Comments

1. Joel Jensen (Into the Woods) Says:

   I am of the old school as well.

   Simple talk is filled with ideas which build the foundation for truth which serves as the engine for action.

   As much as for educating the public, these discussions are valuable for testing of assumptions, strategies and perceptions that can identify and correct error at the same time as they strengthen and clarify the truth.

   It is no less a market-place of ideas because it is a conference or takes place in a virtual hall - or because it is public officials speaking with the public.

   But when men have realized that time has upset many fighting faiths, they may come to believe even more than they believe the very foundations of their own conduct that the ultimate good desired is better reached by free trade in ideas…that the best test of truth is the power of the thought to get itself accepted in the competition of the market, and that truth is the only ground upon which their wishes safely can be carried out.

   Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes

   This too is a concrete result and will lead to better ‘outcomes’ going forward.

   Posted June 22nd, 2007 at 6:00 pm
2. Kobie Says:

   Sister Talone
   I too applaud Secretary Leavitt and Admiral Agwunobi for posting. I hope they feel people are listening and will respond.
   While talking is good the clock is ticking. Building rapport, gathering support and consensus are good mental provisions before starting out on large unknown tasks.
   Growing up with air raid sirens, civil defense, hardware stores handing our bomb shelter plans, etc it depresses me that we are starting from square one, most folks do not care, they will rebuke me and others who prep have written them off already!

   Sister Talone, no offense but in pulling my punches I feel we have not touched upon the enormity yet. Just the time off for funerals of kids will keep me busy. Kids funerals, those under 25, draw a much larger crowed than someone who is 60 or 80. We have had to move them several times to a larger church.

   Someone mentioned the manhattan project. That was a group of people making something that only a handful of trained experts used once or twice. We have to come up with something that everyone can use and *agree* to.

   That is where I agree with Joel Jensen on testing and thinking through ideas *before* implementing them.

   Just the charity work Catholic hospitals do that “for profit” ones do not boggles my mind.

   Not to end on a sad note.

   Talk was good. I believe we the bloggers where heard by HHS. I look forward to seeing what comes out next. Along with the business that are for the good of society there could be a lot of hourly wage workers put out of work simply because we eat out more, we go to movies far more. Their stress level will go way up. Then there is the shopping mall.

   If only half the shops open - will the mall open up? What if there is no mall staff or security - does the mall open? Soo many quesitions.

   Computer World magazine published their third Pandemic Flu warning article. More articles are getting out.

   Have a great weekend. Summer is here.

   Regards,
   Kobie

   “look around, leaves are brown
   there is a patch of snow on the ground
   its a hazy shade of winter,
   time is short”

   Posted June 22nd, 2007 at 6:11 pm
3. Greg Dworkin Says:

   A conversation sure beats simply rolling out a product without asking for input

   The issue folks bring up is time frame. An imperfect analogy: do we have time to build a pyramid with an admittedly solid base and then put an antennae at the top, or should it be a broadcast tower thrown up quickly but with a purpose?

   Even those who want the tower (so it can broadcast right away) acknowledge the stability of the pyramid. Those who want the pyramid need to better explain to the tower people why the extra time for stability is worth taking.

   Posted June 22nd, 2007 at 6:48 pm
4. Deb AKA prepdeb Says:

   I come from roughly the same era and while I feel that meetings and ‘brainstorming’ have great merit, they must be followed with action to be of any value at all.

   If our government and our federal agencies honestly want to do the best they can for this nation, they need more than a website and a blog with us.

   Most of the ‘flubies’ would be glad to assist others in preparing, if those people viewed it as necessary. Instead, we find ourselves viewed with rolling eyes or soft chuckles because the public is not adequately warned or alarmed.

   At a time when high path avian influenza is making it’s way around the globe, why do we still allow a percentage of poultry litter in commercial feed for other animals?
   Does that make sense to any of you?
   It could only seem like a good thing to me if I were a poultry producer who was able to turn a waste product into a source of profit.

