RUMFORD – A bird influenza pandemic may not hit the United States or the immediate area anytime soon, but if it, or any other widespread disease does, the Oxford County Emergency Management Agency will be ready.
On Wednesday night, the first of three informational sessions in the county on preparations to handle such a medical disaster took place in the Mountain Valley High School auditorium.
Although only a handful of northern Oxford County residents attended, county emergency management director Scott Parker and a panel of people from this section of the county present information and answered questions about what is being done to prepare for such an emergency.
Parker said as many as 18,000 Oxford County residents could be affected by a bird flu pandemic, with an estimated 1,800 dying from the virus, according to statistics gathered by the state’s Bureau of Health.
In a normal year with seasonal flu outbreaks, about 36,000 people nationwide die from the illness.
Panels from the northern and southern sections of the county have met three times during the past few months to help coordinate a plan of action if a flu pandemic materializes.
Parker said a final plan to combat a flu pandemic must be submitted to the Maine Emergency Management Agency by Aug. 1. The finalized Oxford County plan will then be distributed to each of the county’s towns.
Plans would include how treatment would be provided and who would receive treatment, provision of protective equipment for health care providers and emergency responders, and well-planned-out methods of communications around the county.
He said planning for an influenza pandemic is similar to preparing for other emergencies such an hurricanes, ice storms and floods.
“Every town has a local emergency management director. We work with the town leadership to set up local emergency centers in each town,” he said.
Parker said informational brochures containing telephone numbers and Web sites, along with basic emergency preparedness information to combat the pandemic, will be distributed in July to each town office throughout the county.
Meanwhile, Parker and regional hospitals, police departments, fire departments and health centers will continue to work toward building the resources to address a possible pandemic.
Jane Aube, director of nursing at Rumford Hospital, said an emergency plan is already in place at the local hospital that includes information on as how and where to obtain needed supplies, how quickly health care providers could reach the hospital, and communication systems for use if the telephone lines go down.
Androscoggin Home Care and Hospice employee Peter Musso said the agency would also assist in treating people affected by the new flu strain.
Additional informational sessions will be scheduled in the Norway/Paris area in July, and in the Sacopee Valley area in August.
A session with representatives from each hospital in the region will be held in September to discuss any challenges that a plan may not address.
For more information on plans being made can be found online from the Oxford County Emergency Management Agency at www.megalink.net/~oxctyema, or by e-mailing the agency at [email protected], or calling 743-6336.
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