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".


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  • 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.


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  • standingfirm

Archive for the ‘Life’ Category

moved to:

Posted by preparedcitizens on February 8, 2009

Please visit the new Prepared Citizens blog
This wordpress.com site will no longer be maintained. Thanks and sorry for any inconvenience.

Posted in Life | Leave a Comment »

HHS PlanFirst Webinar October 29, 2008

Posted by preparedcitizens on October 25, 2008

October Webcast

On October 29, 2008, at 1:00 pm ET, we will have a special edition of PlanFirst, featuring HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt and special guests Dr. Bill Raub, Science Advisor to Secretary Leavitt; Dr. Mike Osterholm, Director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, University of Minnesota; and Maggie Fox, Reuters.

Secretary Leavitt will provide formal remarks regarding the Nation’s pandemic planning effort. He will then join a roundtable discussion with our special guests to discuss the Nation’s level of pandemic preparedness and related issues.

As always, our guests, including Secretary Leavitt, will take questions from our viewing audience.

No registration is required. Email your questions for the Webcast panelists before and/or during the program to hhsstudio@hhs.gov.

Please include your first name, state and town. 

The pandemic influenza PlanFirst Webcasts are brought to you by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Posted in HHS, Life, PlanFirst, Public Health | Tagged: | Leave a Comment »

The Financial Crisis has another lesson for us

Posted by preparedcitizens on September 30, 2008

When those who understand the complexities of an issue do not do a good job educating us in the public about the nuances of any particular crisis and the effects of each reaction, people in turn react with shortsightedness and self protection. Chaos results, vengeful feelings take control and these feelings that govern our thoughts rather than rational thinking and planning govern our actions and reactions.

This is not the proper way to react to any crisis.
Political expedience must not be a factor when making decisions that effect us all. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Life, pandemic, politics, President, Public Health | Tagged: , , , | Leave a Comment »

Old Dogs Can Learn New Tricks

Posted by preparedcitizens on September 20, 2008

Not that I am THAT old, but I AM old enough to hesitate at joining some of the social networking sites. Everyone seem so……young.

I had the best time looking for all the people that I have known and lost contact with in my life. People who live right here in my town who I haven’t seen in years but absolutely enjoyed being around when our lives touched. We have moved on but we still wave in passing. Seeing their names pop up I was reminded many good times and shared interests.

I won’t name names (just initials) here lest I embarrass anyone but gee I am so proud of the grown up kids….not that I had anything to do with their success. To see the heights that these kids have climbed! B.M., my star swimmer at MIT now! J. and K. V. kudos to you! B.M., you are still zany as ever, I love it. M.T., J.F., and S.F. you are the epitome of what it means to be an Eagle Scout. That was a great group.

And L.M. you picked up where I left off and soared to new heights at the pool. I would say “backbone” describes you to a “T”. I never got a chance to say thank you for the years that you have served the town so well. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Family, Life | Tagged: , , , | Leave a Comment »

Extending The Culture of Life

Posted by preparedcitizens on September 9, 2008

The Culture of Life

Pope John Paul II stated in 1993 that “The culture of life means respect for nature and protection of God’s work of creation. In a special way, it means respect for human life from the first moment of conception until its natural end.”

In a debate with Al Gore in 2000 during a U.S. Presidential debate our President stated Surely this nation can come together to promote the value of life. Surely we can fight off these laws that will encourage doctors or allow doctors to take the lives of our seniors. Sure, we can work together to create a culture of life so some of these youngsters who feel like they can take a neighbor’s life with a gun will understand that that’s not the way America is meant to be.

If our best approach when facing a pandemic is to prepare how are we NOT promoting the culture of life by not shouting from the rooftops “PREPARE”? Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Life, Preparedness, Public Health | Tagged: , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Test the spirits!

Posted by preparedcitizens on August 25, 2008

1 John 4:1-6
Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.
You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.

Just because someone claims to be a believer, a follower of Jesus Christ, does not mean that he or she is.

“Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God…”

We must learn to discern between the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Christianity, Faith based, Life, Overcomers, politics | Tagged: , , | Leave a Comment »

Pandemic Flu Storybook

Posted by preparedcitizens on August 21, 2008

I am in the process of reading each one of these family anecdotes. The loss was tremendous, the courage heartening. All I can say is….prepare, please prepare.

http://www.pandemicflu.gov/storybook/index.html

“Complacency is enemy number one when it comes to preparing for another influenza pandemic,” said CDC Director Dr. Julie Gerberding. “These stories, told so eloquently by survivors, family members, and friends from past pandemics, serve as a sobering reminder of the devastating impact that influenza can have and reading them is a must for anyone involved in public health preparedness.”

Read the Stories

Posted in Family, Life, pandemic, Prepare, Public Health | Tagged: , , | 1 Comment »

Why Bring Faith into a Health Issue?

Posted by preparedcitizens on August 10, 2008

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Faith based, Life, pandemic, Prepare | Tagged: , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Follow the Leader

Posted by preparedcitizens on August 3, 2008

The truth is that we all follow the leader at some point in our lives.

Combine this with the truth that we all long for acceptance within the group, whichever group we happen to be in, and we have a dangerous combination of complex drives which leave us open to behaving in ways that we never thought possible or blinded to behavior that we never thought that we would accept.

Cult leaders (despots and tyrants) know this intuitively and they use this to their advantage. Some become dangerous when followers begin to see through the carefully constructed charade and some are allowed to wreak havoc on lives while we blithely go on with our lives. Read the rest of this entry »

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Have we passed our prime?

Posted by preparedcitizens on July 18, 2008

I was speaking to a good friend the other day. My heart grieved as she voiced the opinion that as a nation we have passed our peak. Have we? Or will this be the self fulfilling prophecy that will do us in? There is still time and there is still hope.

We must fight against our own attitudes. That is where the biggest battleground is. Our hearts and minds can lead us in all the wrong directions. I know this to be true from my own experience. When we serve up a plate of anger, resentment, hatred, fear, disatisfaction….when we feast on these things they become our heart’s poison.

When we allow those who hate to order our days we will become hateful ourselves. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Family, Health, Life, Prepare | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

…the flu happens

Posted by preparedcitizens on March 19, 2008

I am currently recovering from the flu. Hopefully I will get back to this blog soon.

This certainly was a bad one.

The good news, the fever has broken…the better news, I now have antibodies against this particular strain.

Stay healthy!

Jackie

Posted in Life | Leave a Comment »

Social Equilibristics and the Christian Response

Posted by preparedcitizens on March 3, 2008

Social equilibrium: A working balance among its interdependent parts (Davis & Newstrom, 1985)Each subsystem will adjust to any change in the other subsystems and will continue to do so until equilibrium is retained. The process of achieving equilibrium will only work if the changes happen slowly, but for rapid changes it would throw the social system into chaos, unless and until a new equilibrium can be reached.

Equilibristics, Juggling – balancing or maintaining a moving equilibrium – there will never be an end to our ever-changing needs and new conditions in our society. A balancing act will constantly be acted out in order to ensure our survival.

For the short time of the history of this country, most of our needs have been met without demanding a duty from the majority of us. We have become complacent, we have become fat and satisfied, and we have become stuck in our nation’s “adolescence”. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Christianity, Life, pandemic, Prepare | Tagged: , , , , | Leave a Comment »