Flu Fears: information to calm your fears

Businesses around the state are busy preparing for a possibly bad flu season, said Marsha Dadisman, spokeswoman for the West Virginia Division of Threat Preparedness. The Division, along with the West Virginia Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety operates the Web site www.wvflu.org.  "We started it several years ago," she said. "It was set up to help folks prepare for a pandemic."

At that time, nobody had even heard about H1N1, often called "swine flu," Dadisman said. But the new scare is here and is making its presence felt in our state. Health care professionals around the country are warning that H1N1 is highly contagious and poses a big threat to the population this year.

The Web site contains extensive flu information and links to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Web site. The information is categorized by group, such as business, schools, health care and government.

The best way to combat H1N1, or any type of contagious disease, is to be prepared.  Now, many West Virginia businesses are busy doing just that. The simplest way is to make employees aware of the basic steps for preparedness.

The first step is to assign a workplace coordinator. Next, businesses should have contingency plans in place in the event of an outbreak. Finally, it is recommended that businesses adopt flexible sick-leave policies.

Another step businesses should take is to actively inform their employees about how to prevent flu.  Being proactive in necessary precautions could save a lot of time and money down the road.  Having contingency plans in place could also save companies a lot of valuable time in the event of an outbreak in their work force.

American Electric Power is one example of a business that has a special team in place charged with preparing for emergencies.  “Our team has been in place for years,” said Phil Moye, company spokesman.  "We have a Business Continuity Task Force -- a group that plans and looks at how we would operate in the event of a pandemic," he said.

Moye said the company is taking steps such as encouraging employees to get flu shots and promoting the use of hand sanitizer.

The first doses of H1N1 vaccine are not expected to be delivered until mid-October, said an official from the Kanawha Charleston Health Department. Those first doses will go to segments of the population that are more at risk, such as health care workers and children.

Here are 10 steps that businesses can take to protect themselves:

• make sure existing contingency plans would be useful in a pandemic;
   
• make sure core business activities can be sustained over several weeks;
   
• plan accordingly for disruptions of essential services;
   
• identify your company's essential functions and the people who perform them;
   
• maintain a healthy work environment by ensuring adequate air circulation and posting tips about how to not spread germs;
   
• determine which outside activities are critical to staying in business and develop alternatives in case of disruptions;
   
• establish or expand policies that allow employees to work from home;
   
• expand online and self-service options for patrons;
   
• inform your work force about the threat of pandemic flu and about the steps the organization is taking to prevent it;
   
• update sick leave and family and medical leave policies and let employees know that it is important to stay away from the workplace if they are sick.

 excerpts taken from www.statejournal.com, original story by Paul Darst, WV State Journal
 
 for more flu health information visit www.wvflu.org