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Health department will use grants for disaster planning
Motorists who got a drive-through flu shot last month in Anderson may not have realized they also helped Shasta County prepare for the next worldwide pandemic flu strike.
A pandemic flu, anthrax attack or bioterrorism are probably of little concern to Shasta County residents ? as they should be, Public Health Director Donnell Ewert said Monday.
?People should be way more worried about seasonal flu than pandemic flu. Go get your flu shot. ? That?s a real threat, not a hypothetical threat,? he said.
But grants intended to brace the area for those disasters also prep it for the public health hazards common to Shasta County: choking smoke from wildfires, life-threatening summer heat and the seasonal flu, which can lead to deadly illnesses for vulnerable residents.
Today, the Shasta County Board of Supervisors will consider accepting a $66,226 state grant for this fiscal year to prepare for a pandemic influenza outbreak. Also, the board will consider accepting the $487,875 annual federal allocation for emergency preparedness it has received for the past several years. It would continue to help the county plan for bioterrorism, outbreaks of infectious disease, other public health threats and emergencies, and fund the Redding-based lab that serves multiple north state counties.
While a bioterrorism attack like an anthrax mailing is unlikely, Ewert said, the federal grant money can be used for a variety of public health hazards. It helped Shasta County set up cooling centers and check on vulnerable residents during this summer?s heat waves, for example.
At the drive-through flu shot clinic held at the Shasta District Fair grounds last month, more than 500 people were immunized in just a few hours, Ewert said. The event doubled as a drill for Public Health to practice quickly administering emergency vaccines in the case of a pandemic, the likes of which haven?t been felt worldwide since 1968, 1957 and 1918.
?We?re trying to use real scenarios, real things, to practice what we?d do in a more serious situation,? he said.
Those are the behind-the-scenes ways residents are more likely to see the emergency preparedness money pay off, Ewert said.
Public Health also has used the grant to develop relationships with volunteer HAM radio operators to coordinate communications during a disaster. It?s created lists of qualified reserve medical professionals who could help if local resources are exhausted during disasters.
?During 9/11, people showed up at shelters and said, ?I?m a doctor, I want to help,? ? Ewert said. ?But you need to know, is this really a doctor??
In April, the same federal grant funded an emergency preparedness summit in Redding involving more than 90 people from local faith communities.
The gathering helped identify religious facilities that could be used as shelters, mobilized volunteer networks and encouraged attendees to teach congregations to create family emergency plans and make 24-hour survival kits, Ewert said.
"The idea is you prepare, in general, to be displaced,? he said. ?Fire is the main emergency that happens here, let?s face it.?
Motorists who got a drive-through flu shot last month in Anderson may not have realized they also helped Shasta County prepare for the next worldwide pandemic flu strike.
A pandemic flu, anthrax attack or bioterrorism are probably of little concern to Shasta County residents ? as they should be, Public Health Director Donnell Ewert said Monday.
?People should be way more worried about seasonal flu than pandemic flu. Go get your flu shot. ? That?s a real threat, not a hypothetical threat,? he said.
But grants intended to brace the area for those disasters also prep it for the public health hazards common to Shasta County: choking smoke from wildfires, life-threatening summer heat and the seasonal flu, which can lead to deadly illnesses for vulnerable residents.
Today, the Shasta County Board of Supervisors will consider accepting a $66,226 state grant for this fiscal year to prepare for a pandemic influenza outbreak. Also, the board will consider accepting the $487,875 annual federal allocation for emergency preparedness it has received for the past several years. It would continue to help the county plan for bioterrorism, outbreaks of infectious disease, other public health threats and emergencies, and fund the Redding-based lab that serves multiple north state counties.
While a bioterrorism attack like an anthrax mailing is unlikely, Ewert said, the federal grant money can be used for a variety of public health hazards. It helped Shasta County set up cooling centers and check on vulnerable residents during this summer?s heat waves, for example.
At the drive-through flu shot clinic held at the Shasta District Fair grounds last month, more than 500 people were immunized in just a few hours, Ewert said. The event doubled as a drill for Public Health to practice quickly administering emergency vaccines in the case of a pandemic, the likes of which haven?t been felt worldwide since 1968, 1957 and 1918.
?We?re trying to use real scenarios, real things, to practice what we?d do in a more serious situation,? he said.
Those are the behind-the-scenes ways residents are more likely to see the emergency preparedness money pay off, Ewert said.
Public Health also has used the grant to develop relationships with volunteer HAM radio operators to coordinate communications during a disaster. It?s created lists of qualified reserve medical professionals who could help if local resources are exhausted during disasters.
?During 9/11, people showed up at shelters and said, ?I?m a doctor, I want to help,? ? Ewert said. ?But you need to know, is this really a doctor??
In April, the same federal grant funded an emergency preparedness summit in Redding involving more than 90 people from local faith communities.
The gathering helped identify religious facilities that could be used as shelters, mobilized volunteer networks and encouraged attendees to teach congregations to create family emergency plans and make 24-hour survival kits, Ewert said.
"The idea is you prepare, in general, to be displaced,? he said. ?Fire is the main emergency that happens here, let?s face it.?
