What's Hot Archive
RI Officials Using Electronic Records to Track H1N1 State health officials are tracking the spread of swine flu through electronic prescription records, developing what they believe is a model that could help doctors more easily identify and respond to an outbreak of the illness. Rhode Island is believed to be the first state to use electronic pharmacy prescription data to track swine flu among its entire population, said Rob Cronin, a spokesman for Surescripts, which operates the country's largest electronic prescriptions network. Important Information on N95 Respirators vs. Surgical Masks The U.S. government said it’s reviewing recommendations on the use of surgical masks to protect health-care workers from flu after a study showed they don’t help. Thicker, more expensive respirators should be used, the study found. Surgical masks didn’t stop the spread of flu and other respiratory illnesses during a five-week study involving 1,936 health-care workers at 24 hospitals in Beijing last winter. Thicker versions designed to better fit the face, called N95 masks and made by 3M Co., reduced flu by 75 percent. The N95s cost 5 to 10 times more, said study author Raina MacIntyre, head of public health at the University of New South Wales in Sydney. Counties Try New 911 Systems Two counties are trying new 911 dispatch technology that foreshadows the advances promised by Next Generation 911 systems. The new systems enable emergency personnel to precisely locate cell phone calls and operate 911 services jointly from separate locations. Iowa 911 Call Center Becomes First to Accept Texts An emergency call center in the basement of the county jail in Waterloo, Iowa, became the first in the country to accept text messages sent to "911," starting Wednesday. Call centers around the country are looking at following in its footsteps, as phone calls are now just one of many things phones can do. Next Wave Toolkit Learn how to start a new Next Wave chapter, host an event, get involved in the election or find more information. Emergency Medical Dispatch System Puts Help at 911 Dispatchers' Fingertips Dispatchers at the Culpeper Public Safety Communications Center in Culpeper, Va., can now confidently give out life-saving information to desperate 911 callers. Before this year, those dispatchers weren't allowed to give out any information. They'd dispatch a first responder and tell the caller to call 911 again if anything changed. Most Fire and EMS Recruits are Overweight New research shows that 77 percent of candidates for firefighting and emergency medical technician positions were overweight or obese. The study, published online today in the journal "Obesity", was conducted by researchers from Boston University School of Medicine, Harvard University and the Cambridge Health Alliance. "If they are beginning their careers overweight and obese unless there is an intervention, it would be worse over time," said Dr. Stefanos Kales, director of the occupational & environmental medicine residency at the Harvard School of Public Health and senior author of the study. GAO Report On Pan Flu Planning And Preparedness GAO has conducted a body of work over the past several years to help the nation better prepare for, respond to, and recover from a possible influenza pandemic, which could result from a novel strain of influenza virus for which there is little resistance and which therefore is highly transmissible among humans. GAO’s work has pointed out that while the previous administration had taken a number of actions to plan for a pandemic, including developing a national strategy and implementation plan, much more needs to be done. Public Health Preparedness: Strengthening CDC's Emergency Response CDC's Coordinating Office for Terrorism Preparedness and Emergency Response (COTPER) has released its inaugural report on CDC activities in public health emergency preparedness. The report, "Public Health Preparedness: Strengthening CDC's Emergency Response", explains the key role CDC plays in preparing the public health infrastructure to respond effectively to all types of hazards, and provides an overview of the broad range of preparedness activities receiving Terrorism Preparedness and Emergency Response (TPER) funding. CDC accomplishments in preparedness are described. The report also details how CDC is addressing challenges to achieve its overarching public health preparedness goal: "People prepared for emerging health threats - people in all communities will be protected from infectious, occupational, environmental, and terrorist threats."
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Nelson Cintron
District Council 37, New York
"We are on the front lines of homeland security and emergency response. When the unthinkable happens, we are the workers who show up. With our union, we make sure we have the funding, equipment and training to keep this country safe."
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