Re: H1N1 in Jails, Prison
Source: http://bgdailynews.com/articles/2009...news/news6.txt
(KENTUCKY)
Jailers are being vigilant in effort to avoid outbreak
By JUSTIN STORY, The Daily News, jstory@bgdailynews.com
Sunday, October 18, 2009 12:01 AM CDT
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Local demand for the seasonal influenza vaccine has been readily apparent, with area clinics and pharmacies exhausting their supplies and those locations with remaining supplies witnessing a backlog of appointments.
The area is bracing for a demand for the H1N1 nasal mist and flu shot vaccines, and area jailers this past week got an opportunity to learn to better prepare themselves for a potential outbreak.
Many of the state?s jailers, including Warren County Jailer Jackie Strode, Barren County Jailer Matt Mutter and Allen County Jailer Larry Piper, gathered in Lexington last week for the Kentucky Jailers Association 2009 Fall Conference.
The three-day conference provided county jailers and officers with valuable training experience and offers several sessions to update jail personnel on state laws that apply to jails.
On Thursday, several jailers attended a seminar led by Capt. Jim Capillo, administrative captain of the Fayette County Detention Center, that provided information about the H1N1 virus and offered advice on what to do to avoid an outbreak and how to respond to a pandemic.
Mutter, the acting jailer in Barren County, said the seminar went into detail on what the H1N1 virus, also known as swine flu, is and how it is spread.
The advice that jailers received to help prevent an outbreak among employees and inmates - your hands washed and sneezing and coughing into a shirt-sleeve to avoid spreading germs - was similar to what health departments are offering.
In the closed environment of a jail, however, a greater emphasis has to be placed on those precautions, Mutter said. ?Every time an inmate is booked in, we have them use hand sanitizer before they get fingerprinted,? Mutter said.
Jail employees are offered the seasonal flu and hepatitis vaccines each year in Barren County, Mutter said, and the jail is looking into the possibility of buying doses of the H1N1 vaccine whenever they?re made available.
?We?re more concerned with getting our employees vaccinated first ... I don?t know how readily available (the vaccine) will be and I don?t know how much of it we?re going to have,? Mutter said. ?It is something I?m going to check into when I get back from the conference because (our employees) are exposed to everything that comes through the door there on a daily basis.?
Jailers said when an inmate gets sick from a contagious disease, that person is isolated from the rest of the jail population.
Piper said the clinics in his county are out of the seasonal flu vaccine, and that sanitary practices are strongly encouraged among the employees and inmates in the Allen County Jail.
?Our number one is if somebody comes down with a cold, we try to get them to a doctor quick,? Piper said. ?If they?re sick, we try to isolate them and put them by themselves.?
Piper said more hand sanitizer has been made available in the jail and door handles are being cleaned more frequently.
The jail works through local clinics to obtain the vaccine, he said.
Source: http://bgdailynews.com/articles/2009...news/news6.txt
(KENTUCKY)
Jailers are being vigilant in effort to avoid outbreak
By JUSTIN STORY, The Daily News, jstory@bgdailynews.com
Sunday, October 18, 2009 12:01 AM CDT
Print this story | Email this story | | Smaller Text Text Size Larger Text
advertisement
Local demand for the seasonal influenza vaccine has been readily apparent, with area clinics and pharmacies exhausting their supplies and those locations with remaining supplies witnessing a backlog of appointments.
The area is bracing for a demand for the H1N1 nasal mist and flu shot vaccines, and area jailers this past week got an opportunity to learn to better prepare themselves for a potential outbreak.
Many of the state?s jailers, including Warren County Jailer Jackie Strode, Barren County Jailer Matt Mutter and Allen County Jailer Larry Piper, gathered in Lexington last week for the Kentucky Jailers Association 2009 Fall Conference.
The three-day conference provided county jailers and officers with valuable training experience and offers several sessions to update jail personnel on state laws that apply to jails.
On Thursday, several jailers attended a seminar led by Capt. Jim Capillo, administrative captain of the Fayette County Detention Center, that provided information about the H1N1 virus and offered advice on what to do to avoid an outbreak and how to respond to a pandemic.
Mutter, the acting jailer in Barren County, said the seminar went into detail on what the H1N1 virus, also known as swine flu, is and how it is spread.
The advice that jailers received to help prevent an outbreak among employees and inmates - your hands washed and sneezing and coughing into a shirt-sleeve to avoid spreading germs - was similar to what health departments are offering.
In the closed environment of a jail, however, a greater emphasis has to be placed on those precautions, Mutter said. ?Every time an inmate is booked in, we have them use hand sanitizer before they get fingerprinted,? Mutter said.
Jail employees are offered the seasonal flu and hepatitis vaccines each year in Barren County, Mutter said, and the jail is looking into the possibility of buying doses of the H1N1 vaccine whenever they?re made available.
?We?re more concerned with getting our employees vaccinated first ... I don?t know how readily available (the vaccine) will be and I don?t know how much of it we?re going to have,? Mutter said. ?It is something I?m going to check into when I get back from the conference because (our employees) are exposed to everything that comes through the door there on a daily basis.?
Jailers said when an inmate gets sick from a contagious disease, that person is isolated from the rest of the jail population.
Piper said the clinics in his county are out of the seasonal flu vaccine, and that sanitary practices are strongly encouraged among the employees and inmates in the Allen County Jail.
?Our number one is if somebody comes down with a cold, we try to get them to a doctor quick,? Piper said. ?If they?re sick, we try to isolate them and put them by themselves.?
Piper said more hand sanitizer has been made available in the jail and door handles are being cleaned more frequently.
The jail works through local clinics to obtain the vaccine, he said.
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