THE NEW JERSEY CENTER FOR PUBLIC HEALTH PREPAREDNESS AT UMDNJ
UMDNJ - SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH

NJCPHP News PHlash

FEBRUARY 28 2006 - MARCH 10 2006

T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S

I. PREPAREDNESS NEWS
[1] Commonly used indicators of hospital surge capacity misleading- Press Release
(2/27/06)
[2] Hawaii on front lines for bird flu- Chicago Tribune (3/1/06)
[3] Ready for the big storm- NorthJersey.com (3/6/06)
[4] FAO to boost bird flu role- Reuters (3/7/06)
[5] Six months until bird flu hits U.S.?- CBS (3/9/06)

II. UPCOMING EVENTS
[1] PFLASH for Public Health Professionals (3/27/06)
[2] The 11th Annual Public Health Symposium (4/3/06)
[3] Public Health & Mental Health Response: Psychological First Aid (4/27/06)
[4] International Forums on Preparedness in Florence, Italy (4/24/06-4/28/06)
[5] New Jersey Emergency Preparedness Conference (5/11/06 and 5/12/06)

III. ANNOUNCEMENTS
[1] Pandemic Flu Planning Assignment
[2] APHIS: Safeguarding the US from highly-pathogenic avian influenza
[3] Avian Influenza Response from USAID
[4] The Nursing Center for Bioterrorism and Emerging Infectious Diseases Preparedness- Online Course Offerings

I. PREPAREDNESS NEWS:

[1] Commonly used indicators of hospital surge capacity misleading- Press Release (2/27/06) The use of annual hospital bed statistics to assess hospital surge capacity to gauge whether the nation¹s health care system can manage mass casualties from disasters provides a misleading picture, according to a new study published online by Annals of Emergency Medicine (Annual Bed Statistics Give a Misleading Picture of Hospital Surge Capacity). Researchers with Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J., analyzed daily bed availability in 78 New Jersey hospitals. They found that at certain times, the number of available beds falls below disaster planning benchmarks developed by the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (500 beds available per million people). http://www.acep.org/webportal/Newsroom/NR/annals/2006/022706.htm

[2] Hawaii on front lines for bird flu- Chicago Tribune (3/1/06) Hawaii, thought by many to be the U.S. state most likely to first detect avian influenza, is taking dynamic measures to prepare for a possible pandemic. A high influx of visitors from Asian nations and its position on the migratory bird path make Hawaii uniquely vulnerable to avian influenza. State health officials have responded by establishing the first airport surveillance program in the country to test visibly sick passengers for avian influenza virus and has opened a laboratory to test human mucus samples for the virus. Hawaii is also working to ensure that residents have an adequate supply of food, in the event that the islands are cut off from supply ships or airplanes. ³We recognize that we cannot put up a wall to keep the virus out, particularly because of our geographic proximity to the nations that have seen the most human infection of the virus and the fact that so many people travel to and from Hawaii from those areas,² said Dr. Sarah Park of the Hawaii Health Department. ³But we have determined that we can be prepared for the possibility of the virus making its way here.² http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/health/chi-0603010187mar01,1,5877428.story?ctrack=1&cset=true

[3] Ready for the big storm- NorthJersey.com (3/6/06) Emergency management officials say there will be no New Orleans in New Jersey if a massive hurricane were to come ashore in South Jersey. Years of training and planning will help save lives and limit property damage, they say. "We have to make our evacuation decision when a storm is off the coast of North Carolina," said Mariana Leckner, the chief planner in the New Jersey Office of Emergency Management. Officials say that once a decision is made to evacuate, they have a 30-hour window to execute emergency plans.
http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjcxN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXkyJmZnYmVsN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk2ODkyMTUy

[4] FAO to boost bird flu role- Reuters (3/7/06) The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is to play a greater role in fighting bird flu, becoming a "global clearing house" for efforts to stem the spread of the virus. The United States and the European Union have backed the formation of what a senior U.S. official called an "emergency operations center" at the FAO's Rome headquarters. The U.S.
would provide experts to help run the center and expects other nations to follow suit.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060307/ts_nm/birdflu_dc

[5] Six months until bird flu hits U.S.?- CBS (3/9/06) The virulent H5N1 strain of bird flu could reach the Americas in six to 12 months or sooner as infected wild birds migrate toward the Arctic and Alaska, the U.N. bird flu chief said. Migratory patterns will probably take birds carrying the virus from West Africa to the Arctic and Alaska this spring, Dr. David Nabarro said Wednesday. Some infected birds will then likely move south in the fall on a migratory route to the Americas. "I think it's within the next six to 12 months," Nabarro told a news conference, "And who knows ‹ we've been wrong on other things, it may be earlier."
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/03/09/health/main1385451.shtml

