Chief's Corner Archive

Pandemic Flu Information for First Responders

Posted on April 10, 2006 by Charlie Dickinson, Acting Assistant Administrator, USFA

During the past couple of months I have had the responsibility and honor to represent DHS and the USFA at the national Pandemic Flu Summits. Over the course of the coming months, the DHS Preparedness Directorate will join with numerous other national health officials to discuss the Pandemic threat throughout the nation.

During the Colorado Pandemic Flu Summit in Denver, I recently had the honor of joining the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), Mike Leavitt. Mike is the former Governor of Utah and serves President Bush in this critically important position. Over 1200 health care, first responders, emergency managers and local and state leadership attended the 3-hour Denver Summit.

As a result of Secretary Leavitt's presentations at these summits, I and others have become keenly aware of the growing body of Pandemic knowledge, and the anticipated challenges ahead for firefighters, EMS providers and fire service leadership. How will EMS providers prepare their families? What is the risk to families when EMS providers are exposed to the virus and return home? Are there alternative solutions for depleted surgical mask and glove supplies? How can EMS providers protect other firefighters in the stations and around kitchens? How will local communities deal with rising victims? How can medical officials and EMS providers best support one another? When hospitals are over flowing, what alternatives for opening other facilities in the community exist? Frankly, it is easy for all of us to come up with far more questions than there are answers.

Secretary Leavitt's words have been ringing in my thoughts. Secretary Leavitt points out, if there is no Pandemic, we will be criticized for over reacting, and if there is a Pandemic, we will be criticized for not doing enough. So let us simply prepare to the best of our abilities. As the former Pittsburgh Fire Chief, we prepared all the time for things we hoped would never happen. This nation can depend on America's first responders to be prepared for a Pandemic threat, while we can all hope it never happens. If it does, first responders will be ready.

Under the direction and encouragement of Preparedness Under Secretary George Foresman, the USFA has created a new Pandemic feature for all firefighters and first responders to use. As an element of the DHS Preparedness Directorate, working closely with the DHS Medical Director, HHS, Center for Disease Control (CDC) and OSHA (to name only a few), the USFA will be committed to keeping the most current information and Web links available to first responders. Our focus is not on the general public, but you as firefighters and EMS providers.

To ensure we are communicating and networking with the medical Pandemic experts, I have asked Mr. John Hoyle to assist the USFA in this effort to inform all first responders. John is a Public Health Advisor/Training Specialist at the DHS/FEMA National Emergency Training Center in Emmitsburg, MD. Prior to this position, he was the Program Manager for the HHS, now DHS Noble Training Center in Anniston, AL, which trained physicians, nurses, hospital executives, pharmacists, EMS administrators, public health officers, epidemiologists and other healthcare professionals. John served as Co-Chairman of the NDMS Development Steering Committee and led a Disaster Medical Assistance Team for the U.S. Public Health Service for 15 years.

In the coming months, all firefighters and EMS providers will be learning more about the Pandemic threats and challenges. At no time in any of our lives have we all faced something so small, yet so deadly. Firefighters, their families, leadership and health care officials could potentially be facing a disease that could cost the lives of millions.

We are all comfortable seeing flames in a building, and running at them. We all have a high degree of confidence for when someone loses their ability to breathe and pump a heart, we can sustain them until the medical professionals can render treatment. We all have a high degree of confidence when we are called to an overturned tanker, we can take care of the emergency. We have a very high degree of confidence when a major accident occurs, we can handle the triage and transport of victims. We however, as a nation of firefighters, we have no Pandemic experience nor the means of predicting the challenges of this new threat we can not see with our own eyes.

As more information becomes available, the USFA will assist in creating a prepared nation. My goal with this new Web section Pandemic Flu feature is to ensure all first responders get the RIGHT information, at the RIGHT time so that first responders can make the RIGHT decisions in their service to our nation's residents.

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