The HHS Pandemic Flu Leadership Blog will be active for two more weeks. The Pandemic Flu Leadership Summit agenda is here. I presented on the panel from 11:15-12:15. I will also be presenting a round table on pandemic flu and preparations at Yearly Kos (I expect the panel to include spokespersons for Effect Measure and Trust For America's Health, along with Michael Greger author of Bird Flu: A Virus of Our Own Hatching).
It's always interesting to see blogging getting its due. On Tuesday, TFAH hosted a fascinating Fred Friendly seminar exploring a hypothetical flu pandemic breaking out in Indonesia (sound plausible?). What would President Lowell Weicker, Jr. and Governor Tom Kane do about the Super Bowl scheduled a week after the outbreak in Gov. Kane's state? What do the President's science advisors say? How would the media handle it? And how would blogging (yes, we were at the table in the form of a science blogger from Scientific American) change how media handled it?
The seminar was taped, and I hope it will wind up in a viewable slot on a PBS near you. In the meantime, here's a reaction from a viewer (go to comment #11), commenting
Sandra RN, BSN Says:
I think I heard you comment at the Fred Friendly Pandemic Flu seminar this Tuesday. You sounded quite expert to me. By commenting you make it possible for our voices to be heard.
I brought an RN colleague with me to the seminar. It was the first time she had her attention focused on the ramifications of a pandemic flu. She was almost overwhelmed. "This is scary," was her comment. Maybe it just takes the strategic raising of awareness amongst key individuals to bring about change.
The following day, I participated in an HHS summit on pandemic flu planning, the gist of which was captured here on the HHS blog:
As a noteworthy end to the Pandemic Flu Leadership Forum, Dr. Agwunobi invited others to make closing remarks. ("My handlers are shaking their heads and telling me not to do this – but I’m gonna do it!") He encouraged Dr. Greg Dworkin of Flu Wiki to share his thoughts. The two have recently become acquainted as contributors on the HHS blog.
– our blog community will appreciate this -
Dr. Dworkin: One of the things we’ve learned today, over the past three weeks, and will continue to learn, is that there are a lot of potential recruits for this effort. . . A lot of people who are already engaged and feel strongly about this want to help."
Dr. Agwunobi: I didn’t realize until I became an avid reader of the HHS blog that there is an army of people who are already preparing and want to help further this goal of preparedness. (I also learned you have to be completely open and honest and forthcoming in that world or they won’t treat you very nicely!)
He doesn't really have handlers, but he does have an excellent sense of humor. Some of the HHS officials learned what candidates here have learned... you can't come to a virtual community, post a piece, walk away and call it a day. People expect you to engage and interact and will be rather wroth with you if you don't interact (that message is for public officials of all kinds).
In any case, I had the opportunity to speak at the conference, and to participate in the HHS press conference afterwards (pictures after the break).
Greg Dworkin, MD, who took part in the leadership summit and is one of 13 experts who have led the blog discussions, told reporters he lauds the HHS for offering such an open live and online forum. The sometimes heated blog postings over the past weeks show there are many interested people who want good information from a federal source on individual and family preparedness, said Dworkin, founding editor of the FluWiki Web site and chief of pediatric pulmonology at Danbury Hospital in Danbury, Conn.
The HHS leadership forum helps validate the efforts of the many people who have already heeded pandemic warnings and started preparing their communities, their families, and themselves, he said.
We are dead serious about pandemic preparedness. This isn't just some wild and crazy idea from television or airport novels. There's a nasty virus in Indonesia that's still killing people at an alarming rate, and won't go away any time soon. While no one can say that H5N1 will be the next pandemic virus, we know pandemics happen and that sooner or later, a flu pandemic will occur. Since it takes time to prepare (for individuals, at least two weeks of food and consideration of water supplies on a rotating basis that can also be used for other emergencies), and since a vaccine won't be available for months after a pandemic starts, prudent and careful planning should take place now.
To help you, tool kits are being created by HHS and by other interested parties (we'll help create and/or host some by fall at Flu Wiki). Simple checklists for individuals, schools and businesses are available at pandemicflu.gov.
If you're going to be at Yearly Kos, stop by Saturday morning and hear what the expert panel has to say about panflu preparation. And give credit to public health agencies that are trying something new. It's not often a public blog is opened on an official government site, or bloggers are asked to help communicate, but the time will soon come that it's routine. Appreciate that blogging is helping to drive this process in ways unimaginable a few years ago. Think about that the next time someone makes a disparaging remark about bloggers. The world is changing and you all are a part of it, whether it's non-partisan public health issues, or other. We still call that democracy, with a small d, and we are happy to play a small role in making sure there's inclusion of the "public" in "public health".
Dr. Gerberding, head of CDC, and I talking about seroprevalence studies in Indonesia.
Discussing the online community with public health officials and community leaders
Panel discussion on pandemic preparedness