Prepared Citizens

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

  • Previous Posts

  • Michael Osterholm Quotes:

    “What we need to be doing now is the basic planning of how we get our communities through 12 to 18 months of a pandemic.”

    “Ninety-five out of 100 will live. But with the nation in crisis, will we have food and water? Are we going to have police and security? Will people come to work at all?”

    “It's the perfect setup. Then you put air travel in and it could be around the world overnight.”

    “We can predict now 12 to 18 months of stress of watching loved ones die, of wondering if you are going to have food on the table the next day. Those are all things that are going to mean that we are going to have to plan -- unlike any other crisis that we have had in literally the last 80-some years in this country.”

  • US Health and Human Services

    Secretary Michael Leavitt

    "If there is one message on pandemic preparedness that I could leave today that you would remember, it would be this:

    Any community that fails to prepare with the expectation that the federal government or for that matter the state government will be able to step forward and come to their rescue at the final hour will be tragically wrong,

    not because government will lack a will, not because we lack a collective wallet, but because there is no way that you can respond to every hometown in America at the same time."

  • Joseph C. Napoli, MD of Resiliency LLC

    "I think a new meaning is evolving for resiliency and resilience.

    In some contexts the words are being used to mean the strength to resist being impacted by an adverse event rather than either the “capacity to rebound” or “act of rebounding” from adversity.

    Therefore, resiliency and resilience appear to be assuming the meaning of fortitude, that is, “the strength or firmness of mind that enables a person to encounter danger with coolness and courage or to bear pain or adversity without despondency” as defined in the Webster’s Third New International Dictionary.

    If so, we are coming full circle with science accepting a religious moral virtue – fortitude – as written in the Bible’s Book of Wisdom"




  • Faith Based Resources

    John Piper
    Jonathan Edwards
    Reformation
    Pink-Saving Faith
    Pink-Christian Ethics

    "Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves"
    (2 Corinthians 13:5).

    Why Faith Groups Must Care

    When the Darkness Will Not Lift by John Piper

    Stand

    Be Not Afraid
    Overcoming the fear of Death
    by Johann Christoph Arnold






    While I am not a professional journalist, I do embrace the code of ethics put forth by the Society of Professional Journalists and the statement of purpose by the Association of Health Care Journalists and above all else I strive to "do no harm".


  • Recent Comments

    preparedcitizens on Faith Statement
    Joe on Faith Statement
    preparedcitizens on About/Bio
    Heather Siebens on About/Bio
    preparedcitizens on Michael T. Osterholm, PhD, MPH…

  • Definitions

    from Wikipedia



    Pandemic Influenza


    An influenza pandemic is an epidemic of the influenza virus that spreads on a worldwide scale and infects a large proportion of the human population.

    In contrast to the regular seasonal epidemics of influenza, these pandemics occur irregularly, with the 1918 Spanish flu the most serious pandemic in recent history.

    Pandemics can cause high levels of mortality, with the Spanish influenza being responsible for the deaths of over 50 million people.

    There have been about 3 influenza pandemics in each century for the last 300 years. The most recent ones were the Asian Flu in 1957 and the Hong Kong Flu in 1968.



    Seasonal Influenza


    Flu season is the portion of the year in which there is a regular outbreak in flu cases.

    It occurs during the cold half of the year in each hemisphere.

    Flu activity can sometimes be predicted and even tracked geographically. While the beginning of major flu activity in each season varies by location, in any specific location these minor epidemics usually take about 3 weeks to peak and another 3 weeks to significantly diminish.

    Individual cases of the flu however, usually only last a few days. In some countries such as Japan and China, infected persons sometimes wear a surgical mask out of respect for others.



    Avian (Bird) Flu
    Avian influenza,

    sometimes Avian flu, and commonly Bird flu refers to "influenza caused by viruses adapted to birds."


    "Bird flu" is a phrase similar to "Swine flu", "Dog flu", "Horse flu", or "Human flu" in that it refers to an illness caused by any of many different strains of influenza viruses that have adapted to a specific host.

    All known viruses that cause influenza in birds belong to the species: Influenza A virus.

    All subtypes (but not all strains of all subtypes) of Influenza A virus are adapted to birds, which is why for many purposes avian flu virus is the Influenza A virus (note that the "A" does not stand for "avian").
    Adaptation is non-exclusive.

    Being adapted towards a particular species does not preclude adaptations, or partial adaptations, towards infecting different species.

    In this way strains of influenza viruses are adapted to multiple species, though may be preferential towards a particular host.

    For example, viruses responsible for influenza pandemics are adapted to both humans and birds.

    Recent influenza research into the genes of the Spanish Flu virus shows it to have genes adapted to both birds and humans; with more of its genes from birds than less deadly later pandemic strains.

    H5N1 Strain


    Influenza A virus subtype H5N1, also known as A(H5N1) or simply H5N1, is a subtype of the Influenza A virus which can cause illness in humans and many other animal species.

    A bird-adapted strain of H5N1, called HPAI A(H5N1) for "highly pathogenic avian influenza virus of type A of subtype H5N1", is the causative agent of H5N1 flu, commonly known as "avian influenza" or "bird flu".

    It is enzootic in many bird populations, especially in Southeast Asia. One strain of HPAI A(H5N1) is spreading globally after first appearing in Asia.

    It is epizootic (an epidemic in nonhumans) and panzootic (affecting animals of many species, especially over a wide area), killing tens of millions of birds and spurring the culling of hundreds of millions of others to stem its spread.

