|
|
 |
The avian influenza, commonly referred to as the "bird flu," has been frequenting national headlines as the U.S. sits and waits in anticipation of the worst. By now, we’ve all seen that the bird flu has been spreading across Asia and into Africa and Europe. Will it reach the U.S.? Health and government officials say it is only a matter of time.
The avian flu H5N1 virus is contagious among birds. Infected poultry is creating disease and contamination when in contact with humans and over half of the people reported to have been infected with the H5N1 viral strain have died. While there are presently no cases of person-to-person transmission, the rising concern is that the H5N1 virus reaches the point where it becomes infectious between people. |
|
 |
|
| If the avian flu manages to spawn a communicable disease among humans, does this mean that we are all just sitting ducks (so to speak)? Keep in mind that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) clearly distinguishes between an avian flu and a pandemic flu. A pandemic flu is a "virulent human flu that causes a global outbreak ... of serious illness," which we established that the avian flu is not - at least not yet or may never be. So, much like the Y2K hype then, is all the attention the bird flu is drawing "much ado about nothing?" |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
The answer is NO. If 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina have taught businesses anything, it is to prepare for the worst case scenario and to not downplay the potential risks that any situation poses. SHOULD the avian flu evolve into a pandemic flu, we would no doubt be in store for another economic setback. Aside from the obvious effect on the poultry industry, people resources will be gravely diminished, creating a far greater impact on supply and demand worldwide. Until an immunization is produced and the vaccine is widely available, people falling victim to disease will create a domino affect. Not only would workers be out due to illness, we would also have workers out due to fear of catching the virus or for caring after sick family members. Loss of production would be all but inevitable. |
|
The HHS has established a Pandemic Influenza Plan to offer guidance to national, state, and local policy makers and health departments in the case of a pandemic flu. As the HHS Plan states, "An informed and responsive public is essential to minimizing the health effects of a pandemic and the resulting consequences to society." This can only be accomplished by having the private sector collaborate with the public sector. Corporate America has an unspoken, yet expected, social responsibility to ensure the welfare of its employees as well as the community at large. With its size and reach, dissemination of information through this channel would help suppress the spread of an outbreak.
To carry out preventive measures, communication plays a vital role. The part of communication is required in large scale and through as many mediums as possible in order to be heard. This includes telephone, fax and email, depending upon a company’s culture and ease of accessibility to such mediums. For instance, businesses may want to setup a "healthwatch hotline" to announce up-to the-minute emergency updates, such as the state of affairs or cautionary and government mandated procedures to follow (e.g., where to get vaccinations). Email and fax broadcasts with the same information could be circulated to every functional unit or department in a company. Asking employees to dial into a number for a daily headcount may be a necessary routine practice during a pandemic.
While each company may have its own protocols that employees are instructed to abide by, one common element in all of this is having the proper communications tools to effectively notify employees. Innoport unified communications services with universal voicemail access and paperless faxing capabilities can be purchased with practically no startup investment and a affordable monthly expenditure to meet several, if not all, of your business’ communication requirements. The virtual telephone numbers we assign accept simultaneous calls to avoid busy signals. Couple this with high throughput for fax sending, your company can rest easy knowing that capacity does not create an added challenge to an already difficult time.
We’ve seen in recent years that businesses are becoming more proactive in planning for disasters. In thinking ahead, we recommend incorporating the actions to take during a health crisis as well as where to check for informational updates into personnel policy handbooks as well as contingency solutions. It may also be advantageous to include any hotline or dial-in numbers to the corporate phone directory so the telephone numbers are always on hand. With a whole lot of preparation and a little luck, Innoport will help you become one step safer from succumbing to the devastating effects of a pandemic flu.
For more information about the H5N1 avian influenza and how businesses can prepare against a pandemic flu, please visit the U.S. Government avian and pandemic flu information website at http://www.pandemicflu.gov.
Click here for more on how Innoport can be employed as a disaster recovery solution.
Sign up now! |
|
|
