Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Are we ready?

From Chris Lindley, Colorado's director of public health preparedness and response:

When people ask if we are ready or prepared the answer should be “we are better prepared than we were yesterday.” The last two weeks have reinforced this statement. The rapid coordinated response by local, state and federal public health officials clearly demonstrated that we are better prepared as a nation than we would have been just a few years ago. The investment in public health infrastructure post 9/11 clearly has paid off, and it has paid off big. Systems and processes have been developed and tested to coordinate a national response to any emerging disease or crisis. While there were certainly mishaps, overall we all had the same message, and resources to share that message with health care providers, partners and the general public real-time.

While it appears that this first wave of the H1N1 virus is mild and will likely die down within the U.S. this summer, we all need to remember history. The 1918 pandemic followed a similar path, with a mild presentation in the spring and summer followed by a explosion in the fall and winter, killing an estimated 100 million people worldwide.

Hopefully history will not repeat itself here. However, hope is not part of the preparedness equation. What is needed now is a personal, neighborhood, community, state and national effort to further prepare the country for a severe flu season next year. The challenge is making this a priority for all, at all levels, as we struggle to maintain current responsibilities in a fiscal crisis. Unfortunately we will need to prioritize and something that also needs to be done will be put off until a later date. This is the challenge we face in public health -- an aging workforce, plus limited local, state and federal investment with the responsibility to protect the population. Hopefully the events of the past two weeks will remind elected officials what public health is, and its value.

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