   While we pressure other nations for transparency, we are hardly forthcoming with information ourselves. I could name dozens of instances that have lacked transparency and fostered doubt.

   The health and welfare of the citizens HAS to come before the profits of big business. Until we return to that state, the agencies that are formed and funded to protect us are a sham. As long as the interests of corporations come before the interests of the citizens, these agencies and salaries should be paid by corporate America, not the average taxpayer who is struggling to pay their taxes and feed their families.

   You’ve spoken and many have responded. From reading comments, the public voicing their opinions feel that the leaders need to do considerably more to alert and inform the general public.

   Once they take it seriously, the majority will make an effort to prepare.

   As for medicines - again, our leaders COULD and SHOULD force insurance companies to allow and cover prescriptions for more than a 30 day supply.

   Our leaders should once and for all forget the ridiculous proposal to outsource our poultry processing to China.

   When H5N1 is discovered here, all we hear is ‘low path’. We do not get sequences or test results.

   Why would our agency destroy smuggled poultry products without testing it?

   Why would they approve trials of artificial blood on unknowing trauma victims?

   So many issues have contributed to the lack of confidence in our agencies.

   Actions speak far louder than words or blogs. The actions of our administration and our tax funded agencies in recent years has only reinforced the lack of trust.
   I have no doubt that the job descriptions (at least the official ones) involve protecting the public, not enabling the corporations.

   It’s not too late to make a huge difference in the outcome for millions.

   Trust needs to be earned, especially when it’s been violated.

   My last post as well.

   Posted June 22nd, 2007 at 7:45 pm
5. Concerned Citizen In Texas Says:

   Dear Sister Talone,
   My brother (a Priest for 40 years) is a Pastor of a very large Catholic Church. His influence is unquestionable. He is greatly trusted, but mostly loved. You would have to meet him to belive him! His mere humbleness and unassuming wisdom is what really sinks in to people. How to reach the many leaders like him? This would be a huge audience in and of itself. The Catholic Herald - maybe an avenue?
   I tried once to talk to him about this. He said “Ahh - The Plague” with a twinkle in his eye. Don’t know what that meant - had to stop talking - it was bad timing on my part at a big family gathering. I cannot discuss this with my family…OK…I admit it…I’m the runt of a large family and am afraid to bring this up with my much
   wiser and older brothers and sisters. I too need validation like everyone else.
   Sincerely, Me

   Posted June 22nd, 2007 at 9:27 pm
6. CRP buddy Says:

   I think that while some finds that speaking is just a waste of time, at some point, ideas must shared for the best of all of us. It also gives the opportunity to report the dialog in the news.

   Posted June 23rd, 2007 at 3:05 am
7. standingfirm Says:

   Sister Talone,

   I have moved beyond the validation stage. Since it doesn’t seem to be forthcoming I have to keep moving forward. I cannot stop telling people to prepare (and showing them how to) simply because my feelings may get hurt when someone questions my knowledge or authority.

   What I have been doing is scaling down my expectations a bit. Now, whoever the Lord brings into my earshot each day gets a dose of preparedness “medicine”. Each conversation is different depending upon who I am speaking with. This may be a overly simplistic approach for many on this blog but sometimes with all of our planning we forget to reach at least one person a day.

   I am not responsible for how the message is responded to but I am responsible for conveying it and if that means I reach only one other person to the point that they actively prepare and perhaps tell others then I have done what I am meant to do.

   I am not sure how much this HHS blog has helped or not, again not my call, but I do appreciate that I have been given an opportunity to respond.

