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**Amish Country** · December 26, 2012, 03:27 PM

Re: Push needed for pandemic planning

I sincerely hope they will tailor their response to a local level or encourage governments to do so. The following is my humble opinion as to what can be done on a more local level .

Identify local resources and guidelines :
Human resourses on hand: What health care professionals are on hand capable of and willing to help (retired, ex military with medical training, missionaries with medical experience and those without healthcare expertise but are willing to help).
Alternative for communications: Due to the fact that during mass casualty events cell phone service is commonly overwhelmed to the point of uselessness alternatives should be identified and utilized. Examples of some of these are; local ham radio operators that are trained, equipped and are mandated by law to provide this service free of charge to the community (at least currently in the US), LE and emergency personnel equipped with radio communication equipment and businesses such as trucking and delivery services that use radio communication.
Transportation: Such as school buses etc that can be used in a pinch to transport infected and/or supplies or the collection of the deceased.
Fuel: for heat and transportation needs. If there is not enough stored and located locally to handle at least a temporary interruption in deliveries perhaps this is an issue that needs addressing. Methods of transporting and storing fuel temporally during the duration of the emergency using locally available equipment and resources.
Food: local food distributors, retailers and processors. It might be good to know what they can preprocess, how much they can process and what their personnel and other needs are.
Water: Several sources for clean potable water sufficient to meeting community needs would be a good thing. Enough personnel, chemicals and equipment on hand to make non potable water potable during a interruption in deliveries would be a good thing. A method such as trucks with steel lined tanks cleaned, sanitized and approved to deliver water with the correct hoses and nozzles to deliver potable water to individual homes or distribution centers might be useful. It might be good to have or identify a source of suitable food grade containers for water distribution sites and safe sanitary methods of water distribution.
Larger scale shelter for infected: Traditionally when a contagion struck the larger buildings in a community (usually schools, churches, community centers and meeting places, barns, warehouses and other storage facilities) would be turned into make shift hospitals/isolation wards for the sick and if appropriate temporary storage for the dead.
Smaller scale shelter for infected: Those cared for at home. At one time most mothers knew how to set up a sick room with minimal supplies and kept those supplies on hand. Many homes would have sufficient stores of food on hand. (depending on the time of year) lessening the pressure to go out in public to risk infection to procure food and other supplies.
Educational and training: I find it sad and ironic that members of the US public in the 1800 and early 1900's were much better trained and prepared to deal with an epidemic or pandemic than we are today. Of course there were few if any vaccines back then and dealing with childhood disease was a matter of everyday life. This helped to provide that many households had the necessary training and supplies on hand to deal, at least to some degree with contagion. In my humble opinion emergency first aid, setting up a sick room, sanitation and care for the sick and injured should be part of school health class curriculum. licensed Healthcare professionals could distribute printed information and instructions o these topics and provide clarification where needed. Training, mock training drills and experience can help.
Management of casualties: Deciding in advance how the dead will be handled, by whom, and safely disposed of during or after a mass casualty event. It might be good to know the maximum number of casualties local morticians and mortuaries can manage. For number above that total temporary cold storage or quick internment or other disposal may be needed. It would be good to know what storage is available in advance of an event. Sites for mass graves could be identified beforehand. They should be a site that the burial of the decomposing bodies would not pollute local aquifers. Willing personel, needed equipment and a source for fuel to run the equipment tdo te internment should also be identified. Local religious requirements in dealing with the dead, customs traditions should be respected and incorporated into plans when and where safely possible for the comfort of the survivors.

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Push needed for pandemic planning

Push needed for pandemic planning

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