Tweet
Source: http://www.newstimes.com/latestnews/ci_10697036
Pandemic flu exercise in Danbury
Article Launched: 10/11/2008 10:01:23 AM EDT
DANBURY - If you see a flurry of police and fire department activity around the southern end of Main Street today, do not be alarmed.
The city's health department is teaming with a slew of agencies to hold a pandemic flu exercise.
The Danbury Visiting Nurse Association will be giving flu shots to the public during the simulation.
The drill was scheduled to start at 10 a.m. at Rogers Park Middle School and conclude at about 1 p.m.
Agencies participating include Danbury Hospital, the Danbury Police Department, the Danbury Fire Department, EMS services and other area health departments.
Source: http://www.newstimes.com/ci_10691063
Danbury to hold pandemic flu exercise today
By Eugene Driscoll
STAFF WRITER
Article Launched: 10/10/2008 08:02:48 PM EDT
DANBURY -- What if pandemic flu broke out here and you caught it?
The city's health department is teaming with a number of greater Danbury agencies today to practice -- and test -- how health and public safety officials would respond.
The drill will start at 10 a.m. at Rogers Park Middle School. Scott LeRoy, Danbury's health director, will serve as incident commander.
The exercise will simulate a mass flu outbreak, and about 100 volunteers will flood the middle school campus simultaneously.
The Danbury Visiting Nurse Association will be on hand -- but not pretending -- to give residents flu shots at a "drive-thru clinic."
People who want a flu shot should drive to the middle school and tell officials why they are there. Officials will explain where to go -- and ask the shot-seekers if they want to participate in the exercise as a volunteer, in addition to getting the shot.
It's an opportunity to be an actor -- an actor with an illness.
"(Volunteers) will be role-playing, and they will be assigned a symptom," said Melanie Bonjour, a city health department worker who will serving as a public information officer at the drill.
"Once they get to the drill area, the responders will then triage them to the appropriate spot for assessment and treatment."
The drill will last until 1 p.m., and a debriefing session at the end will review and analyze what happened.
Responding to a public health emergency is not, unfortunately, foreign to Danbury.
The city's emergency plans were tested in September 2007, when city man and a child developed cutaneous anthrax-- a form of anthrax infection that causes nickel-size, scabby sores.
Both residents quickly recovered after being treated with antibiotics, but the house where the anthrax spores were found was off limits for three months.
Pandemic flu exercise in Danbury
Article Launched: 10/11/2008 10:01:23 AM EDT
DANBURY - If you see a flurry of police and fire department activity around the southern end of Main Street today, do not be alarmed.
The city's health department is teaming with a slew of agencies to hold a pandemic flu exercise.
The Danbury Visiting Nurse Association will be giving flu shots to the public during the simulation.
The drill was scheduled to start at 10 a.m. at Rogers Park Middle School and conclude at about 1 p.m.
Agencies participating include Danbury Hospital, the Danbury Police Department, the Danbury Fire Department, EMS services and other area health departments.
Source: http://www.newstimes.com/ci_10691063
Danbury to hold pandemic flu exercise today
By Eugene Driscoll
STAFF WRITER
Article Launched: 10/10/2008 08:02:48 PM EDT
DANBURY -- What if pandemic flu broke out here and you caught it?
The city's health department is teaming with a number of greater Danbury agencies today to practice -- and test -- how health and public safety officials would respond.
The drill will start at 10 a.m. at Rogers Park Middle School. Scott LeRoy, Danbury's health director, will serve as incident commander.
The exercise will simulate a mass flu outbreak, and about 100 volunteers will flood the middle school campus simultaneously.
The Danbury Visiting Nurse Association will be on hand -- but not pretending -- to give residents flu shots at a "drive-thru clinic."
People who want a flu shot should drive to the middle school and tell officials why they are there. Officials will explain where to go -- and ask the shot-seekers if they want to participate in the exercise as a volunteer, in addition to getting the shot.
It's an opportunity to be an actor -- an actor with an illness.
"(Volunteers) will be role-playing, and they will be assigned a symptom," said Melanie Bonjour, a city health department worker who will serving as a public information officer at the drill.
"Once they get to the drill area, the responders will then triage them to the appropriate spot for assessment and treatment."
The drill will last until 1 p.m., and a debriefing session at the end will review and analyze what happened.
Responding to a public health emergency is not, unfortunately, foreign to Danbury.
The city's emergency plans were tested in September 2007, when city man and a child developed cutaneous anthrax-- a form of anthrax infection that causes nickel-size, scabby sores.
Both residents quickly recovered after being treated with antibiotics, but the house where the anthrax spores were found was off limits for three months.