Washington governor signs flu pandemic preparation bill

By Doug Nadvornick, Spokane Public Radio

Washington Governor Chris Gregoire this week signed into law a bill that requires local health districts to begin planning for a flu pandemic.

Those plans must be filed with the state by November 1. The state will contribute two million dollars to help counties with their work.

At a Senate committee hearing on the bill in January, Rick Mockler from the association that represents county public health officials said local planning for a pandemic is essential. He says it’s also complicated.

“In Snohomish County, we’ve got three different tribes we’ll be dealing with, 14 school districts, 20 cities, 18 fire districts, four hospitals, untold medical providers. We have to build relationships and define roles and responsibilities for a whole myriad of ways that we can work together to prevent much of the devastation of a pandemic flu.”

The pandemic planning has already begun in Spokane County.

About a month ago, Spokane County Health Officer Dr. Kim Thorburn called a public meeting. She invited reporters, health care workers, police officers and others who would play leading roles if the Avian flu comes to Spokane.

Their job, she said, is to prepare the community for something that may never happen. If it does happen, she said, there are no indications about how severe the pandemic would be. If it is severe, it may require authorities to limit people’s freedoms. Thorburn says that message needs to be conveyed to the public.

“It’s a challenge, I think, to walk the line of not creating unnecessary panic, but to instill in our community the recognition that we’ll be able to deal with this, if it happens, if we’ve done some planning and some preparation in advance.”

Health district officials have formed committees that are writing the plans that will guide how the community, from law enforcement to hospitals, will react in case of a public emergency.

Thorburn said county health officials are researching how Seattle reacted aggressively to the last big flu pandemic, in 1918.

“Closing public events. Enforcing that kind of closure. There were no movie theaters that were open. The schools closed. They did it as soon as it was clear that it was spreading into the state and the results were that Seattle was not as hard hit as other urban areas.”

Emergency officials say much of the preparation for a pandemic will start at the individual family level. They encourage people to think about stockpiling food and clean water and to consider getting extra medicines, in case their regular supplies are interrupted.

Local officials have created a disaster preparation website…spokane prepares dot org…to provide help.

Spokane Public Radio will host a panel discussion and call-in program on preparing for a pandemic next Monday at 5 pm on KSFC at FM 91.9.