Prepared for Flu Season…and what is Pandemic Flu?

The onset of winter often gets us thinking of flu season. Many of us prepare by getting flu shots; if you’ve ever had a severe case of the flu you’ll never want to experience it again. But what if a strain of the flu virus infects you, your friends, your coworkers and maybe as much as half the people in your community? And what if we couldn’t get the spread of the virus under control? That is known as a Pandemic, and it’s one of the many potential disaster threats we should prepare for.

Pandemic flu is a very different disaster from the earthquake disaster we often think about in the Bay Area. And how we react to the two events is very different. After an earthquake many of us will mass-shelter. In a pandemic, we have to keep apart. In an earthquake the infrastructure may be severely damaged. In a pandemic the infrastructure will be unaffected, but our access to it will be limited. And there is more.

The San Francisco Department of Public Health has prepared simple guidelines that help us prepare for pandemic flu. Here is a link to their website. There is also a video they produced on the site to show healthy ways to limit the spread of a flu virus and protect oneself and others during a flu pandemic.

And remember, preparedness is not complicated or expensive. Arming yourself with knowledge and a few essentials is the best practice to prepare for all kinds of emergencies and disasters.

Inflatable Disaster Solutions

It seems the private sector has identified a new market niche: disaster recovery. Wired Science is reporting how the private sector is reinventing the shelter tent. And the developers are trying to sell their innovations to the ARC (American Red Cross) and even to FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency). Go to the article to see how new innovations are attempting to address the failures of past recovery efforts. But the question begs: at what cost?

Thanks to Scott Dennis for pointing out this article on his Twitter page.



Tricked-Out Inflatable House Provides "Instant Survival"

Bay Area CAN - Coordinated Assistance Network - The Next Evolution

An unprecedented disaster client and resource database is ready to launch and will include all 10 Bay Area counties in its service area. Nationally, it is known as CAN (Coordinated Assistance Network) and is an unprecedented, multi-organizational partnership among some of the nation's leading nonprofit disaster relief organizations. Working in tandem with state and local relief agencies CAN has forged a new model of disaster recovery and preparedness for the United States.

[Continued from newsletter]

How it works:
In the recovery phase of a natural or man-made disaster, national and local aid organizations work around the clock to bring vital services to those who are suffering. But this work has often been hampered by the inability of disaster relief organizations to quickly and effectively communicate with one another about client needs and services offered. Clients had to register personal information with every agency with which they came in contact. But with CAN, partners can share secure, up-to-date information about clients and services via the CAN web site, ensuring timely delivery of services and eliminate duplication of effort.

The result? Relief efforts are better coordinated and therefore more effective. And clients needing services from those agencies no longer have to repeat their information over and over in an already stressful time. The CAN Interagency Portal enables collaboration between partner organizations and ensures timely delivery of services, without partners or disaster victims duplicating effort. This collaboration creates a single point of case data that provides local organizations with the information needed to effectively delegate resources and best serve those in need.

Bay Area CAN – The Local Disaster Client and Resource Database:
CAN originated in San Francisco through the national pilot program launched in 2005. During that time San Francisco agencies focused on the collaborative synergy of working together on preparedness, response and recovery procedures. The focus: apply resources to most effectively serve those in need. SF CAN responded to the 2007 Chinatown/ North Beach Rockslide and the 2008 Mission Fire. Agencies participating in those events voiced their support for CAN saying that they had never been involved in a better coordinated group recovery effort.

Now that the San Francisco pilot project is over, CAN is going regional. Known as Bay Area CAN, leading nonprofit and public disaster relief organizations are planning to achieve the same goals of multi-organizational partnership, expanded to the 10 counties of the Bay Area and covering a population of 7.2 million residents. And Bay Area CAN’s database will not just be for use in a major disaster. The database is a tool that can be utilized anytime a multi-agency recovery effort is warranted.

Step one in the process is to launch the Bay Area CAN database by January 1, 2009. There will be a shakeout period with a limited number of database members. After the completion of the shakeout, membership will open to Bay Area nonprofit and faith-based organizations that may have a role in disaster client case management. That includes organizations that feed, shelter, provide medical or mental health services, religious counseling & related services, children’s services, education services, job placement, housing placement, financial assistance or any of the scores of other ways we serve clients in need.

In addition to a shared client and resource database the site will provide a common community calendar, have tools to create and disseminate messages, documents, protocols and much more. But the jewel of the system is the ability to share disaster client data between member agencies, match clients to available resources, make referrals of clients between agencies, document a client’s progress toward recovery, deliver point-in-time client information, and create a nearly unlimited number of customized reports for case managers to use.

That being said, Bay Area CAN is more than a database; it is a collaboration of agencies coming together to assist the Bay Area nonprofit and faith-based communities in disaster preparedness, response and recovery efforts.

Finally, Bay Area CAN has the support of major local foundations and public partners. Their generous support provides for membership to the database at no cost to nonprofits and faith-based organizations.

Bay Area CAN’s founding members are:
American Red Cross Bay Area Chapter;
Catholic Charities CYO – Catholic Youth Organization;
HELPLINK / 211 – Information and Referral Services;
Northern California VOAD – Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster;
San Francisco CARD – Community Agencies Responding to Disaster;
San Francisco Department of Emergency Management;
San Francisco HSA – Human Services Agency;
The Salvation Army, Golden State Division;
The Volunteer Center of San Francisco and San Mateo Counties;
United Way of the Bay Area

For more information on Bay Area CAN contact Alessa Adamo at SF CARD (415-955-8946 or Alessa@sfcard.org).

Begin Here

In an effort to keep current with technology, but not be controlled by it (we hope), we are creating this blog to compliment our online presence. Combined with our website and monthly e-newsletter this blog is another resource for people looking for information (and a discussion forum) relating to disaster preparedness, response and recovery issues.

Understanding that there is an unlimited and confusing amount of information relating to the subject out there—wherever “there” really is—our attempt will be to stay on focus to our core issues and try to pay particular attention to the concerns of the residents of the Bay Area.

Whether we succeed can only be judged by those who visit. Visitor comments will undoubtedly inform us (keep in mind we don’t have thick skins). We will not strive to be all things to all people. We will post items of interest to ourselves and hopefully to our visitors, but the list will probably be as varied as our tastes.

That said, bear with us as we grow. Help us (gently) to improve with your comments and advice. We may be relative experts in disaster related issues but this blog-o-sphere scares the living #$%^&**&^%$# out of us!