Jefferson, Wisconsin (PRWEB) September 11, 2009

No longer will Schools and Business have to worry about their H1N1 (Swine Flu) response efforts. There is now a pandemic influenza response plan which details step-by-step the response efforts needed to be taken in the various stages of a pandemic.

With the U.S. Government estimating the possibility of 30,000 to 90,000 deaths and the possibility of 40% of the population becoming infected with the H1N1 (Swine Flu) virus, many schools and business find themselves in a quandary calculating their response efforts. After last April’s outbreak many schools and business realized the need to have a plan in place. Now with the advent of the fall season quickly coming upon us, many schools and business are still not prepared to deal with the possibilities of widespread infection amongst the population and in particular, students and employees.

Integrated Planning Services, L.LC has solved this problem. The plan that they have created provides a step-by-step process that can be followed based upon the severity of the pandemic at any given time. It is immediately ready to put into operation. There are no following links in order to find out what needs to be done and when. The plan is comprehensive with all the latest information provided by public health organizations as well as the World Health Organization and is written in laymen’s terms.

The plans can be found at their website: http://www.pandemicsupport.com. This website also provides plethora of information as well. Without proper planning, schools and business might be left to “improvise”. This will lead to “rushed” decision making at a time when composure is needed. Managers may become frantic as they must decide quickly what response efforts they need to employ. Procedures to mitigate the spread of the virus, along with a host of other issues will be unfortunately dealt with spontaneously rather than strategically. Integrated Planning Services, LLC can provide that peace of mind to know that everything that can be done, is being done.

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More Swine Flu Press Releases

Bethesda, MD (PRWEB) February 22, 2007 -

The National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID) has launched a television public service announcement (PSA) campaign to educate Americans about the three steps recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to prevent influenza: vaccination, good hygiene, and antiviral medications.

The “Don’t Let the Flu Close in on You” PSAs are also available online on NFID’s Web site, along with additional educational information about influenza.

Each year, one out of every five Americans will get influenza, a serious and sometimes deadly infection. Vaccination and good hygiene are the most effective ways to prevent influenza, but treatment is available for those who do get sick.

“We don’t have to take the flu lying down,” said Susan Rehm, M.D., NFID medical director. “We have clear ways to prevent and treat influenza — including an annual influenza vaccination, practicing good hygiene and taking prescription antivirals, should we get sick. The influenza season can sustain through April or May. Now is the time to understand the symptoms of influenza and take appropriate steps if you do get sick, such as calling the doctor at the first signs of flu.”

Don’t Let the Flu Close in on You is part of NFID’s ongoing campaign to educate people about influenza prevention and treatment. The initiative is made possible through an educational grant from Roche.

About Influenza

Influenza, more commonly referred to as “the flu,” is a highly contagious viral infection of the nose, throat and lungs. Influenza occurs most often in the late fall, winter and early spring. It is a serious infection which afflicts more than 60 million Americans every year.

Influenza impacts people of all ages. Common symptoms include a high fever (101ºF-102ºF) that begins suddenly, sore throat, chills, cough, headache and muscle aches. Influenza frequently causes people to miss school and work but in some cases there are severe complications such as pneumonia. Each year, more than 200,000 Americans are hospitalized and about 36,000 die from influenza-related complications.

About National Foundation for Infectious Diseases

The National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID) is a non-profit, tax-exempt 501(c)(3) public foundation established in 1973 to educate the public and health care professionals about the causes, treatment and prevention of infectious diseases.

CONTACT:

Cassie Ercanbrack

Fleishman-Hillard on behalf of NFID

(212) 453-2391

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Find More Influenza Press Releases

Plan Ahead to Avoid the Legal Problems of Bird Flu

Any event that holds the potential of causing millions of deaths obviously holds the potential of causing millions of lawsuits.

A bird flu pandemic would be a disaster on every front. If one does happen, it’s likely that the survivors will look for someone to blame — someone to pay out a lot of money. For compensation of the loss of loved ones. To make up for losses of jobs and businesses.

That’s the new American way.

A bird flu pandemic would likely qualify as a force majeure — an act of God (or the Devil) that nullifies contracts.

It’s also possible that post-pandemic courts could determine that, given the enormous amount of publicity given to bird flu in this period, that all responsible people should have prepared for the eventuality of a pandemic.

It’s also possible that so many lawyers and judges will succumb to bird flu and so much wealth will have been wiped out that the government will declare some kind of blanket “we all suffered, now let’s just rebuild” amnesty on all bird flu lawsuits.

