Shiloh
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Source: http://kaaltv.com/article/stories/S640261.shtml?cat=10219
Preparing for a Pandemic
(ABC 6 NEWS) - News of a possible pandemic may have dropped out of the spotlight.
But that doesn't mean local officials have stopped planning for it.
Olmsted County Public Health tested out its mass vaccination routine.
More than 1,000 people were vaccinated in just two hours.
A lofty goal, but one Olmsted County Public Health says they can achieve it with practice.
"To test our plans, refine them, so we can get people through quickly, efficiently, in a very short amount of time should a public emergency occur," says Kari Ethreim.
It's the second year for the mass vaccination clinic.
It tests how employees from the city, county, city lines transportation and many others would handle a pandemic when thousands of people could need a shot.
"This is very realistic,? says Etrheim. ?We have a lot of people in a lot of different areas, we have ushers, educators on the bus, forms, reviewers, vaccinators, it's very efficient and very fast.?
The exercise starts all around the city, when employees are picked-up and bussed in.
Once they arrive, they head into the field house, and get the shot.
Last year, it took between two and fifteen minutes per person.
"It?s very impressive to see how organized it is, very well staffed," says Linda Haeussinger.
While they're only getting the flu shot on this day, it's a crucial tool to make sure they're prepared.
"We?re just going to keep adding new populations to the exercise in the future so we can continue to test all possible hiccups or events that we're not anticipating," she says.
New to the exercise this year is the addition of more ushers, more radios and a ham radio operator.
Agencies will have several debriefs over the next few weeks to see just how well they performed in this test.
Preparing for a Pandemic
(ABC 6 NEWS) - News of a possible pandemic may have dropped out of the spotlight.
But that doesn't mean local officials have stopped planning for it.
Olmsted County Public Health tested out its mass vaccination routine.
More than 1,000 people were vaccinated in just two hours.
A lofty goal, but one Olmsted County Public Health says they can achieve it with practice.
"To test our plans, refine them, so we can get people through quickly, efficiently, in a very short amount of time should a public emergency occur," says Kari Ethreim.
It's the second year for the mass vaccination clinic.
It tests how employees from the city, county, city lines transportation and many others would handle a pandemic when thousands of people could need a shot.
"This is very realistic,? says Etrheim. ?We have a lot of people in a lot of different areas, we have ushers, educators on the bus, forms, reviewers, vaccinators, it's very efficient and very fast.?
The exercise starts all around the city, when employees are picked-up and bussed in.
Once they arrive, they head into the field house, and get the shot.
Last year, it took between two and fifteen minutes per person.
"It?s very impressive to see how organized it is, very well staffed," says Linda Haeussinger.
While they're only getting the flu shot on this day, it's a crucial tool to make sure they're prepared.
"We?re just going to keep adding new populations to the exercise in the future so we can continue to test all possible hiccups or events that we're not anticipating," she says.
New to the exercise this year is the addition of more ushers, more radios and a ham radio operator.
Agencies will have several debriefs over the next few weeks to see just how well they performed in this test.