OH MY GOD!!!!!!!!
I just came back from the meeting.
We have been “invited” to start the Pandemic planning commitee to begin educating the residents of Wilton, Westport & Weston. They were VERY excited to have us there and were totally open to what we had to say - a bit of fisticuffs w/ health guy - he challenged my limited H2H and someone from New Canneen backed me up.
It was amazing!!!!!!!!!!!
15 people in the room - i had the floor for 20 minutes… handouts worked great.
i took no notes. sorry. One guy 3/4 way in said i was preaching to the choir. It was just before i wrapped up with my main agenda - to get every home prepped. - they all agreed it was what was needed now. Enough planning. what we need is action.
They want to start with 4 weeks SIP and work up to 8–12!
Yahoooooo.
Now the work begins. They are still under the impression that they have some time. I didnt push that issue too hard but will now start balls rolling in several directions.
Goju - I am SO HAPPY FOR YOU!!! Pat yourself on the back for me, job well done!!
Goju, way to go! Keep working at that level and you will make a big difference, Good to hear others were already with you H2H and the need to prep now. Congratulations!
Excellent work, Goju!
Hopefully we can soon welcome the residents of Wilton, Westport & Weston, to the Flu Wiki.
:-)
If we each got our 3 surrounding towns on the Wiki…
crfullmoon – at 11:51 If we each got our 3 surrounding towns on the Wiki…
It would crash. (Just kidding!) It would be great!
Goju, kudos to you for all your hard work. Your region will thank you.
crfullmoon at 11:51 “if we each got our 3 surrounding towns on the wiki…”
Um… let’s see 30,000 ppl in my town, 1st neighbor 87,000ppl, 2nd neighbor 30,000 3rd neighbor 98,000ppl that’s a total of 245,000 ppl hitting the wiki every day!
Time to upgrade the servers… woo hoo!
Wilton, Westport and Weston; hum, sounds like a Dr. Seuss story. Congratulations. Keep us posted on progress because perhaps we could use your success as an example to wake up our own towns. We weally want to wake up the world.
Congrats Goju- You should be very proud of your efforts!
Let us know how things are going as your area develops their plans.
Goju, I am so happy for you, I have a big smile on my face. That is the best news I have heard in days. With your knowledge I am sure your town will survive with limited fatalities.
Thanks Kate
Great news !! I’m so happy you were able to get through and now- that you got their butt on fire…..
Great going Go, just great!!!!!
It will be very helpful for us to have a model of one town consortium that can lead the way, as a spur to similar action on the part of other nearby communities, for other areas in this country that can then use Wilton as an authoritative example, and for the rest of the world that will read about it and can reference your local progress here on FW.
It is encouraging that they have chosen to do it right - 4 weeks is enough of a change to get people to pay attention, and yet not so much as to be infeasible in their minds.
Tremendous work, Go! And a big thanks to the leadership of Wilton and the other towns in attendance for their devotion to the welfare of their communities.
Great. What is the recommended PPE?
Well I guess I’m moving to either Wilton, Westport or Weston! :-)
here is my presentation. - note - the list from the conference did step on some toes. While the info “may” have been new, it is within “certain” people’s juristictions. If you choose to follow in my footsteps, Please tread lightly. There are very experienced people running the towns and you need them as allies. No arguing allowed. If you need proof - go get it and bring it to them. Pleas emodify as you need for your town.
Here are my Handout docs http://www.mipodcast.com/H5N1/Town_Meeting/
Safe America Conference NYC on Sept. 6, 2006.
Safe America is a 12 year old company encouraging people to prepare for emergencies. They have partnered with many large corps now for the prep for BF
The conference was Business focused
It was held in NBC-TV’s Studio where they shoot SNL
They are holding similar events in Major and secondary cities
31 speakers all together
Expect disruptions of
Telecommunications, Electricity & Water
Expect - 30–50% worker outages
maintenance and part supply was biggest long term problem
Pre-position supplies before its too late or supplies run out.
Must purchase N-95 masks, gloves, biohazard suits for emergency workers and first responders
Teach people how to use those supplies – used the example of N-95 mask usage for a bearded workers – not for public – for emergency workers
How could Biz lower their staffing needs to 50% - Must – cross train workers
Big empasis on not planning but DOING – moving to ACTION NOW and tweek the plan as you go
JIT delivery system
Plan for leadership continuity
All must get seasonal flu and Pneumonia vaccinations.
How do u pay for voluntary or forced quarantine of workers
many other topics covered.
I spoke with a rep from HESS oil. She said the wells, refineries and shipping all were 24/7 with multiple levels of backup both in parts and manpower – they are confident they can ride it out BUT… the problem they are having is further down the line at the regional and local level. They can’t guarentee that the oil will reach the pumps and if it did, that the pumps would work or people would be there to man them. They are VERY aware that if they screw up, Water, Food, and Power, are all in big trouble. They expect all local gas to be commandeered by Military & Emergency services, police fire, medical, etc
Nabarro Speaks - Head of UN Influenza fight
“H5N1 is the nastiest virus ever seen”
Showed an interactive map of H5N1 spread. Emphasized how fast it is spreading this year
Talked about cats, dogs infected and limited Inefficient H2H in N Sumatra
Probably many more infections and deaths than reported
There is NO news from China
Africa is a BIG concern
Indonesia is a mess & not cooperating Going to Indo next week to see what happened w/ tami blanket – he didn’t know results yet of that & roadblocks
There will be a pandemic
Once it goes efficient H2H – BOOM it will be too late to prep
Levels 4, 5 & 6 could happen very fast
The may be Possible threats to Rule of law, security, continuance of governments
Now we must Must engage the public
Key people around the world ARE supplied to SIP Right now we have “God given time” to prepare
1 - 1997 - 18 people in Hong Kong infected, 6 die.
