Increasing Readiness When Disaster Strikes

Is Howard County ready for a severe Avian Flu outbreak? During the past year, the Community Emergency Response Network (CERN) worked to inform and to catalyze nonprofits, government agencies and others to increase pandemic readiness. A pivotal Pandemic Flu Summit held in May attracted more than 300 community leaders who participated in an event led by experts from as far away as Seattle.

The Summit was preceded by two regional symposia partnered by the Foundation, the Johns Hopkins Bloomburg School of Public Health and the University of Maryland Center for Health and Homeland Security. These meetings were designed to garner the pandemic flu expertise of national public health experts.

Dr. Richard M. Krieg	Dr. Michael Osterholm

The bottom line conclusion of both meetings was not promising. Were an Avian Flu pandemic to occur in the next few years, the United States could face dire consequences. The current eggbased vaccine production process is laborious. Even if an appropriate vaccine proves safe and effective, manufacturers would require at least half a year following the conclusion of clinical trials to ramp up production. However, with human to human transmission, pandemic flu could spread quickly across the globe. Based on these and other factors, only a small percentage of the world population would get immunized.

"People who get sick will need to take care of themselves. They'll need to institute a program that enables self care." Richard A. Bissell, PhD Associate Professor, Emergency Health Services at the University of Maryland

Pandemic Preparedness

With this backdrop, a Summit assumption was that no vaccine would be available in time to prevent a local H5N1 outbreak.

"It's not a matter of if a pandemic flu outbreak will strike but when," Dr. Michael Osterholm, Director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy said at the Pandemic Flu Summit. "It’s inevitable."

Other Summit speakers confirmed that if the deadly Avian Flu (H5N1) virus acquired an ability in the short term to easily pass between humans, the repercussions would be enormous. Experts have predicted between two million and fifty million deaths worldwide. The speakers emphasized that there is not yet a definitive vaccine, but prototypes which offer protection against the H5N1 strain are being produced.






Here are some specific highlights from the daylong meeting:

• County Health Officer Penny Borenstein traced the origins of a pandemic from virus to epidemic to pandemic and explained that influenza is spread through droplets in the air. People become infected before they begin showing symptoms, she said. Borenstein advocates a practical approach to preventing community-wide illness.

  "I believe infection control works," she said, adding she favors universal vaccination.

  If there was a major influenza outbreak in Howard County, the Health Department would ask people to "self isolate" and quarantine at home, she said. "I can’t imagine mass quarantine. I don’t envision us using that kind of measure."

• Throughout the summit, speakers stressed the importance of Howard County residents being prepared to shelter in place in an emergency.

  "People who get sick will need to take care of themselves. They’ll need to institute a program that enables self care," Richard A. Bissell, PhD, Associate Professor, Emergency Health Services at the University of Maryland, said. In threatening circumstances, "people tend to gravitate towards the smallest social unit." For many of us, that’s our families and our neighbors.

• Eric Holdeman, director of the King County, Washington Office of Emergency Management, said government officials and businesses need to form networks with similar entities.

  “Build relationships and trust so you know one another,” he said. “Be regional, be coordinated and be collaborative. And use and build on CERN.”

• Noting that Howard County has almost 5,000 small businesses with 10 or fewer employees, Economic Development Authority CEO Richard Story said, "Think about what business owners will do with all those people not working for a period of time.

  "We have to dissuade ourselves of the notion that no one will die if a business fails. Thousands of people who work here are engaged in supplying food on a wholesale basis. What if they can’t bring food to you?"

  In addition to The Horizon Foundation, CERN and county government, other sponsors of the summit were the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins, University of Maryland School of Public Health, and the University of Maryland Center for Health and Homeland Security.

A Year of Firsts

The Pandemic Flu Summit followed a productive year for CERN. In October 2005, Howard County held its first Community Readiness Week, an event conceived at CERN's Strategic Planning Retreat, to focus attention on preparedness. The multi-faceted program was implemented by Howard County Government in partnership with CERN.

This week long series of events began with the presentation to CERN of a proclamation establishing the Week by County Executive Jim Robey. Activities included a large-scale exercise involving first responders which was built around a simulated terrorist event. In addition, the county performed a partial test of its Community Notification System, which alerts county residents to emergency incidents through automated phone calls. A press conference was also convened at Howard County General Hospital announcing that planning for an all-volunteer Medical Reserve Corps had begun.

During the Week, a number of officials commended CERN's roles in relation to first responders and the broader community. The following specific accomplishments were highlighted:

• Joint strategic planning involving both first responders agencies, nonprofit organizations, business and others
  
  
• Community-wide distribution of CERN shelter-in-place material including family communication cards and sheltering guidelines
  
  
• Workshops and planning to increase preparedness for people with disabilities
  
  
•  Convening a series of large-scale tabletop exercises simulating remote terrorist events
  
  
• Developing a model Safe Schools Campaign, including plan contents, communications with parents and the development of material
  
  
• Implementing an emergency kiosk system in county government buildings, libraries and Howard Community College
  
  
• Assisting the Howard County Public School System and Howard Community College to upgrade their emergency communications and back-up systems
  
  
• Creating and pilot testing a Neighbor to Neighbor initiative designed to increase the resilience of local communities
  
  
• Working with the Volunteer Center and through the CERN website (www.cern.us) to bolster volunteer recruitment and with the Department of Fire and Rescue to sponsor Community Emergency Readiness Training (CERT).
  
  
• Partnering with the Howard County Library system to conduct high volume distribution of emergency guidelines
  
  
• Commencing community shelter planning related to emergency “invacuation” of Washington area residents
  
  
• Sponsoring of an audit of the county’s Emergency Operations Plan, conducted by Innovative Emergency Management, Inc.

The Pandemic Flu Summit, held in May 2006, attracted more than 300 community leaders who participated in an event led by experts from as far away as Seattle.