   Posted June 23rd, 2007 at 3:03 pm
8. Kobie Says:

   Sister Talone,
   I was talking with a friend over coffee this saturday moning about “Comfort Zones”
   Last week I could not get off work to help with cub scout day camp. This put me out of my comfert zone.
   We realized that asking someone to do day camp or prepare for a pandemic is putting them way out of their comfort zone.
   People are busy. People say they already have a full time job and schedual.
   Sigh, perhaps what was fortold in Charlie Chaplins movie “Modern Problems” or Fritz Langs science fiction classic “Metroplolis” has come to pass for many.
   We are busy, we have a schedual - life is in flux. It is hard enough to arrage the real future, let alone life in a future pandemic that may never be.
   “No pain - no gain” may be a gym only mantra.
   Yet so often we are called to do more. To do things we have not and end up liking it. Growing from it. Beeing better for it. Then looking back over the previous weeks to see “Doing the same thing over and over day after day and expecting things to change or get better is one definition of insanity” just might be true.
   Change dictaed by others in painful and can be resented.

   I fear comfort may keep people from acting. They are comfertable and unhappy. Yet instead of changing to make themselves happier they do the the same things over and over. A cycly they can not break.
   Making people confertable to talk about the pandemic, its course and afterwards. Job listings, family re-constitution, new buiness, health care that may be bankrupt, inherritance proceedings, autopsy of folks who perrrished a year or more earlier but the system was overwhelmed and the documentaries.
   May we not shove this treasure trove of informaiton away but use it to save succeeding gernerations from the pain and scurge that has plauged us for so long.
   Doing that will also be steppng out of our comfort zone. Bad things are oft forgotten, never brought to bear. Buried with the dead as many wrestle with “why them, why not me?”

   There is a reason.

   Regards
   Kobie

   “Every hour like the last,
   Tomorrow like the day just past.
   Pressing down upon the flesh and bone
   is man’s system with a power all its own.
   They draw blood from a stone.” - Cycle V, a forgotten rock group of the 80’s

   Posted June 23rd, 2007 at 4:18 pm
9. Dr. Diabetes Says:

   What could be more important for a hospital to be prepared in case of a pandemic flu?

   The general public can’t do much in preparation however (buying masks, like the Japanese?), it’s the social responsability of the health care system to know what to do, to train their employees and to be ready in case of an emergency. I do hope that some leadership will be used from the hospital directors / dept. chairmens to ensure that everyone will be ready.

   Posted June 24th, 2007 at 1:05 am
10. Greg Dworkin Says:

    Dr. Diabetes, it’s a tough sell. many hospitals are doing some degree of prep, but there’s a shortage of personal protective equipment and a lack of a broad consensus as to what to do about alternative care facilities (see
    

    The Prospect of Using Alternative Medical Care Facilities in an Influenza Pandemic

    Lam C, Waldhorn R, Toner E, Inglesby TV, O’Toole T. Biosecurity and Bioterrorism. 2006;4(4).

    Fri, Dec 15 2006 20:27:00 GMT www.upmc-biosecurity…

    In an actual pandemic, at this stage of prep, count on the hospitals being overwhelmed, no matter how seriously they take it or how much prep they do. The next stage, therefore, is good home treatment advice and alternative care facilities to preserve emergent hospital function (and develop clear plans on a post-pandemic back-to-normal algorithm for any all-hazards work stoppage. For example, if you stop elective surgery, have the surgeons decide now who goes back on line first and in what order, or they’ll all think they go first).

    Posted June 24th, 2007 at 7:43 am
11. nanoflower Says:

    In responce to post #9. The public cannot prep the hospital but the public can do something better. They can prep their own households and then sit-in-place. Then they will not need the hospital, for the flu at least. I am worried about the other things we need the hospital for. Strep throat, broken limbs, ear infections in toddlers and many others. How are dentists going to even do extractions without gloves, masks and a large stockpile of pain medication? Does anyone plan on telling them ahead of time they need these things.

