A public health emergency is the occurrence or imminent threat of an illness or health condition that poses a substantial risk to a significant number of people. Examples of Public Health Emergencies include:

A gas leak from a ruptured chlorine tank.
A toxic substance spill from a railroad car.
A food borne illness outbreak at a local restaurant.
A flu outbreak.
White powder or suspicious package sent through the mail.
Drinking water contaminated by sewage.
A methamphetamine lab investigation.
Exposure to dangerous chemicals.

There are real benefits to being prepared.

Being prepared can reduce fear, anxiety, and losses that accompany disasters. Communities, families, and individuals should know what to do in the event of a fire and where to seek shelter during a tornado. They should be ready to evacuate their homes and take refuge in public shelters and know how to care for their basic medical needs.
People also can reduce the impact of disasters (flood proofing, elevating a home or moving a home out of harm’s way, and securing items that could shake loose in an earthquake) and sometimes avoid the danger completely.

The need to prepare is real.

Disasters disrupt hundreds of thousands of lives every year. Each disaster has lasting effects, both to people and property.
If a disaster occurs in your community, local government and disaster-relief organizations will try to help you, but you need to be ready as well. Local responders may not be able to reach you immediately, or they may need to focus their efforts elsewhere.
You should know how to respond to severe weather or any disaster that could occur in your area - hurricanes, earthquakes, extreme cold, flooding, or terrorism.
You should also be ready to be self-sufficient for at least three days. This may mean providing for your own shelter, first aid, food, water, and sanitation.

Deschutes County Preparedness PowerPoint (click to view) updated March 31st/2006

Family Preparedness

Tools and Links to Help You Build a Family Preparedness plans (Click on Blue Weblink Below to Bring up Website):

General Information Links:

http://www.doh.wa.gov/phepr/factsheets.htm

http://www.fema.gov/areyouready/

http://www.redcross.org

Planning for Terrorism

http://www.fema.gov/hazard/terrorism/index.shtm

Shelter in Place

http://www.bt.cdc.gov/planning/shelteringfacts.asp

Family Disaster Plan

http://www.ready.gov/make_a_plan.html

http://www.fema.gov/areyouready/basic_preparedness.shtm

Pet Care

Pet Care in Disasters - Brochure

Pet Care in Disasters - Tips

Family Plan Tools (PDF format):

Family Preparedness Calendar

Family Disaster Planning

Home Hazard Hunt

72 Hour Kit For Your Home and/or Make An Emergency Kit

Business Preparation

In the event of pandemic influenza, businesses will play a key role in protecting employees' health and safety as well as limiting the negative impact to the economy and society. Planning for pandemic influenza is critical for the survival of your business, and the flow of essential services in the community.

Potential United States and Deschutes County Impacts:

The CDC predicts that that as much as 25% to 30% of the US population could be affected by a pandemic. Undoubtedly, a pandemic flu would be disruptive and costly to business. Up to 35% of the workforce could be affected at any given time. The economic impact in the United States could reach $166.5 billion.

Economic impacts that we can expect from a pandemic influenza:

Economic View of Pandemic Flu

Further information can be found:

Tools to Help Your Business be Prepared:

Sample Employee Newsletter

Business Checklist

Poster to Hang at Business Site

Business Brochure

Refer your employees to our website to prepare themselves and their families as well:

Family Preparedness

Faith-Based Disaster Preparation

The collaboration of Faith-Based and Community Organizations with public health agencies will be essential in protecting the public’s health and safety if and when an influenza pandemic occurs. This checklist provides guidance for religious organizations (churches, synagogues, mosques, temples, etc.), social service agencies that are faithbased, and community organizations in developing and improving influenza pandemic response and preparedness plans. Many of the points suggested here can improve your organization’s ability to protect your community during emergencies in general. You can find more information at www.pandemicflu.gov.

Tool to help guide preparation:

Faith-based Preparation Checklist

School Disaster Preparation

Local educational agencies play an integral role in protecting the health and safety of their district's staff, students and their families. Building a strong relationship with the local health department is critical for developing a meaningful plan. Further information on pandemic influenza, and a planning checklist can be found at www.pandemicflu.gov.

Tools to help guide preparation:

School Planning Guide

Childcare and Preschool Planning Checklist

Colleges and Univeristy Planning Checklist

Home Health Preparation

Home health agencies will likely be called upon to provide care for patients who do not require hospitalization for pandemic influenza, or for whom hospitalization is not an option because hospitals have reached their capacity to admit patients. These agencies may become overburdened very quickly and shortages of personnel and supplies for providing home health care may occur. Collaboration with hospitals, local pandemic planning committees and public health agencies will be essential to ensure that the affected population receives needed health care services. Further information can be found at www.pandemicflu.gov.

Tool to help guide preparation:

Home Health Checklist

EMS Disaster Preparation

EMS organizations will be involved in the transport of acutely ill patients with known or suspected pandemic influenza to emergency departments; some of these patients might require mechanical ventilation for life support and/or other lifesaving interventions. Non-emergent (medical) transport organizations will be called upon to transport recovering pandemic influenza patients to their home, residential care facility, or possibly to alternate care sites set up by state or local health departments. Collaborations among hospital, public health and public safety personnel are encouraged for the overall safety and care of the public. Further information can be found at www.pandemicflu.gov.

