Washington uses flu pandemic money to prepare for any disaster

OLYMPIA, Wash. -- Washington state officials trying to figure out how to spend $7 million this year to prepare for a flu pandemic that may never arrive say they've learned lessons that will help with any disaster.

The $2 million in state money and $5 million from the federal government has already paid for a stockpile of protective equipment for health care workers, a new TV commercial and brochures to educate the public, a new Web site, and meetings and drills around the state.

"This is all one-year, one-time money, which is part of the problem," said John Erickson, who runs the state's emergency preparedness program through the Department of Health.

He and Secretary of Health Mary C. Selecky aren't complaining about the infusion of cash for emergency preparedness, but they wish they could expect yearly help.

Sixty percent of the money has gone to local and county health departments and to Washington's 29 American Indian tribes.

A worldwide outbreak of influenza could cause more than 5,000 deaths in Washington out of more than a million sick people, the health department estimates. The state has 300,000 licensed health care workers, and 96 hospitals with approximately 14,000 beds - not enough to handle a flu pandemic, state officials said.

"They're at capacity now," Erickson said, adding that other ailments won't stop and women won't stop going into labor if a worldwide flu arrives. "The challenge in a pandemic would be to redirect people away from hospitals."

The sickest would still be sent to hospitals, but the next level down will be treated in schools and fairgrounds and at home, he said.

The federal government has allocated 900,000 Tamiflu treatments - 10 pills to be used over five days - for Washington pandemic flu patients and the state has ordered another 200,000 courses, Selecky said. If the Legislature allocates more money, the health department would like to buy 400,000 more treatments.

Tamiflu, which is expected to help with symptoms but doesn't cure or prevent the flu, will be given to the people who get sick first and the health care workers who take care of them.

Selecky said this plan, modeled on the federal guidelines, will allow the first people who get sick and then recover to take over in the business world and in care centers when the next wave of people gets sick.

Washington's pandemic flu emergency plan includes a network of "flu spies" in doctor's offices and medical labs who provide regular reports on flu strains they see.

State officials have grouped the state's 39 counties into nine emergency preparedness regions based on population and hospital locations.

This year, every region is holding drills and updating public health emergency plans, with a task force including health departments, law enforcement, emergency officials, the State Patrol, military installations and business groups. Erickson said. Such exercises aren't new, though. They've been held since 2002.

Washington state has also improved its cross-border communication with British Columbia, because pandemic flu would not stop at the border.

About 6,000 people fly into Seattle, Portland and Vancouver, British Columbia, each day from Asia, Selecky said.

"If there's a pandemic flu, it will quickly move beyond the borders of the community," she said.

Local health departments will make recommendations to local governments concerning school closures and they will be in charge of public communication until the governor declares a statewide emergency, Selecky said.

The Benton and Franklin County region recently held a vaccination drill, using this year's flu vaccine. The drive-through flu clinic tested the region's emergency vaccination plan by giving this year's flu shots to volunteers who agreed to help the health department test a new procedure.

Erickson said state and county officials learned a lot from the exercise: they need written materials to be translated into more languages, they underestimated the volume of people who would show up, they needed more volunteers directing traffic, and they needed to plan for inclement weather.

Meetings with the various government agencies and business groups has been useful for a variety of reasons, such as learning the right person to call to get emergency rations or fix a tainted water supply.

"Relationships are everything," Selecky said. "You don't trade business cards during a disaster."

Selecky pointed out the preparation has been especially helpful for the smallest communities and American Indian tribes, which are also getting state and federal money to update their emergency plans.

The Makah Tribe in the state's far northwest corner used its updated emergency plan - a plan that had previously been updated in the 1970s - during a severe water shortage this summer. The tribe got the governor to declare a local emergency, advised 1,800 residents to cut their water consumption, used emergency sirens to give updates to the public and installed desalination equipment.

Selecky said one of the benefits of the federal focus on pandemic flu preparation - even if can seem a little like the "crisis of the month" - is that it reminds people to get ready for emergencies.

"People forget that you're supposed to be doing all-hazards preparedness," she said, adding that it doesn't really matter if you're preparing for an earthquake or a flood or an infectious disease. "It all comes down to a certain level of preparedness."