    Most references to "bird flu" and H5N1 in the popular media refer to this strain.



    As of the July 25, 2008 FAO Avian Influenza Disease Emergency Situation Update, H5N1 pathogenicity is continuing to gradually rise in wild birds in endemic areas but the avian influenza disease situation in farmed birds is being held in check by vaccination.

    Eleven outbreaks of H5N1 were reported worldwide in June 2008 in five countries (China, Egypt, Indonesia, Pakistan and Vietnam) compared to 65 outbreaks in June 2006 and 55 in June 2007.

    The "global HPAI situation can be said to have improved markedly in the first half of 2008 [but] cases of HPAI are still underestimated and underreported in many countries because of limitations in country disease surveillance systems".





    Pandemic Severity Index


    The Pandemic Severity Index (PSI) is a proposed classification scale for reporting the severity of influenza pandemics in the United States.

    The PSI was accompanied by a set of guidelines intended to help communicate appropriate actions for communities to follow in potential pandemic situations. [1]

    Released by the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on February 1, 2007, the PSI was designed to resemble the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale





    From the Massachusetts Health and Human Services



    Isolation

    refers to separating people who are ill from other people to prevent the spread of a communicable disease.



    Quarantine

    refers to separating and restricting the movement of people who have been exposed to a communicable disease and are not yet ill.

  • Additional Information

    Creative Commons License
    Prepared Citizens by Catherine "Jackie" Mitchell is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
    Based on a work at http://www.preparedcitizens.org.




    The posts on this site are subject to change. Mostly due to errors in spelling or grammar. I never said I am a professional journalist. I have new appreciation for the job that they do. Also, not all comments made by others will make it onto this site. Comments that advertise a commercial product do not get posted most of the time.


    View blog top tags

  • standingfirm

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Massachusetts Medical Reserve Corps

Posted by preparedcitizens on December 8, 2008

Hudson MA Medical Reserve Corp is looking for reinforcements.

By Jeff Malachowski/Daily News correspondent

The MetroWest Daily News

Posted Dec 07, 2008 @ 11:13 PM

HUDSON —

Two years after organizing the Hudson Medical Reserve Corps, Health Agent Dr. Samuel Wong said the number of town residents who have joined is not enough to assist the health department during a crisis.

The Hudson Medical Reserve Corps, a group of volunteers with medical and non-medical backgrounds, provides assistance to medical personnel in the event of a health emergency or natural disaster.

Wong said the group was formed two years ago, yet only 45 residents have signed up. He wants to see that number climb.

“We’re not even close,” Wong said. “In order to prepare for certain emergencies we need 180 to 200 volunteers. We still have a ways to go in recruiting people.”

 

read the rest of the Hudson story here.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In Monson our Western Massachusetts Medical Reserve Corps webpage is here.

Welcome to the webpage for MRC Units in Hampden County, MA

There are nine MRC Units in Hampden County including:
Agawam
Chicopee
City of Springfield HHS
Greater Westfield and Western Hampden County, Inc.
Holyoke
Town of Longmeadow
Town of Monson
Wilbraham
West Springfield

Each MRC Unit is currently recruiting new members, please take a few minutes to review information on this website, contact a Unit Coordinator and visit the national MRC website at http://www.medicalreservecorps.gov. MRC Units are independent volunteer based and community focused entities working together to build capacity for public health and emergency response.

Mission Statement
The mission of the Medical Reserve Corps Units in Hampden County, Massachusetts is to improve the health and safety of residents and their communities by organizing and utilizing public health, medical, safety and other volunteers. Medical Reserve Corps build the capacity of each community to better respond to natural, man-made or public health emergencies.

Kathleen Conley Norbut has done an amazing job organizing a pandemic response for our area. This woman is a local town hero and we owe her a debt of gratitude. Amazing! Kudos Kathleen.

Check this out…..

Upcoming Events

  • Training: 12/9/2008 – Springfield EDS Drill Review
  • Training: 12/11/2008 – Partner Shelter Training with the Pioneer Valley American Red Cross
  • Meeting: 12/10/2008 – HCMRCMAG Hampden County MRC Advisory Group
  • Meeting: 12/18/2008 – MRC

News

  • Shelter Training for MRC Volunteers
    Our partner organization the Pioneer Valley Chapter of the American Red Cross has recently expanded coverage to include Hampshire and Franklin Counties. The PV ARC is offering Shelter Training for MRC Volunteers in December 2008.
    Please visit the Calendar to Register.
  • Hampden County Emergency Preparedness Communication Drill
    On November 12, 2008, the Hampden County Health Coalition conducted a communication drill to test systems for public health, emergency response and Medical Reserve Corps volunteers.
    The state HHAN (Health and Homeland Alert Network) was utilized for the drill.

And for the Town of Monson specifically…

Our medical reserve corps is looking for volunteers.

Town of Monson
Unit Coordinator: Lorri McCool
monson@wmmrc.org
Town of Monson Board of Health
110 Main St.
Monson, MA 01057
Telephone: 413-267-4107
Related Web site: n/a

Lorri McCool has developed brochures for the town and has held many local meetings to increase aware and preparedness in our area. She has been a dedicated and successful health agent of the area towns for many years.

We are in good and capable hands under her leadership.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

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This entry was posted on December 8, 2008 at 12:14 pm and is filed under Massachusetts, Medical Reserve Corp, Public Health. Tagged: . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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