    Posted June 24th, 2007 at 10:06 am
12. Kobie Says:

    Dr. Diabetes (Post#9) I disagree. Prepping the public so they do not get as sick will lighten the burdon on the health care system.
    Lets say I wave a my magic wand and poof - we have a hospitals at each school the size a large Wal*Mart - with supplies too boot!
    Where will the people be? We need HCW too. Ok I’ll throw them in as a freebee!
    Poof there go the lights and such because everyone who is not a HCW is sick.
    Also - controlling diabetes is more than diet because the body’s use of insulin and glucagon (sp?) is not constant. Activity, sickness, current organ health and stress factor in. Hence we may loose a few people just because they can not handle H5N1. The only plan is not have them get sick in the first place.

    The best winning move is not to play with H5N1. N=0!, but I will settle for N=1.

    Yes Dr Dwokin - more at home care. Nusense patients with problems they can fix at home should fix themselves at home. I hope some healthy fear will keep people at home.

    nanoflower (Post#11)
    I agree and disagree. For the local Crhistmass parade the Jay Cees call upon members to do things. Something big needs to be moved they put the word out and an asphalt company or trucking company may show up.
    I have talked with the head electrician of my local hospital about their generators. he confirmed they where inadaquite for long term use. They are just big enough to carry the critical systems for a few hours - a few days at most. I gave him some information on what teh Navy has - a MUSE.
    I do not want him to ask for one. instead I want people to check on their local hospitals and ask that they be able to run for a few days. By run I mean run. Elevators, HVAC, computer and security systems, X-Ray machines, labs food services and laundry. Not juts - “the ER, ICU, Neonatal and operating room will be fine.”
    During the summer a hospital wihtout AC gets pretty rank in just a few hours.
    One barrior to engage every one is that you can not just walk in and say “Can I see your head electrician and your emergency plans.”
    In this post 9/11 world that is not a good thing to do. How did I do it? I am polite and talk to whom ever is around me. Turns out we both have kids.
    Those questions will have to come from higher up and I hope the call to do so comes from above - soon.

    Regards,
    Kobie

    Posted June 24th, 2007 at 2:03 pm
13. Joel Jensen (Into the Woods) Says:

    Dr Diabetes:

    …it’s the social responsability of the health care system to know what to do, to train their employees and to be ready in case of an emergency.

    I agree, but in an environment where government funded programs dominate the health care system, it is also society’s social responsibility (which means each of us acting as an engaged citizen) to ensure the health care system has the resources with which to prepare - and then to assure that it happens.

    And even then, there are limits on what we can expect of our health systems. We must acknowledge those limits and address the needs that flow over the cup.

    It is widely acknowledged that care and support of pandemic patients by laypeople in their own homes will constitute either a large or the largest portion of care even for the very ill during a pandemic. Even when the words of presentations do not acknowledge this, the numbers always do.

    We talk about rationing vaccine and anti-virals. We talk about triage within the health care system and how we can stretch the surge capacity using bubble gum and bailing wire. But who talks about those left outside the doors of the hosptials and alternative care sites and how they will make do and try to survive?

    What is our message to this group that will seriously outnumber the group allowed “inside” - possibly by as much as 10 to 1?

    We cannot just focus on our hospitals, nor even on our health system, but must also face the reality of home/family care and do what we can to optimize that part of our response.

    www.newfluwiki2.com/…

    Posted June 25th, 2007 at 2:53 pm
14. Sister Patricia Talone Says:

    Dear Joel,
    Your concern for and passion about those left “outside the doors” is particularly apt. The recent case in California in which a woman patient died while in the hospital ER is a horrible illustration of the fact that our ERs are already taxed beyond the breaking point.

    This is not just the responsibility of hospitals and health care but of every citizen, of every adult member of the human family.

    Posted June 25th, 2007 at 4:23 pm
15. Average Concerned Mom Says:

    Joel Jensen brings up the many patients who will be ill and need to be cared for outside of the hospital or alternative care sites.

    I am also concerned about those who will be dying there, with no access to palliative care.

    As we talk of rationing vaccines and antivirals, and we realize there will not be enough, should we also be making plans to stockpile morpine or whatever other types of palliatve care may be needed to ease the last few hours of the dying’s passage?

