Preparing for pandemic influenza: Adapting a model of healthcare facility preparedness to the business sector
Abstract
With concerns that another influenza pandemic is drawing near, viral strains of which might be circulating across wild bird populations in Asia, North Africa and Europe at the present time, the business sector has begun to focus attention on the steps required to prepare for such an eventuality. This paper elucidates the translation of an ‘all-hazards’ healthcare sector model established in the wake of response to the significant terrorist events in the autumn of 2001 for use in the business setting. The model is based upon the identification and promotion of strong leadership, implementation of sound infection control and occupational health and safety measures, development of a comprehensive training and education programme, and the proactive institution of business recovery practices.
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Author's Biography
Dan Hanfling MD, is the Director of Emergency Management and Disaster Medicine for the Inova Health System in Falls Church, Virginia. He has been involved in the response to international and domestic disaster events, including the response to the Pentagon in September 2001 and the response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005. He was a founding member of the Northern Virginia Hospital Alliance and has been appointed to the Virginia Department of Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Advisory Committee. He has testified before Congress on issues of disaster preparedness, and lectures nationally and internationally on pre-hospital, hospital and disaster- related subjects. He is Clinical Professor of Emergency Medicine at George Washington University, and adjunct Distinguished Senior Fellow at the George Mason University School of Public Policy.
Connie Price MD, is Chief of Infectious Diseases and Medical Director of Infection Control and Prevention at the Denver Health Medical Center. She is also Assistant Professor of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver. Her research and clinical interest focus on healthcare epidemiology and methods to prevent nosocomial infections, as well as disaster planning for emerging infectious diseases and biosurveillance. She chairs the Emerging Infectious Diseases Committee at Denver Health and lectures on infection control considerations in disaster planning.
Major General Mike Wyrick USAF, Retired, is CEO, Health Response, LLC, consulting in healthcare planning, organisation, delivery and emergency response. He has been Executive Director of the Northern Virginia Hospital Alliance, developing regional hospital emergency preparedness in the Washington, DC area. Wyrick was Deputy Surgeon General, US Air Force. He has been Vice President for Emergency Preparedness, DC Hospital Association, and President, National Capital Region — Emergency Response. In 2004, he was a Commissioner on the Veterans Administration Commission for Capital Assets and Realignment for Enhanced Services. He is a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives.
Citation
Hanfling, Dan, Price, Connie and Wyrick, Major General Mike (2007, October 1). Preparing for pandemic influenza: Adapting a model of healthcare facility preparedness to the business sector. In the Journal of Business Continuity & Emergency Planning, Volume 2, Issue 1. https://doi.org/10.69554/FLMY2646.
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