Planning for a Pandemic Flu Outbreak
Ask most emergency workers or medical professionals and they'll tell you when dealing with pandemic flu, it's not a matter of "if" it's a question of "when." Minnehaha County Emergency Management Director Lynn DeYoung says, "In the last several weeks the city and county have together gotten a grant for $62,500 from the State Health Department." With that money, a pandemic flu summit is being planned. It will bring together community and business leaders, school officials, government agencies: anyone who would have a stake in pandemic flu. DeYoung says, "And what we're going to try to do is gather all those people together and find out what their concerns are and what they know about pandemic flu and what they don't know and then make a plan about how we're going to attack this if and when it happens." As DeYoung briefed the city council and the county commission on those plans, he is quick to point out that planning also needs to be going on at home. He says, "If and when it happens it happens at the personal level, at the family level, so we need to know what we're going to do if this does affect us." DeYoung says the Federal Government releases new information daily and they will continue to update local plans accordingly.
By Shannon Stevens
http://www.ksfy.com/Stories/Story.cfm?SID=7988
Ask most emergency workers or medical professionals and they'll tell you when dealing with pandemic flu, it's not a matter of "if" it's a question of "when." Minnehaha County Emergency Management Director Lynn DeYoung says, "In the last several weeks the city and county have together gotten a grant for $62,500 from the State Health Department." With that money, a pandemic flu summit is being planned. It will bring together community and business leaders, school officials, government agencies: anyone who would have a stake in pandemic flu. DeYoung says, "And what we're going to try to do is gather all those people together and find out what their concerns are and what they know about pandemic flu and what they don't know and then make a plan about how we're going to attack this if and when it happens." As DeYoung briefed the city council and the county commission on those plans, he is quick to point out that planning also needs to be going on at home. He says, "If and when it happens it happens at the personal level, at the family level, so we need to know what we're going to do if this does affect us." DeYoung says the Federal Government releases new information daily and they will continue to update local plans accordingly.
By Shannon Stevens
http://www.ksfy.com/Stories/Story.cfm?SID=7988
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