NATION POORLY PREPARED FOR OUTBREAK OF BIRD FLU
April 19, 2006
Nation poorly prepared for outbreak of bird flu
By KRISTINA HERRNDOBLER
Hearst Newspapers
WASHINGTON - Health care providers from around the country said yesterday that hospitals are woefully unprepared for a possible bird flu outbreak and likely would be overwhelmed if a full-blown pandemic occurred.
Their frustration flared as the top federal health official warned that the U.S. government won't be able to come to assist every community in the country in the event of widespread infection.
''Any community that fails to prepare with the expectation that the federal government or, for that matter, the state government will be able to step forward and come to their rescue at the final hour will be tragically wrong,'' Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt told the group yesterday. ''(It's) not because government will lack a will, not because we lack a collective wallet, but because there is no way that you can respond to every hometown in America at the same time.''
Leavitt, speaking at a health summit on emergency preparedness sponsored by U.S. News & World Report, said in the event of a bird flu emergency, newspapers, television and other media might well end up as the main disseminators of basic information.
''If you have the worst, it's not inconceivable at all that news organizations would be required to help us teach people how to care for others in their homes,'' Leavitt said.
It is up to businesses, individuals, local governments, schools and hospitals to plan ahead, Leavitt said. Emergency planning done in advance of the possible pandemic will mitigate the number of lives lost, he said.
Deaths could hit 2 million
Doctors, hospital administrators and other medical professionals speaking at the conference echoed concern that hospitals are not prepared to handle a massive influx of patients sick with bird flu.
W. Frank Peacock, chairman of emergency preparedness at The Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, said the country's hospitals can barely handle the surge in patients when the seasonal flu strikes.
''The problem is we are just good enough for what happens now,'' Peacock said.
About 36,000 people die in the United States from seasonal flu each year, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Leavitt predicted that a severe bird flu pandemic could kill 2 million Americans.
''I think we are as prepared as anyone in the nation, but we don't have the beds and that is what it really comes down to,'' Peacock said.
He said if his hospital is overwhelmed with sick patients, the sickest and hardest to treat ''are going to get some morphine and get set in the corner'' while patients who are easier to save get treated.
Once those patients are cared for, doctors will come back to the hard cases, but ''the possibility is they will not survive,'' Peacock said.
No surge capacity
Michael Salem, president of National Jewish Medical and Research Center in Denver, Colo., said his hospital has been preparing for disasters since Sept. 11, 2001. But emergency plans aren't enough when the hospital doesn't have enough ventilators or other medical equipment for sick patients.
''We simply don't have the surge capacity others have,'' Salem said, referring to a hospital's ability to cope with a sudden large influx of patients.
Edward Miller, dean of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, said the country's inadequate surge capacity keeps him up at night. ''We have no surge capacity whatsoever,'' Miller said. ''Hospitals are filled and we can't empty them fast enough.''
Panelists said supplies, including beds, ventilators, masks and the like, would be in short supply. Employees to run the hospitals would also be in short supply, they said.
Vicki Running, head of disaster planning at Stanford University Medical Center, said adequately staffing at hospitals would be a huge problem in the event of a pandemic.
She anticipates that many workers would stay home to take care of sick family members, because they are sick themselves, or because they fear contracting the disease.
(Published: April 19, 2006)
Nation poorly prepared for outbreak of bird flu
By KRISTINA HERRNDOBLER
Hearst Newspapers
WASHINGTON - Health care providers from around the country said yesterday that hospitals are woefully unprepared for a possible bird flu outbreak and likely would be overwhelmed if a full-blown pandemic occurred.
Their frustration flared as the top federal health official warned that the U.S. government won't be able to come to assist every community in the country in the event of widespread infection.
''Any community that fails to prepare with the expectation that the federal government or, for that matter, the state government will be able to step forward and come to their rescue at the final hour will be tragically wrong,'' Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt told the group yesterday. ''(It's) not because government will lack a will, not because we lack a collective wallet, but because there is no way that you can respond to every hometown in America at the same time.''
Leavitt, speaking at a health summit on emergency preparedness sponsored by U.S. News & World Report, said in the event of a bird flu emergency, newspapers, television and other media might well end up as the main disseminators of basic information.
''If you have the worst, it's not inconceivable at all that news organizations would be required to help us teach people how to care for others in their homes,'' Leavitt said.
It is up to businesses, individuals, local governments, schools and hospitals to plan ahead, Leavitt said. Emergency planning done in advance of the possible pandemic will mitigate the number of lives lost, he said.
Deaths could hit 2 million
Doctors, hospital administrators and other medical professionals speaking at the conference echoed concern that hospitals are not prepared to handle a massive influx of patients sick with bird flu.
W. Frank Peacock, chairman of emergency preparedness at The Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, said the country's hospitals can barely handle the surge in patients when the seasonal flu strikes.
''The problem is we are just good enough for what happens now,'' Peacock said.
About 36,000 people die in the United States from seasonal flu each year, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Leavitt predicted that a severe bird flu pandemic could kill 2 million Americans.
''I think we are as prepared as anyone in the nation, but we don't have the beds and that is what it really comes down to,'' Peacock said.
He said if his hospital is overwhelmed with sick patients, the sickest and hardest to treat ''are going to get some morphine and get set in the corner'' while patients who are easier to save get treated.
Once those patients are cared for, doctors will come back to the hard cases, but ''the possibility is they will not survive,'' Peacock said.
No surge capacity
Michael Salem, president of National Jewish Medical and Research Center in Denver, Colo., said his hospital has been preparing for disasters since Sept. 11, 2001. But emergency plans aren't enough when the hospital doesn't have enough ventilators or other medical equipment for sick patients.
''We simply don't have the surge capacity others have,'' Salem said, referring to a hospital's ability to cope with a sudden large influx of patients.
Edward Miller, dean of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, said the country's inadequate surge capacity keeps him up at night. ''We have no surge capacity whatsoever,'' Miller said. ''Hospitals are filled and we can't empty them fast enough.''
Panelists said supplies, including beds, ventilators, masks and the like, would be in short supply. Employees to run the hospitals would also be in short supply, they said.
Vicki Running, head of disaster planning at Stanford University Medical Center, said adequately staffing at hospitals would be a huge problem in the event of a pandemic.
She anticipates that many workers would stay home to take care of sick family members, because they are sick themselves, or because they fear contracting the disease.
(Published: April 19, 2006)
Comments