    So many of us have never witnessed death, certainly not at home, not without hospice or other medical attention, and not of children and young adults.

    Access to palliative treatment — for something we see coming — should be a priority — as should instructing people now on how to respectfully handle the possibly infected remains of their loved ones’ bodies.

    Will having this type of information now — ahead of a pandemic — scare people? I think rather it will encourage them to take planning for a pandemic more seriously, to support more funding for it and to check up on their local authorities to be sure prudent planning is in fact occuring.

    Posted June 25th, 2007 at 5:41 pm
16. flutracker Says:

    PLEASE can we have some excellent videos on “Home Care for the Very Ill with Pandemic Flu” or some such title? Can the Nurses association ANA produce one of these? How about Red Cross? How about the health education departments of HMO’s like Kaiser Permanente? These places have dozens of classes and videos about topics ranging from breast self-exam to stopping smoking to stress management. WHERE are the video and printed materials designed and actual courses taught by nurses or doctor-nurse teams to teach us how to do this?

    We needed these things a year ago. We still need them.

    If “the health system” whatever that is expects me to take care of my children in my own home, I need training how to do it. I have never seen them as ill as pandemic flu makes people. I wouldn’t know what to do, and I’d be terrified.

    HELP!

    Posted June 25th, 2007 at 5:52 pm
17. Kobie Says:

    Average Concerned Mom (Post#15) and flutracker (Post#16)
    I hope the video is made available. Not only to ward off ignorance but so people can see what happens.
    Bad sleep aepnea and really bad asthema that keeps people waking up all the time gasping for breath for a while can make death seem like a relief. I can not imagin what H5N1 will do - though SusanC has written a very good description from personal experiance.

    Average Concerned Mom (Post#15) - rationing drugs. With 30 tons seized and that being only 10% or so (rough guess from police reports) I can only imagin what “home remedies” people will try.

    I have not heard of any H5N1 patients asking to be let go. However to be told “Even with good medicin there is nothing we can do but let them slowly suffer as they get worse” will be, IMHO, devistating to parents and friends.

    Yes. In today’s world when someong comes home to die the hard part is not just watching them go. It is the hours. The hours the body lies alone in the room no one will go in. It is the hours it takes for the morgue truck to show up to get the body.

    I fear this will get worse during a pandemic.

    Regards,
    Kobie

    Posted June 26th, 2007 at 8:19 am
18. crfullmoon Says:

    (Kobie, local neighborhoods should be encouraged to make Mortuary Reserve Corps, or mutual burying societies, and pandemic laws should be changed to allow it as long as good records are kept. Bodies still aren’t all buried after Katrina and that was a localized event! No “storage” plans, please!
    There are expert/official resources out there, discussing the forseen failure of current systems, even mass casualty event systems, which cannot encompass an influenza pandemic. The new Flu Wiki Forum has 2 or 3 pages on the topic; Search in Diaries for mortuary. www.newfluwiki2.com/… )

    The Red Cross has flyers the public hasn’t seen about Home Care for Pandemic flu; of course it makes it sound like there is no chance of fatal outcomes! - the opposite of what H5N1 is doing now in Indonesia with antivirals and ICU care. See? 2 page pdf
    www.bostonredcross.o…
    The Red Cross should have been warning their communites long ago; I cannot respect govts, and organizations that continue to let their citizens (and their children) play “russian roulette” every day until pandemic year starts, and then plan to release “information” explaining to people why, regrettably, they are just so out of luck, and will have to suffer pandemic year impacts.

    Warning communities pre-pandemic would save lives. We had a surprising ammount to time to prepare which the public will wish they had used.

    Those state summits should have made state funding contingent on municipalities having public release of the state summit presentation, and, forming “all”-stakeholder “Pandemic Preparedness Coordinating Committees”.
    We would be so much better prepared for anything right now, if that had been done.

    That should have trumped anything named “all-hazards”, since the other “hazards” were all time/space limited, with outside aid available, and, locals seem to think “all hazards” are being presented as equally unlikely.

