Experts: Preparation key to deal with pandemic

CALAIS – While most people are hiking and biking and barbecuing this summer, there is a group preparing for a pandemic.

Can’t happen here?

It can and will if there is a worldwide outbreak of a deadly flu or other biological crisis.

Mike Hinnerman, director of Washington County’s Emergency Management Agency and Nancy Finer, chairman of the Washington County Local Emergency Planning Committee and nurse manager of the emergency department at Calais Regional Hospital, Thursday held a workshop at CRH to talk about a pandemic.

“A pandemic will last much longer than most flu outbreaks and may include ‘waves’ of influenza activity that last 6-8 weeks separated by months,” the LEPC said in its brochure.

And expect essential services to be interrupted. If people are sick, banks and stores may not have enough personnel on hand to stay open. Food and water supplies may be interrupted and limited. “Medical care for people with chronic illness could be disrupted,” the brochure said. “In a severe pandemic, hospitals and doctors’ offices may be overwhelmed.”

International public health experts have warned for several years about the likelihood of a global outbreak of deadly influenza, and concern is growing over a strain of flu now circulating in wild and domestic birds.

There have been epidemics before, such as the Spanish flu that first hit this country in 1918. That epidemic sickened nearly 47,000 Mainers and killed 5,000. In the United States, the flu caused some 675,000 deaths and crippled businesses, governments and social services. Worldwide, it is estimated to have killed between 50 million and 100 million people, almost half of them ages 20 to 40.

Although medicine has taken a giant leap forward since 1918, a major outbreak could cripple the country.

State preparations vary widely, but people are busy in Washington County.

During a break in the workshop, Hinnerman said the group has been working on a plan for about four months.

Although medical providers are on board, more is needed.

The county recently received a $12,000 grant to help set up an emergency operations center.

Hinnerman said he plans to hold a workshop in the fall for business leaders and others. “We could lose half of our work force, we could lose our chain of supply, we won’t be able to deliver essential services,” he said. “It’s not necessarily guaranteed that it’s going to happen, but it could, and if it does we’re in the Dumpster.”

Of the nearly 33,000 people in the county, Hinnerman said it is estimated that 40 percent could get sick. “Of that 30 or 40 percent, there could be up to 10 percent who could die,” he said.

Finer said there are things people can do.

Among the recommendations offered by the LEPC brochure: stay at home, get plenty of rest, drink lots of fluids, avoid alcohol and tobacco, take temperature frequently, and take medications such as acetaminophen to relieve fever and muscle aches associated with the flu.

And something as simple as washing hands, Finer said, could help. “The biggest thing to prevent disease is washing your hands, if we can get that concept in the schools, we got a lot of it done right there,” she said.

Also, be prepared.

Make certain there are extra supplies on hand, including canned soups and other fluids with electrolytes. Have thermometer and nonprescription drugs such as aspirin or cough and cold remedies. People who take prescription drugs should have additional supplies on hand. The LEPC brochure also said to have plenty of cleaning supplies and rubber or latex gloves on hand.