# 2473
Last June I spent 2 days talking to hundreds of health care professionals from college and universities who were attending the American College Health Association annual meeting in Orlando. I was there helping with the Readymom's booth at the convention hall.
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.
You can read about the ACHA Conference and the Readymoms here and here.
I described the concerns expressed by the visitors to our booth, back in June, this way:
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.
If you are in college you need to be thinking about how you will get home once a pandemic is announced. Airlines may quickly become booked solid, and at some point, some international borders may be closed.
Some schools are even requiring that students file a written plan on how they will get home if a pandemic should start.
From my conversations with college health professionals, it is pretty obvious that some schools are farther along in their pandemic planning than others.
If you are attending college, you need to inquire about your school's pandemic plan, and keep up to date with any changes they make in it. Better yet, see if you can volunteer to be part of their pandemic planning team.
Today an article appeared in the Vermont Cynic, the student run University Newspaper for the University of Vermont, that gives us an outline of their school's pandemic planning.
Access is by subscription, so you may have to register to follow the link.
While additional planning is in the works, according to University's `baseline plan', the goal is to evacuate the campus and send students home at the first sign of an outbreak of a pandemic.
A pretty good sign they are taking the pandemic threat seriously.
The anticipate that a few, mostly foreign students, might be unable to return home during a pandemic, and have plans to allow them to remain on campus.
This from the Vermont Cynic.
UVM prepares for pandemic, but outlook remains grim
Mark Hartnett
Issue date: 11/18/08
In February 2007, J. Michael Gower, former UVM vice president of Finance and Administration, chartered the Emergency Management Planning Working Group to develop a University response plan for an influenza pandemic.
The plan would focus on responses for a multitude of university functions - specifically academic and research continuity, health and safety, enrollment management and student affairs.
The formation of the Working Group, the University's response plan was scheduled to be complete in December of this year, according to a University Communications memo.
<Snip>
UVM's Current Plan
The University's current plan, which can be found on the University's Emergency Management Web site, is "a baseline plan for the University to work around," said Mary Dewey, director of Risk Management and member of the University's Emergency Operations Group.
"Once there is a small-scale outbreak, particularly in the United States, we will shut down most operations and start evacuating students," Dewey said.
"We will mostly be operating under both the State Health Department and the Center for Disease Control," he said.
In its current plan, the University would suspend most classes and put into place social distancing measures, such as banning large public gatherings and handshakes.
