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Source: http://www.carthagepress.com/news/x710595603/Pandemic-flu-committee-faces-possible-end
Pandemic flu committee faces possible end
By John Hacker
Carthage Press
New! Thu Jun 05, 2008, 11:58 AM CDT
JOPLIN, Mo. -
Health officials seek ways to keep committee together
Funding for an effort to plan for a future pandemic outbreak will end in August, but the leaders of the Joplin and Jasper County health departments say they'd like to see the year-and-a-half-old committee continue to meet and work on emergency preparedness plans for the county.
Joplin Health Department Director Dan Pekarek said the federal mandate for the pandemic planning committees runs out on Aug. 9, but the group's work is useful, not only for preparing for a deadly flu outbreak, but so many other disasters that have struck more recently.
"Tony (Moehr, Jasper County Health Department Director) and I need to sit down and look at our situation with regard to the contract," Pekarek said. "I know from my perspective, this has been a successful undertaking. I know we wouldn't have gotten nearly as far as we've gotten without, number one this group and number two the support of the university and the Regional Economic Development Center.
"Sometime, Tony and I need to talk and figure out what we can afford to maintain from other funding sources."
The Jasper County Pandemic Planning Committee was formed in 2006, when fears that the avian influenza virus H5N1 could turn into a deadly pandemic influenza on the scale of the Spanish Flu of 1918, were at a peak.
The federal government gave grants to form pandemic planning committees in each county in Missouri to plan a community response in case of a pandemic outbreak.
Pandemic flu outbreaks differ from the seasonal flu outbreaks that happen every year in that they are far more deadly. Pandemics sweep around the world approximately every generation.
Pekarek and Moehr said one good thing about this committee's work is that the results are useful not only in planning for a pandemic, but in planning for other disasters such as ice storms, tornados and other disasters that have visited this area all too frequently in the past few months.
The last pandemic influenza, the Hong Kong flu, struck about 40 years ago killing about 34,000 people in the U.S. and 700,000 people worldwide.
The worst pandemic outbreak of the 20th Century was the Spanish Flu of 1918, which killed 500,000-650,000 people in the U.S. and 50 million people worldwide.
The Jasper County committee is composed of representatives from the two Joplin hospitals, representatives from area church groups, and some schools as well as workers with the Joplin and Jasper County health departments.
The group hosts a Web site www.jascoflu.com that is updated daily with new information about the status of the avian influenza and any new preparedness information.
This group held a community-wide seminar on pandemic preparedness in 2007 and prepared a booklet on preparedness for churches that was sent out to hundreds of churches in the county in April.
The committee is looking at adopting a business-planning model created by the Newton County Pandemic Planning Committee to distribute to area businesses in Jasper County.
Related Story: Churches to receive disaster preparedness booklets - Carthage, MO ...
Pandemic flu committee faces possible end
By John Hacker
Carthage Press
New! Thu Jun 05, 2008, 11:58 AM CDT
JOPLIN, Mo. -
Health officials seek ways to keep committee together
Funding for an effort to plan for a future pandemic outbreak will end in August, but the leaders of the Joplin and Jasper County health departments say they'd like to see the year-and-a-half-old committee continue to meet and work on emergency preparedness plans for the county.
Joplin Health Department Director Dan Pekarek said the federal mandate for the pandemic planning committees runs out on Aug. 9, but the group's work is useful, not only for preparing for a deadly flu outbreak, but so many other disasters that have struck more recently.
"Tony (Moehr, Jasper County Health Department Director) and I need to sit down and look at our situation with regard to the contract," Pekarek said. "I know from my perspective, this has been a successful undertaking. I know we wouldn't have gotten nearly as far as we've gotten without, number one this group and number two the support of the university and the Regional Economic Development Center.
"Sometime, Tony and I need to talk and figure out what we can afford to maintain from other funding sources."
The Jasper County Pandemic Planning Committee was formed in 2006, when fears that the avian influenza virus H5N1 could turn into a deadly pandemic influenza on the scale of the Spanish Flu of 1918, were at a peak.
The federal government gave grants to form pandemic planning committees in each county in Missouri to plan a community response in case of a pandemic outbreak.
Pandemic flu outbreaks differ from the seasonal flu outbreaks that happen every year in that they are far more deadly. Pandemics sweep around the world approximately every generation.
Pekarek and Moehr said one good thing about this committee's work is that the results are useful not only in planning for a pandemic, but in planning for other disasters such as ice storms, tornados and other disasters that have visited this area all too frequently in the past few months.
The last pandemic influenza, the Hong Kong flu, struck about 40 years ago killing about 34,000 people in the U.S. and 700,000 people worldwide.
The worst pandemic outbreak of the 20th Century was the Spanish Flu of 1918, which killed 500,000-650,000 people in the U.S. and 50 million people worldwide.
The Jasper County committee is composed of representatives from the two Joplin hospitals, representatives from area church groups, and some schools as well as workers with the Joplin and Jasper County health departments.
The group hosts a Web site www.jascoflu.com that is updated daily with new information about the status of the avian influenza and any new preparedness information.
This group held a community-wide seminar on pandemic preparedness in 2007 and prepared a booklet on preparedness for churches that was sent out to hundreds of churches in the county in April.
The committee is looking at adopting a business-planning model created by the Newton County Pandemic Planning Committee to distribute to area businesses in Jasper County.
Related Story: Churches to receive disaster preparedness booklets - Carthage, MO ...