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Nazareth, Pa., United States

Friday, May 01, 2009

Swine Flu: LV Health & Emergency Pros Want You to Be Informed

Yesterday, forty health professionals from all over the Lehigh Valley converged for a news conference about swine flu at Northampton County's 911 Center. We were in the war room, the operations center that will be used by emergency personnel in the event that the recent swine flu (H1N1) outbreak becomes more serious. It was an alphabet soup of MDs, DOs, RNs, ENPs, EMTs, BSNs, FACEPs and CICs, invited by Northampton County Exectutive John Stoffa. The purpose was to make sure the media and public is fully informed. John Conklin, Stoffa's Director of Administration, made sure that Lehigh County officials were on hand, too. As Conklin explained, "flu does not stop at borders."

Are LV Emergency Responders Ready?

After welcoming everyone, Stoffa made clear he wants to be sure county officials are doing everything humanly possible to minimize any health problems. "Are we as best prepared as possible for what will or may happen?" The answer, according to both emergency management and health care professionals, is that we are ready for the worst, but hoping for the best.

Bob Mateff, Emergency Management Services Director, began to reach out to LV health professionals on Monday, and has been conducting daily conference calls with CDC and Pa. Department of Health Officials. All necessary lines of communication are open and supplies for first responders are ready. In response to what Mateff has learned in those conference calls, 911 dispatchers are now asking a new series of questions to people who report respiratory distress. Management Services's Todd Weaver added, "We're prepared. I hope we are. We've been preparing for months and our partners in other counties are sharing information."

Dr. Jeffre Jahre, an infectious diseases specialist from St. Luke's Hospital, put it best. "What the county has done is brought us all together. This is all our problem. This is a very good start. We can come across as a community, not a particular agency. This is what we've been training for. That's what our community expects of us and that's what we're going to do."

What Can We Do?

OK, so we're not exactly Dr. Jahre, but does that mean we're helpless? Not at all, according to Mateff. The best thing we can do is regularly inform ourselves. In addition to the local newspapers, Mateff recommended that we visit the websites below for regular updates.

Pennsylvania Department of Health

Centers for Disease Control

Northampton County Emergency Management

Terry Burger, the Director of Infection Control at LV Health Network, also makes four very specific recommendations.

1) Hand hygiene. - Wash your hands often.

2) Cough Etiquette. - Cover your mouth and nose when coughing. Put up signs to remind people.

3) Social Distancing. - If you are sick, stay home. Do NOT go to work. Do NOT go shopping. Do NOT go to the movies.

4) Educate yourselves. - According to Dr. Jahre, an epidemic in 1976 did not amount to much. As of right now, most cases are being treated without hospitalization. But because swine flu can mutate, it needs to be watched closely.

What if I can't afford medical care?

Go anyway. Dr. John McCarthy, LVH's Chief of Emergency Care, said that every emergency department in every Lehigh Valley hospital will provide care even if there is no ability to pay.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Anything for an election cycle news pop. No shane by this Administration.

Bernie O'Hare said...

This post and issue is about a potentially serious problem. Let's leave the politics out of it. It's important to keep all lines of communication open. I don't think the doctors and nurses at yesterday's conference give a damn whether the exec is Stoffa or McHale.

Anonymous said...

man, what a picture.

Anonymous said...

People who think the Lehigh valley is magically immune to viruses because of toll bridges and mountain ranges will be surprisingly shocked. I remember in the early 90s single friends of mine, refused to use condoms, telling me, "HIV will never come to Allentown. That only happens in Philly and New York."

Anonymous said...

Bernie -

I haven’t been following this too closely, and I'd also like to leave politics out of this. Perhaps you or one of your readers could answer this question for me:

The other night I heard President Obama respond to a question about closing the Mexican border by saying that “the horse is out of the barn” as the rationale for not closing the Mexican border.

If that is the case, then why is the government advising (***) against non-essential travel to Mexico?

To me, the “horse is out of the barn” attitude implies that you would face an equal danger of contracting the disease whether you were in Mexico or in the United States. I think it's obvious that this is not the case.

Also, if U.S. citizens are advised against “non-essential” travel to Mexico, who is making sure that those coming FROM Mexico are doing so for “essential” reasons?

=================================
***From the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Website:

CDC is concerned that continued travel by U.S. travelers to Mexico presents a serious risk for their health and the health of others during travel and after they return to the United States.

Bernie O'Hare said...

"man, what a picture."That's how I think swine flu must have started.

Bernie O'Hare said...

" why is the government advising (***) against non-essential travel to Mexico?"Actually, that is probably unnecessary. Historically, isolating the sick people within a community is a more effective measure than quarantining an entire country. Link

Knitted_in_the_Womb said...

This post and issue is about a potentially serious problem. Let's leave the politics out of it. No...its a media storm...over 1000 stories written for every death...has anyone in the mainstream media bothered to inform anyone that the toddler who died in Texas was air lifted to Texas from a hospital in Mexico when she was already in critical condition, and she had underlying health issues? I don't think so.

I'm going to go eat some dirt now to keep myself healthy... http://knittedinthewomb.com/wp/?p=257

http://creation.com/superbugs-not-super-after-all

Anonymous said...

Bernie -

You wrote: "Historically, isolating the sick people within a community is a more effective measure than quarantining an entire country."

Then why the misinformation by the government? They're the ones telling us not to travel to Mexico.

Bernie O'Hare said...

I uinderstand that and have no plans to visit mexico anytime soon. I think that advisory is a bit of overkill fopr the reasons in the article that I linked.