SeniorJournal.com

INDEX

FRONT PAGE

PAGE TWO
More Headlines

 • General Features

 • Find Help

 • SENIOR ALERTS

 • Baby Boomers

 • Odds & Ends

Health-Fitness

 • Fitness

 • Health/Medicine

 • Medical Research

 • Nutrition/Vitamin

Government

 • Politics

 • Medicare

 • Medicare Drug Program

 • Medicare Q&A - Dear Marci

 • Medicaid

 • Social Security

 • Social Security, Medicare Q&A

 • Social Security Reform

Enjoying Life

 • Books

 • Entertainment

 • Features

 • Grandparents

 • Senior Statistics

 • Senior Stars

 • Sex & Seniors

 • Sports

 • Travel

 • Senior Volunteers

On The Web

 • Links - Senior

 • Senior Friendly Business Links

 • Sites We Like

Elderly Issues

 • Elder Care

 • Assistance for Elderly

 • Housing

Money 

Thinking

 • Opinions

E-mail this page to a friend!

Flu News for Senior Citizens

Public Health Leaders Want Pandemic Planning Moved to HHS from Homeland Security

American Public Health Association launches its own effort to better inform public

November 7, 2006 - The American Public Health Association today voted to adopt new policy that supports comprehensive national planning for an influenza pandemic and recommends key changes to the current response strategy, including ensuring care for vulnerable populations, such as, senior citizens, and making the Department of Health & Human Services the lead agency for pandemic flu planning, rather than the Department of Homeland Security.

The resolution asserts that the HHS, not DHS, should be the lead federal agency on issues related to domestic preparedness for and response to pandemic influenza, and HHS should have wide authority to plan for a national response to annual flu epidemics.

The policy also urges federal agencies to rework the National Response Plan, a strategy developed by DHS to enhance the nation's ability to manage domestic emergencies or to create a different multi-party response framework to ensure that all actors at the federal, state and local levels are coordinated in their response to pandemic flu.

"With the rising threat of an influenza pandemic, we must protect the health of Americans by implementing the appropriate funding and resources," said Georges C. Benjamin, MD, FACP, APHA executive director. "Our nation's public health workers and institutions must be able to rapidly scale-up their efforts to respond to pandemic flu, and we strongly support an associated rise in funding to make that happen."

APHA's policy also recommends:

  ● Increasing funding for states, localities, hospitals and public health labs to expand their capacity to respond to pandemic flu;

  ● Increasing investment in the public health work force, so there are enough employees necessary to serve on the frontlines in preparing for and responding to a pandemic and annual seasonal epidemics;

  ● Creating emergency Medicaid coverage to ensure that uninsured Americans will receive appropriate countermeasures and care in the event of pandemic flu;

  ● Creating guidelines for the use of non-pharmaceutical interventions, including handwashing, "snow days," isolation and quarantine;

  ● Creating new methods to purchase, distribute and track vaccines and antivirals; and

  ● Incorporating occupational and mental health issues in pandemic planning and response efforts.

Launches "Get Ready" Campaign to Help Americans Prepare for Pandemic

Just last month, APHA launched the Get Ready campaign to help the public prepare for a potential influenza pandemic and outbreaks of other emerging infectious diseases, which some saw as an indication the organization was concerned about information getting to the general public.

Unlike existing efforts, which have often focused on local, state and federal government planning, to prepare the nation for a pandemic, APHA said its campaign "will speak directly to individuals, families and communities and help fill gaps by telling people exactly what they need to prepare themselves."

The campaign includes a blog, fact sheets and podcasts, accessible through the Get Ready Web site at http://www.getreadyforflu.org.

“With the increasing threat of a flu pandemic, the general public must be equipped with the necessary resources to protect themselves,” said Georges C. Benjamin MD, FACP, executive director of the American Public Health Association. “Unlike many other efforts using technical language and lengthy articles, APHA’s Get Ready campaign will provide straightforward information and tools that are crafted for and relevant to all Americans.”

The Get Ready for Flu blog, at http://www.getreadyforflu.blogspot.com/, provides readers with background information on avian and pandemic influenza and practical advice on how to prepare themselves, their families and their communities. The blog also provides a discussion forum that addresses emerging issues and allows visitors to share comments and knowledge with others.

Current posts include information about the H5N1 strain, food safety, school preparedness and prevention tips.

In addition to the blog, a new series of podcasts featuring public health experts discusses the need for preparedness and the increasing threat of pandemic flu. Future podcasts will cover topics such as: pandemic flu basics; the impact of pandemic flu on certain communities; safe cooking procedures; and lessons learned from the Spanish flu from 1918 to 1919.

“The Get Ready campaign will draw on the expertise of APHA members to educate the public and give Americans the important information they need to get prepared,” said Patricia Mail, PhD, MPH, CHES, president of APHA. “It fills a critical gap in our nation’s preparedness efforts.”

APHA’s Get Ready campaign is part of the Association’s larger “Protect, Prevent, Live Well” movement that will enable Americans to protect themselves, their families and their communities from preventable, serious health threats.

Long-term plans for the Get Ready campaign, which is seeking funding, include grassroots activities, toolkits, community partnerships, preparedness surveys and a calculator that will help people determine what supplies they will need to prepare for pandemic flu and other emerging infectious diseases.

Editor's Notes:

Founded in 1872, the APHA claims to be the oldest, largest and most diverse organization of public health professionals in the world. The association aims to protect all Americans and their communities from preventable, serious health threats and strives to assure community-based health promotion and disease prevention activities and preventive health services are universally accessible in the United States. More information is available at http://www.apha.org.

Search for more about this topic on SeniorJournal.com
		Web	SeniorJournal.com

Click to More Senior News on the Front Page

Copyright: SeniorJournal.com