of sudden and potentially significant shortages of personnel in other sectors who provide critical community services, including but not limited to, military personnel, police, firefighters, utility workers, and transportation workers.
see also
- wildlandresidents.org, in the Santa Barbara area of CA as an excellent example of web-based communication, training and commitment to small communities about prevention and preparedness for wildfires. It includes FEMA’sAre you ready? citizen preparedness guide .pdf. Individual communities need to adapt readiness to cover a potential pandemic as well as the natural hazards peculiar to the geography (fires, earthquakes, wind storms, etc). This may mean non-emergency personnel (e.g., schools) becoming more familiar with NIMS/ICS language so that a common vocabulary can be utilized by both first responders and non-emergency personnel.
- Chief’s Corner
- USFA on panflu prep
- Pandemic Influenza: Best Practices and Model Protocols .pdf
- IAFF on panflu prep
- worksheet for first responders