    Also, “all” community “stakeholders”, and the public, do not know what goes on in those dept-head all-hazards meetings. The plans will fail.
    Local plans aren’t even on local govts’ websites, and some places are claiming pandemic plans are “top secret” and they can’t show them to citizens who ask to read them.

    The palliative care drug stockpile recommendations were written; your citizens, local pharmacists, faith communities, hospice groups, “volunteers” probably have not seen them, (and may still not even know the federal govt put their website up Oct. 2005, nor that there was a state panflu summit in 2006 and our communities are supposed to be preparing to cope on their own).

    Where have local or state officials bought palliative drugs?
    Where have insurance companies and physicians been told they must allow people to keep months’ worth of essential medications at home, or communities stockpile them, to avoid excess loss of life once supply chains are interrupted?
    Why weren’t people allowed to buy antivirals, since against panflu they must be started ASAP to have any effect? We can see what happens to H5N1 cases now.
    Why is money spent on non-essential things, but not on enough antivirals and PPE for essential people, who authorities fully expect to risk their lives and work during pandemic, and, provide for their families?

    Just like the “Best Practices and Model Protocols” document doesn’t get on the public’s front burner, despite it saying, Homeland Security may “direct the public to self-quarantine for up to 90 days per wave” (wouldn’t your community re-arrange its priorities if they read that?) the AHRQ guide, …“the product of a collaborative effort and as such reflects the extensive contributions of many knowledgeable individuals who shared their time, insights, experiences, and expertise. Their backgrounds and perspectives range from field experience in providing mass medical care with scarce resources to planning for such eventualities and all the related challenges”… is not the topic of public discussion, when local health depts are trying to recruit “voluneers” to “help the community if there’s an emergency of any kind”.

    Long, but worth a printout; or, you could pick a couple of chapters, here’s the contents: www.ahrq.gov/researc…
    “Providing Mass Medical Care with Scarce Resources: A Community Planning Guide provides community planners—as well as planners at the institutional, State, and Federal levels—with information on planning for and responding to a mass casualty event (MCE)”

    …”Emphasize Prevention. Planners should recognize the preeminent value of prevention.
    This is particularly true in MCEs such as an influenza pandemic, where a focus on prevention of transmission is critical to minimize the burden of disease”…

    (You can’t prevent transmission if no one has anything to eat in their homes during panflu year. Won’t even be able to make it through the first wave; systems are brittle and employees mostly are going to be blindsided, even if their CEO knew about pandemic. Vulnerable populations are going to be worse off.)

    (oh and here’s the disclaimer!)
    “This document is intended not to reflect Department of Health and Human Services policy but to provide State and local planners with options to consider when planning their response to an MCE”…

    “Palliative Care: Chapter 7″ www.ahrq.gov/researc…

    …may last for months (e.g., pandemic influenza). In many cases, those who survive the onset usually will live for some time—days to months—but will not be “expected to survive” due to the event itself or to the ensuring resource scarcities it creates. Initial identification of those who might fit into the “not expected to survive” category following a catastrophic MCE may include:

    Those exposed to the event who are expected to die over the course of weeks …

    The “already existing” palliative care population (e.g., those already enrolled in hospice or receiving palliative care in acute care settings)

    Vulnerable patients (e.g., advanced illness patients in long-term care facilities) whose situation will be worsened due to scarcities associated with the event

    Patients who are triaged as a result of scarce resources.

    Those who are not expected to survive cannot be simply abandoned or ignored; nor should they overwhelm hospitals and EMS. By including these populations in existing disaster and MCE preparation, response, and management, most communities can ensure humane palliative care for all affected by such disasters.…

    (Without prior preparation, will people be triaged “expected to die” because of “scarce resources” including food, in addition to medical intervention, medicines, electricity, caregivers?)

    …“Priority access to scarce resources, including structural and skilled personnel resources, may be applied or moved to those with the greatest potential for survival.

