As the concern over this upcoming flu season escalates, and the spread of the Swine Flu (H1N1 virus) possibly infects up to 30 to 50 percent of the population, experts including the Center for Disease Control and the federal government are asking organizations, including schools, to develop a formal plan to prepare for a possible pandemic outbreak of Swine Flu.
The College of Pharmacy, Nursing, and Allied Sciences is sponsoring a 90-minute live national audio conference on Tuesday, Sept. 29, at 2 p.m. in the Memorial Union Meadow Lark room. The conference is titled, "Planning for H1N1 Flu – Critical Steps You Need to Take to Prepare" by speaker Regina Phelps, an internationally recognized expert in the field of emergency management.
The formal plan is required to address how the organization will deal with the possibility of massive employee and student absenteeism; business closures; frightened employees; maintenance of essential services; how to take action to reduce the spread of a highly transmittable virus; maintain the necessary administration, management and leadership of the organization if top administrators become ill; and identify the critical steps an organization and school need to take to help them prepare or plan for a possible pandemic flu outbreak.
Phelps began speaking and writing about an Influenza Pandemic in 2003. Since that time, her consulting firm has written hundreds of pandemic plans and conducted more than 250 pandemic exercises. The audio conference is being offered via Thompson Interactive, a Division of Thompson Publishing Group Inc., Washington, D.C.
Register by Sept. 15 by contacting Lori Peterson at l.peterson@ndsu.edu or call 1-5383. Space is limited.