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Brazos Valley TX: Pandemic Flu Concerns Prompt One-of-a-Kind Handbook
jane @ January 5, 2009
Pandemic Flu Concerns Prompt One-of-a-Kind Handbook
Posted: 3:51 PM Sep 4, 2008
Last Updated: 3:53 PM Sep 4, 2008
Reporter: Steve Fullhart
Email Address: fullhart@kbtx.com
A new program funded by the state will give Brazos Valley residents a chance to brush up on a deadly potential problem.
Next week, these booklets on the pandemic flu will be sent to 137,000 homes in seven local counties.
While the mutation of the season flu bug into a deadly epidemic is hard to predict, health officials say millions worldwide could die as a result, crippling businesses and schools.
According to the health department, the last pandemic came in 1968 and 1969, when 700,000 people died, including 34,000 Americans. The pandemic outbreak of 1918 and 1919, more than 50 million people worldwide died.
A nearly $200,000 grant from the Texas Department of State Health Services, Region 7 was used to buy and send out the books.
For the better part of this decade, the Brazos Valley Council of Governments has made pandemic flu awareness a priority. They collaborated with the Brazos County Health Department to put together the booklet.
Once a resident receives the handbook, the health department is asking readers to provide feedback at the department's website, which is linked below this story.
Related Link:
* Brazos County Health Department (http://www.brazoshealth.org/)Brazos County Health Department
Flu handbooks being distributed
Friday, September 12, 2008 1:51 PM CDT
The Brazos Valley Council of Governments is collaborating with the Texas Department of State Health Services Region 7 to put Pandemic Flu Preparedness Handbooks in every household in seven counties: Brazos, Burleson, Grimes, Leon, Madison, Robertson and Washington.
The Brazos Valley was selected for this one-of-a-kind pilot project by the state of Texas to take a proactive approach to educating residents about the need to prepare for a flu pandemic. The 137,000 handbooks are intended to serve as permanent references in people’s homes. They include lifesaving information as well as contact information specific to our community. Much of the information is also useful during other emergencies such as hurricanes.
“I encourage our residents to read the handbook and to begin an emergency plan for their home,” said Washington County Judge Dorothy Morgan. “Preparedness is the key to limiting the effects of a pandemic flu in the Brazos Valley.”
The handbooks are funded by a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Public Health Emergency Preparedness grant. The Brazos Valley Council of Governments received a $192,467 grant through the Texas Department of State Health Services Region 7 to purchase and distribute the handbooks.
“If successful, this project will become a model for Texas Department of State Health Services educational funding in an effort to educate the citizens of Texas about pandemic flu,” said Linda McGuill, public safety planning manager for the Brazos Valley Council of Governments. “Therefore, we urge Brazos Valley residents to participate in our online survey at www.brazoshealth.org to give us feedback on the helpfulness of the handbook.”
The handbooks are being mailed this week as the Brazos Valley braces for another flu season. In addition to the handbooks, pandemic flu information will also be available through the local media, schools, government offices, doctors’ offices, and at community events in a coordinated effort to raise awareness and better prepare our community.
Pandemic flu information can be found on the Brazos County Health Department Web site at www.brazoshealth.org.
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