II. UPCOMING EVENTS:

[1] PFLASH for Public Health Professionals (3/27/06) NJCPHP will sponsor the one-day training PFLASH: Practical Front-Line Assistance for Support and Healing on Monday, March 27th, 2006 at the Bergen County EMS Training Center in Paramus, NJ. All public health professionals and first responders are invited to attend. For more information and to register:
http://ophp.umdnj.edu

[2] The 11th Annual Public Health Symposium (4/3/06) The 11th Annual Public Health Symposium "Partners in Designing Healthy Communities" will be held on April 3, 2006 at 4:00pm at UMDNJ- Great Hall RWJ Medical School. For more information- www.publichealthsymposium.org

[3] Public Health & Mental Health Response: Psychological First Aid (4/27/06)
NJ-PTC partner the UMDNJ School of Public Health offers this training that will focus on enhancing the knowledge of public health professionals on the psychosocial aspects of disaster response & bioterrorism. Public health professionals will learn the psychological response to critical incidents so they can diminish the risk of hysteria in the population at large. The 2-hour training will be on April 27, 2006 at the Salem County Vocational School. 2 CEs and 2 CHES credits. For more information and to register: http://ophp.umdnj.edu

[4] International Forums on Preparedness in Florence, Italy (4/24/06-4/28/06)
New York University's International Center for Enterprise Preparedness (InterCEP), the world's first academic center dedicated to private sector preparedness, is proud to host two international preparedness forums: International Public-Private Preparedness Summit http://www.nyu.edu/intercep/lapietra/preparedness.html, an exclusive two-day summit to promote public-private cooperation in emergencies and enable international sharing of business preparedness strategies and best practices; and International Conference on Emergency Preparedness Standardization http://www.nyu.edu/intercep/lapietra/standards.html a three-day conference to promote the development of an International Workshop Agreement (IWA), to be published by the International Organization on Standardization (ISO <http://www.iso.org/iso/en/ISOOnline.frontpage> ), to respond to the critical need for an international standard for emergency preparedness.
For more information, please visit http://www.nyu.edu/intercep/lapietra/

[5] New Jersey Emergency Preparedness Conference (5/11/06 and 5/12/06) The New Jersey Emergency Preparedness Association's Annual Conference provides training and coordination and promotes the development of public & private partnerships in planning, response, recovery and mitigation in all types of emergencies. It will be held at the Tropicana Casino and Resort in Atlantic City, NJ. For more information: http://www.njepa.org/

For a complete listing of preparedness training events and educational course offerings, please visit the ASPH Centers for Public Health Preparedness Online Education Calendar at:
http://www.asph.org/acphp/educationCalendar.cfm

III. ANNOUNCEMENTS

[1] Pandemic Flu Planning Assignment Currently University of Wisconsin- Oshkosh students enrolled in Virology are working on group assignments to develop pandemic flu plans specific to Winnebago County/the Oshkosh, Wisconsin community. This web site serves as an outreach portal for the project. The class instructor is Dr. Teri Shors. For more information:
http://www.uwosh.edu/projects/fluplanning

[2] APHIS: Safeguarding the US from highly-pathogenic avian influenza The USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has released a fact sheet on their actions, plans, and capabilities for addressing the bird flu threat.
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/lpa/pubs/fsheet_faq_notice/fs_ahhpaiplan.html

[3] Avian Influenza Response from USAID The US Agency of International Development has a section on their website devoted to avian influenza.
USAID is working to ensure an effective and coordinated approach to this economic and public health threat.
http://www.usaid.gov/our_work/global_health/home/News/news_items/avian_influenza.html

[4] The Nursing Center for Bioterrorism and Emerging Infectious Diseases Preparedness in collaboration with the Rutgers College of Nursing Center for Professional Development present online course offerings for nurses and other public health professionals. Eight different courses are being offered on topics including biological weapons, infection control, and psychosocial care. For more information, including how to register, go to http://nursing.rutgers.edu/cpd/ or call The Center for Professional Development at
(973) 353- 5895.

For more information, or to view the NJCPHP News PHlash Archive, please visit us at: www.njcphp.org

Please send any subscription inquiries to baronre@umdnj.edu

The New Jersey Center for Public Health Preparedness at UMDNJ, UMDNJ-School of Public Health does not claim responsibility for accuracy of facts and information presented. All opinions expressed are those of the original authors and do not represent the views of NJCPHP staff or affiliates.
NJCPHP News PHlash, a bi-weekly news bulletin, is distributed free of charge electronically, with the intention of sharing information of interest and value to our subscribers.
To unsubscribe send email to majordomo@umdnj.edu with "unsubscribe njcphp-bulletin" in the body of the message (without the quotes.)