But don’t count on it. It’s better to be prepared.

After all — given the enormous amount of media attention given to bird flu, all organizations and individuals and families should be planning for a pandemic.

Governments and politicians around the world understand this. That’s why everybody from President Bush to Zambia is coming up with pandemic action plans, stockpiling Tamiflu, increasing surveillance of sick chickens and people, attending international conferences and so on.

That is why Secretary of Health and Human Services Michael Leavitt is holding meetings in every state and telling everybody who’ll listen: Don’t count on the federal government. We’re doing what we can, but we don’t have the resources to rescue every city and town in the United States.”

They understand the “CYA” Principle.

1. Build a cash reserve to get you through bad times.

This applies to families, businesses, non-profits and governments. Bird flu will not be business as usual. A bird flu pandemic will cause enormous economic problems as well much loss of life.

2. What would be the role of your organization during a bird flu pandemic?

If you’re a hospital, you’ll play a crucial role.

If you own a small bake shop, you may as well close down for the duration and stay at home — isolated from the virus.

Or, perhaps, you could contribute your cakes to the Meals on Wheels distributing food to families confined to their houses.

(Actually, it’s nutritional idiocy to eat sugar and white flour when you need to keep your immune system strong, but I’m sure most people will ignore this, even while they’re dying of bird flu.)

However, you’ll still need to make plans to compensate your employees for the down time and to secure your business against looters.

Don’t be so sure you have no role to play. If you own a small bicycle shop when there’s a gasoline shortage, you may have do a tremendous business helping people get around without a car.

3. How can you perform your most important functions with a greatly reduced staff?

It’s estimated that a pandemic could mean up to 40% absenteeism because employees are dead, sick or caring for sick family members. (Personally, I think that in an all-out pandemic 40% would be an optimistic figure, but that’s just me.)

For instance a city government could transfer everybody in the marriage license department to administrative jobs in the police department, to keep more police on the streets to maintain law and order.

4. What measures can you take to prevent the spread of the virus within your organization?

Every employee who feels sick or who has a sick family member should get paid leave — and stay home. No if, ands or buts. Nobody is so valuable that their work justifies risking the lives of everybody else — yet every such employee could transmit the virus to other employees or customers, even if they feel fine. But the business should pay the wages for all regularly scheduled work times, to prevent employees from feeling forced to work due to the need to pay bills.

As much as possible, conduct business by telephone.

Provide masks, germicidal lotions, alcohol wipes to employees. Give them as much physical space or isolation as possible. Keep the physical premises clean and disinfected. Encourage employees to wash their hands frequently.

Sick customers could be a special problem. If you sell something they need, do your best to accomodate them with as little exposure to your employees or other customers as possible. Maybe they would wait outside your door while an employee put their items in a bag for them.

Failure to provide a safe work environment could result in OSHA sanctions and worker lawsuits.

5. Medical facilities will have their own special requirements and liabilities.

I can’t replace the advice of lawyers who are specialists in this area.

I do suggest that at a minimum, you figure out how to physically separate the bird flu area of your hospital — and do not allow any contact between the two. Even doctors should stay on one side or the other.

If you can control the air flow so that no air from the bird flu area can seep into the rest of the hospital, so much the better.

Also, educate all your employees — even some doctors need this, unfortunately — on the need to thoroughly disinfect their hands between patients. Provide a germicidal hand lotion. Make it a requirement they use after completing work on every patient that they see.

As a general rule — protect the lives of yourself and your family, your employees and your customers above all else. Take proactive steps to handle the threat of a bird flu pandemic.

Where the function of your organization is necessary for health and safety — take all necessary proactive steps to perform your function . . . which don’t risk lives and safety.

You will probably take a financial hit. That’s why my first piece of advice was to put aside as much cash as possible in preparation for the extra expenses a pandemic will impose.

Remember that it’s cheaper in the long run to pay for an employee’s pandemic sick leave and to provide employees on duty with germicidal hand lotions — than to pay for a post-pandemic lawsuit.

There’s no such thing as a vaccine that will give you total immunity from a pandemic of lawsuits. But bird flu will decimate the ranks of trial lawyers along with everyone else. Those left alive will most likely go first for the easy targets — the many businesses who made no pandemic preparations.

If you’ve maintained good relations with employees and customers by looking out first of all for their health and safety, you aren’t immune, but you’ve considerably reduced your exposure to catching the bird flu lawsuit virus.