thedrifter
03-13-07, 07:10 PM
Corps trains to deal with flu pandemic
By Trista Talton - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Mar 13, 2007 16:31:51 EDT
JACKSONVILLE, N.C. — The longest span of time between medical pandemics within the past century has been 42 years.
It’s been almost 39 years since the 1968 flu pandemic in Hong Kong killed 1 million people, said Linda Taylor, a registered nurse with Community Research Associates Inc., which provides homeland security consultation services to government and private industries.
“The clock is ticking,” she said.
The 1918 flu pandemic killed an estimated 40 million to 50 million people worldwide, according to the World Health Organization. It estimates the next pandemic will kill 2 million to 7.4 million people, numbers it calls conservative.
In what some consider a race against time, Marine Corps Installations-East held a tabletop exercise in Jacksonville on Tuesday in which participants were given a series of scenarios revolving around a pandemic influenza outbreak. More than 150 people — Marines and sailors from the seven installations that fall under MCI-East, as well as civilian law enforcement, emergency management and health officials — attended the training.
They were warned that they were likely to leave Tuesday’s training with more questions than answers.
“I don’t care if you don’t come up with all the solutions,” said Maj. Gen. Robert Dickerson, MCI-East commanding general, addressing the crowd in a suit rather than a military uniform.
The exercise, he said, is about working on command-and-control organization and getting to know the various organizations and people who would respond in the case of an outbreak.
The training was designed to help participants identify and understand issues they may face as they prepare for and respond to a pandemic within MCI-East.
“We have significant concerns as to how the Marine Corps is going to operate if there’s a pandemic influenza breakout,” said Randy Smith, with Marine Corps plans, policies and operations.
That’s one reason military officials want to work with community leaders to prepare.
“We want to be better prepared,” said Col. Adele Hodges, Camp Lejeune’s commanding officer. “We learned our lessons from Katrina and other events.”
And within MCI-East, installations learn from one another, she said.
Since 1998, Camp Lejeune has participated in annual emergency management and response training with the surrounding Onslow County, said Mark Goodman, director of Onslow County Emergency Management and Homeland Security. Such integration training is important, he said, because 73 percent of Lejeune’s military dependents live outside of the base gate.
“It takes a lot of concerted effort to work together,” Goodman said. “We’re two different communities. But it makes it beneficial for the civilian community, as well as the military community.”
On Wednesday, Camp Lejeune leaders will participate in another exercise with Onslow County. Participants will go through a scenario preparing for and dealing with the aftermath of a tsunami.
Camp Lejeune and Onslow County became the first agencies on the East Coast to be certified by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration as tsunami-ready.
Ellie
By Trista Talton - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Mar 13, 2007 16:31:51 EDT
JACKSONVILLE, N.C. — The longest span of time between medical pandemics within the past century has been 42 years.
It’s been almost 39 years since the 1968 flu pandemic in Hong Kong killed 1 million people, said Linda Taylor, a registered nurse with Community Research Associates Inc., which provides homeland security consultation services to government and private industries.
“The clock is ticking,” she said.
The 1918 flu pandemic killed an estimated 40 million to 50 million people worldwide, according to the World Health Organization. It estimates the next pandemic will kill 2 million to 7.4 million people, numbers it calls conservative.
In what some consider a race against time, Marine Corps Installations-East held a tabletop exercise in Jacksonville on Tuesday in which participants were given a series of scenarios revolving around a pandemic influenza outbreak. More than 150 people — Marines and sailors from the seven installations that fall under MCI-East, as well as civilian law enforcement, emergency management and health officials — attended the training.
They were warned that they were likely to leave Tuesday’s training with more questions than answers.
“I don’t care if you don’t come up with all the solutions,” said Maj. Gen. Robert Dickerson, MCI-East commanding general, addressing the crowd in a suit rather than a military uniform.
The exercise, he said, is about working on command-and-control organization and getting to know the various organizations and people who would respond in the case of an outbreak.
The training was designed to help participants identify and understand issues they may face as they prepare for and respond to a pandemic within MCI-East.
“We have significant concerns as to how the Marine Corps is going to operate if there’s a pandemic influenza breakout,” said Randy Smith, with Marine Corps plans, policies and operations.
That’s one reason military officials want to work with community leaders to prepare.
“We want to be better prepared,” said Col. Adele Hodges, Camp Lejeune’s commanding officer. “We learned our lessons from Katrina and other events.”
And within MCI-East, installations learn from one another, she said.
Since 1998, Camp Lejeune has participated in annual emergency management and response training with the surrounding Onslow County, said Mark Goodman, director of Onslow County Emergency Management and Homeland Security. Such integration training is important, he said, because 73 percent of Lejeune’s military dependents live outside of the base gate.
“It takes a lot of concerted effort to work together,” Goodman said. “We’re two different communities. But it makes it beneficial for the civilian community, as well as the military community.”
On Wednesday, Camp Lejeune leaders will participate in another exercise with Onslow County. Participants will go through a scenario preparing for and dealing with the aftermath of a tsunami.
Camp Lejeune and Onslow County became the first agencies on the East Coast to be certified by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration as tsunami-ready.
Ellie