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Pandemic Planning Moves to Community Level
Feds gather state and local officials to develop
cooperative plans
Dec. 5, 2005 The U.S. effort to ward off a
possible influenza pandemic went local today as Health and Human
Services convened senior state and local officials at a meeting in
Washington to focus on moving pandemic planning to the community level.
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Noting that communities will be on the front lines
of any effort to stop or contain a pandemic, HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt
said it is critical to establish an integrated federal-state
influenza-pandemic planning process.
By their nature, pandemics happen across the globe
-- but their effects are excruciatingly local, Secretary Leavitt said.
Pandemic planning needs to go beyond public health. Discussion at the
state and local level needs to address how schools, businesses, public
agencies and others participate in pandemic preparedness.
With this meeting, we begin the critical
coordination with state and local leaders to assure their readiness and
the integration of our collective efforts if a pandemic outbreak
strikes. Every step we take together now will save lives later, he
added.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael
Chertoff helped open the meeting saying, The avian flu bears the
potential for societal disruption of unprecedented proportion. Strong
partnerships and smart planning will be our best protection against this
threat. At the Presidents direction, we are tapping every capability
and expertise within the federal government and among first responders
and public health officials to maximize our nations preparedness.
In announcing a National Strategy for Pandemic
Influenza on Oct. 18, President Bush charged the Secretary with
convening state and local public health officials from across the nation
to discuss their plans for a pandemic, and to help them improve pandemic
planning at the community level.
Secretary Leavitt asked participants to begin
preparing for a series of in-state pandemic-planning summits to be held
in every state over the next several months. These in-state summits will
help the public health and emergency response community in each state
inform and involve their political, economic and community leadership in
this process. The first local meeting will be held jointly with Gov. Tim
Pawlenty in Minneapolis, Minn. on Dec. 14.
HHS advised states to establish a Pandemic
Influenza Coordinating Committee to draft and adopt a plan that will:
Delineate the roles and responsibilities of state and local
agencies and offices;
Build on existing preparedness and response plans for
bioterrorism events, SARS and other infectious disease emergencies;
Address legal issues including those that affect hospital
staffing, patient care and quarantine; and
Be periodically reviewed and updated.
In conjunction with todays event, Secretary
Leavitt issued a State and Local Health Department Planning Checklist
for Public Health Roles and Responsibilities. It summarizes key
planning activities to be undertaken by the public health system of each
state in collaboration with partners. The checklist is not intended to
set forth mandatory requirements -- each jurisdiction will need to
determine whether it is adequately prepared for disease outbreaks in
accordance with its own laws and procedures.
Pandemic readiness is a fundamental obligation of
state and local governments, as well as the national government,
Secretary Leavitt added. In starting this national conversation and
providing useful tools, the Bush Administration is supporting work on
the local level that will enhance preparedness both within and beyond
our borders.
Officials from every U.S. state, territory, Puerto
Rico and tribal governments participated in the meeting.
A Web cast of todays proceedings, the state and
local health department checklist, the National Strategy, HHS Pandemic
Influenza Plan and more information can be found online at
www.pandemicflu.gov.
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