Tool to help guide preparation:

EMS Preparation Checklist

Medical Offices and Clinics Disaster Planning

Planning for pandemic influenza is critical for ensuring a sustainable healthcare response. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have developed the following checklist to help medical offices and ambulatory clinics assess and improve their preparedness for responding to pandemic influenza. Many of the issues included in the checklist are also relevant to other outpatient settings that provide episodic and chronic healthcare services (e.g., dental, podiatric, and chiropractic offices, ambulatory surgery centers, hemodialysis centers). Given the variety of healthcare settings, individual medical offices and clinics may need to adapt this checklist to meet their unique needs. Further information can be found at www.pandemicflu.gov.

This checklist identifies key areas for pandemic influenza planning. Medical offices and clinics can use this tool to identify the strengths and weaknesses of current planning efforts. Links to websites with information are provided throughout the document. However, actively seeking information that is available here in Deschutes County or at the state level will be necessary to complete the development of the plan. Also, for some elements of the plan (e.g., education and training programs), information may not be immediately available and it will be necessary to monitor selected websites for new and updated information.

Tool to help guide preparation:

Medical Offices and Clinics Checklist

What is Pandemic Influenza?

Typically influenza is characterized by an abrupt onset of fever, muscle aches, sore throat, and nonproductive cough. When there is an outbreak of influenza that affects people over an extensive geographic area, that is considered a pandemic. Flu pandemics are known throughout history. The first pandemic ever recorded was in 1580 when the flu spread from Europe to Asia and Africa. In the twentieth century, there were three pandemics which occurred in 1918, 1957, and 1968. The 1918 flu, also known as the "Spanish flu", caused the most deaths. Over 500,000 people died in the United States and over 20 million died worldwide in that pandemic.

Influenza viruses mutate over time. Some of these changes are gradual and other changes are abrupt. The mutations produce various flu strains which circulate each year. Scientists are able to track the flu virus that changes gradually and develop a vaccine. The flu virus that changes abruptly is nearly impossible for scientists to predict and so no vaccine exists for this type of flu. This type of flu is what usually leads to a pandemic.

Most flu strains originate in Asia where dense human populations live close to birds and pigs. The influenza virus usually develops in ducks and is then transmitted to pigs which then infect humans. Recently, it has been discovered that some strains of flu are transmitted directly from birds to humans (called the avian flu). In 1997, such a flu led to the necessary slaughter of millions of chickens from Hong Kong.

Unfortunately, it is not a question of if a pandemic flu will occur, but when. The Deschutes County Public Health department is preparing for such an event by engaging key community partners to assess our local capacity to respond, stockpiling resources that may be scarce, and creating drills to practice an integrated response. We are committed to do all we can ahead of time to protect the health and welfare of our communities.

Steps you can take to prepare for pandemic influenza:

Buy an N-95 mask for each of your family members from any hardware/department store
Make An Emergency Kit and/or 72 Hour Kit For Your Home (3 days to two weeks of food and water)
Cover Your Cough (en español); practice good respiratory etiquette habits
Wash hands frequently and use hand sanitizer
Get a flu shot
Keep abreast of information on pandemic flu: Pandemic Flu Brochure
Stay home when you are sick

More about influenza:

The official U.S. government Web site for information on pandemic flu and avian influenza
http://www.pandemicflu.gov/
Health and Human Services, Pandemic Flu Plan
http://www.hhs.gov/pandemicflu/plan/
(The supplements to this plan are an excellent resource to medical providers and hospitals).
Health and Human Services, Seasonal Flu
http://www.hhs.gov/flu/
World Health Organization, Epidemic and Pandemic Alert and Response
For the latest on H5N1 Avian Flu
http://www.who.int/csr/disease/avian_influenza/en/
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Influenza
http://www.cdc.gov/flu/pandemic/
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
http://www3.niaid.nih.gov/topics/Flu/understandingFlu/DefinitionsOverview.htm
The Influenza Pandemic of 1918
http://www.stanford.edu/group/virus/uda/

What are Natural Hazards?

A natural hazard is a naturally occurring event that is dangerous to people or places. Natural hazards include floods, landslides, earthquakes, volcanoes, fires, and outbreaks/epidemics.

Flood Facts

http://www.feta.gov/areyouready/flood.shtm
http://www.usgs.gov/themes/flood.html
http://access.wa.gov/emergency/flood.aspx

Flood Preparation

http://www.bt.cdc.gov/disasters/floods/
En Espanol:
http://www.bt.cdc.gov/disasters/floods/espanol/index.asp

Disaster Planning Resources

Are you and your family ready?

Index of Topics

What is a Public Health Emergency?

There are real benefits to being prepared.

The need to prepare is real.

Family Preparedness

Tools and Links to Help You Build a Family Preparedness plans (Click on Blue Weblink Below to Bring up Website):

General Information Links:

Planning for Terrorism

Shelter in Place

Family Disaster Plan

Pet Care

Family Plan Tools (PDF format):

Business Preparation

Economic impacts that we can expect from a pandemic influenza:

Further information can be found:

Tools to Help Your Business be Prepared:

Refer your employees to our website to prepare themselves and their families as well:

Faith-Based Disaster Preparation

Tool to help guide preparation:

School Disaster Preparation

Tools to help guide preparation:

Home Health Preparation

Tool to help guide preparation:

EMS Disaster Preparation

Tool to help guide preparation:

Medical Offices and Clinics Disaster Planning

Tool to help guide preparation:

What is Pandemic Influenza?

Steps you can take to prepare for pandemic influenza:

More about influenza:

What are Natural Hazards?

Flood Facts

Flood Preparation

Landslide Facts

Volcano Facts

Volcano Preparation