    Thus, services to those expected to die soon will fall more heavily on people who do not have substantial prior health experience and expertise.”… (Sound like “community volunteers” to you?)

    …”“The needs of those who may not survive catastrophic mass casualty events and the ‘existing’ vulnerable populations affected by the event should be incorporated into the planning, preparation, response, and recovery management systems of all regions and jurisdictions.”
    —Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, 2004”

    …”The palliative care service aspect of community preparedness is new to disaster planning in the United States.

    Without deliberate planning and direction, stocking up on appropriate supplies, and the development of realistic guidelines, supportive care services for the dying in MCEs will be erratic, inefficient, disruptive,

    and potentially indefensible as the basis for social reorganization after the disaster.“…

    …casualties will be triaged at the site of the incident and again after transport to an ACS. Some will be deemed “likely to die” during the extreme circumstances of the catastrophe and therefore will be triaged not to receive (or not to continue to receive) life-supporting treatment. For these casualties, death will be expected within a short period.

    This reality poses substantial challenges for all involved, including the recognition that some people who might survive under other circumstances now will die.
    Given the usual focus of rescue in manageable disaster events, most patients, families, and emergency responders are likely to resist this designation and attempt to save all, potentially exacerbating an already overwhelmed medical care system”…

    …”Stockpile palliative care medications in each community for disaster response, including injectible morphine and dihydromorphone, injectible haloperidol, subcutaneous butterfly needles, tegaderm, antipyretics, steroids, and diuretics”…

    Chapter 8 Flu Pandemic: www.ahrq.gov/researc…
    …”advance planning is critical. …it is precisely here in this early pre-pandemic alert period that most of the advance planning for a potential flu pandemic needs to take place.”…

    ..”Planners must emphasize the importance of the home as a “safe haven” …

    It would help if they’d tell the public a pandemic flu year is hanging over our heads, and getting ready would make us a better nation, with communities better prepared for anything.

    Posted June 26th, 2007 at 9:29 am
19. Kobie Says:

    crfullmoon (Post#18)
    I reccomend this read to all.
    Yes it is long but makes many good points:
    Vivid Descriptions
    ““Palliative Care: Chapter 7″ www.ahrq.gov/researc…

    …may last for months (e.g., pandemic influenza). In many cases, those who survive the onset usually will live for some time—days to months—but will not be “expected to survive” due to the event itself or to the ensuring resource scarcities it creates. ”

    Promote or fore action:
    “Those state summits should have made state funding contingent on municipalities having public release of the state summit presentation, and, forming “all”-stakeholder “Pandemic Preparedness Coordinating Committees”.”

    Hey its is how the feds forced the 55 MPH speed limit. Comply or no funds. Using the diplomatic dollar domesticly.

    I wish I could stock my own familys medicins (everything from birth controll pills to heart medications to ADHD meds to what ever)

    BTW - one solution - have a prescription for an alternative meidication that is safe for you to take where possible.

    Lastly - the mourtuary corps to burying the dead. Also casket plans for caskets that can built at home. That sends a chill down my spine. The worst casket I ever saw was for a six year old girl who died of Tay-Sacks. Mom and dad where adopted as kids with little family medical history.
    The late morning funeral was hard. I can still see the sunlight bouncing off the pure white casket - a little larger than white styrafome beach cooler.

    Regards,
    Kobie

    Posted June 26th, 2007 at 11:08 am
20. Annie R.N. Says:

    Christmas tree disposal bags and bulk agricultural lime should be stored in various places by the government. Pathetic and ugly, but it would do the job of “storing” bodies if needed. Sad.

    Posted June 27th, 2007 at 7:21 am
21. Kobie Says:

    Annie R.N. (Post#20)
    Sad but a step in the right direction. Your suggestion is better than what we have.
    Please keep them comming Annie R.N. We hear you.

    Regards,
    Kobie

    Posted June 27th, 2007 at 8:51 am