# 2053
For the past 3 days I've spent most of my time in Orlando helping the Readymom's Alliance with their booth at the ACHA (American College Health Association) annual meeting. Wednesday was `setup day', where we put together our booths and displays, while Thursday and Friday were exhibition days.
The Readymom's Alliance, for those that don't know, is a volunteer, grassroots organization comprised mostly of moms, but with a few dads as well, who are working on ways to encourage pandemic awareness and preparedness for individuals, families, and students.
Although I'm not officially a Readymom, I've long been a supporter of their work and I was delighted and honored that Dr. Susan Chu, executive director of the Readymoms, asked me to help with this project.
The Readymom's website is currently offline, but it will return an a couple of weeks, with a new design and toolkits you can download and use for free.
The toolkit we were highlighting at the ACHA conference is this poster geared towards college students, urging them to:
- make a travel plan- know how you would get home in a pandemic
- have some emergency supplies under the bed
- get their flu shots each year and practice good hygiene
- learn more about pandemic influenza.
This poster was just part of a larger display.
(Low resolution version - Click to enlarge)
We were very fortunate that Anita Barkin of the ACHA mentioned our booth in one of her presentations on Wednesday, so a great many people came to the exhibition hall in search of us.
Starting at 7am on Thursday morning, and for the next two days, hundreds of people would stop by our booth - many of them doctors, nurse practitioners, and nurses. All were involved in some way with college health care issues, and some of them were on their school's pandemic planning committee.
The college student toolkit, along with a list of low cost, easy to prepare foods that a student could keep in a box under their beds, garnered complements from just about everyone who saw them. Many of our visitors left their email addresses with us so we could notify them when the toolkits would be online.
I was fortunate enough to talk at length to scores of college health professionals over those two days. Sometimes one on one, and sometimes with small groups of 2 or 3.
The average conversation lasted, I'd guess, about 10 minutes. And as I listened, a recurring theme emerged.
First, nearly everyone I talked to was keenly aware of the pandemic threat, and they took that threat very seriously.
Second, most schools are at least working on a pandemic plan, and a few have already held pandemic drills. Some of the smaller schools have even put together `pandemic kits' for students and staff.
All good, but there was also a downside; a near universal lament by the health care professionals who visited our booth.
We were told that many college administrators have been slow to accept the seriousness of the pandemic threat, and of fears that some may be reluctant to close their schools at the first signs of a severe pandemic. No one wants to be seen as `alarmist', or as `over-reacting'.
This obviously is a source of worry and frustration for those whose job it would be to care for students in a pandemic.
Depending on the originating point, the CFR (Case Fatality Ratio), and the rate of spread, we may have weeks of advance warning about the next pandemic. At least that's the hope. But we may not get that lucky. With modern airline travel, a virus can travel halfway around the world in 24 hours.
The logistics of getting millions of students home on short notice, and within a limited safe `window of time', will be horrendous. Airlines may quickly become booked solid, and at some point, some international borders may be closed.
The earlier schools decide to pull the trigger and dismiss students, the more that will actually get home to the relative safety of their families.
If schools wait too long to close, it would fall upon them to provide for the safety and welfare of thousands of students for several months. And few are equipped to do so.
While many good things are happening on campuses around the country regarding pandemic and emergency preparedness, the picture isn't entirely rosy. Much more needs to be done, and the message needs to filter up from the health care providing level to the administrative level.
It also needs to filter down to the students.
And that is why the Readymom's have put together this toolkit, to get the preparedness message out to the millions of college and university students around the country.
I will announce the re-opening of the Readymom's website on this blog, hopefully in the next couple of weeks. I hope everyone will visit, and download the toolkits.
I'd like to thank the Readymoms, and Dr. Susan Chu, for inviting me to participate in this week's conference.
It was an honor to be a `mom' for a couple of days.