2 - 2006 - multiple clusters in Indonesia with limited human to human spread and what talking about is the human2human form of this virus, with a CFR rate at present of about 80%. To date – 247 confirmed cases, 144 deaths
Hand Out - I will show them the human cases chart which shows an increase of cases from 2005 - 2006
3 - I have read the US, NYS, NYC and CT Pandemic Plans- they are based on a 2.5% Case Fatality Rate derived from the historical Spanish Flu of 1918 They are based on the assumption that we will have an effective vaccine - there will be no vaccine for at least 6 months we could be well into the 2nd wave by then. All of the plans discuss the possible isolation and quarantine of infected people and their families.
Many experts have said that when H5H1 becomes Pandemic, the CFR will come down from the 50% to 80% range. The CFR of H5N1 may come down… but it has a long way to go to reach 2.5%.
Hand Out - I will show them the age chart
7- H5N1 is killing the young - 70% of all fatalities were 25 years old or less. More than half are below 20 years old.
I have read the Costa School pandemic plan - it states that when 10% of the kids don’t show up to school they alert the health dept.
In Wilton there are approx. 4000 school kids in school - if 10% are home sick, and CFR is 10%, then we will have 40 deaths before the health dept is notified. Even if the CFR drops to 1% it will mean 4 students will die before action is taken. Even one of our children’s death is a burden to great to bear.
Take out my kids pics
These are the 3 reasons we are here today.
So what can we do?
Hand Out – Phili vs. St Louis Graph
In 1918 Philidelphia had a horrendous death rate - in 2 weeks 14,000 people died.
In St Louis there were very few deaths. The difference was in how the city gov handled things. Where Philadelphia held a big parade in support of the war and did not enforce social distancing, St Louis acted quickly and closed schools, churches… etc.
Hand Out – Pandemic Wave and intervention Chart
Early intervention before or when the first cases appear,can spread out infections over time, giving our health care facilities time to operate effectively and lower fatalities. As they did in St. Louis in 1918.
So what can we do?
Mr. Levitt Secretary of Health & Human Services has said we, the local communities, are on our own. We all know that now.
There are only 2 things we can do to reduce illness and death. Prepare our town as best we can and help our residents learn how to prepare for SIP for upwards of 3 months, long enough for the first wave to pass our community and hopefully give the government enough time to regroup and get food, water and power distribution systems running again.
Anything short of that is handing our residents a death sentence.
Hand Out - I will then give them the Gunnison CO report on what they had no infections and no deaths
Our Mission
How do we educate our residents on preparing their homes and families for SIP? Do not create a panic Do not scare people We recommend 4 weeks of supplies minimum. Realistic senario is that the local flu wave will last 6–8 weeks Each family chooses what they can do after given the facts and info on how to do it. Many families decide to have 3 months or more much like they have insurance on their house. This is what is recommended for a flu pandemic. Make it a family project
Media:
Local paper - story and weekly prep column
Radio - local PSAs
Local TV coverage
Town Prep Day Event:
Have a fun day of “preparation fitness” – how well can you protect your family?
Show what 1 week of water, food, toilet paper and other supplies for one person looks like for the 2 week prep, bag of rice, a bag of beans, and a bottle of oil for a longer duration event.
Have info flyers available with general guidelines for what you need to SIP
Have entertainment – High School and local talent
Guest Speakers and local Celebs
Involve: Library
Churchs
Social Clubs
Professionals
Vets
High School & local talent
Local Business:
Food markets
Hardware stores
auto service center
Congratulations Goju! Excellent news - maybe we should set up an icon on the fluwikie for samples of letters, handouts, etc. that others can use. I’d love to see what you handed out and as soon as Im finished updating my stuff, I will be happy to post it there, too. And if I ever get the stuff the health dept put in the school kids’ packets…
I’ll drop a suggestion on the monitors’ thread and see where that goes.
Goju —good for you. Our only chance against panflu will be community based planning, prepping and exercises. This makes my day :-)
Well I am glad Goju has made some progress I sent the 5 page email questioning details of the tows plan to the local decision maker on Monday and have not heard a peep back. Guess Ill have to find a new approach.
Annoyed, your guy will not be intersted in your questioning his plans especially 5 pages. Just human nature. He is probably busy and does not have or want to take the time to get into that much detail.
Maybe establish a dialogue on one major point, and then move on to the next one.
Congratulations Goju on a job well done. I didn’t realize you were in that part of the world - I am literally one town over from you! Redding/Easton. We should combine forces and maybe we can hit the whole county! Let’s chat….
Laura - contact me at wiltonresident1@yahoo.com
Congratulations, Goju! I bet you feel a whole lot better now that your speech is over. : )
it looks like awareness week needs a secondary page with “stuff you can use” - with links to letters etc
an activist’s page, sorta
I can’t access Goju’s presentation, it is taking forever. I will try again later tonight.
BK
we are having big time hosting problems - check back later
Your site has been fluwikied (see slashdotted for meaning). :-)
Goju-
If you have access to the fluwiki large file project, please post your directory there as well.
If not, contact dem or pogge to move your excellent work to the public directory.
Laura - I know people in Easton and Redding who are ready to move forward with getting those towns prepped too. It will be easier now that some of the big boys are doing it - there is a lot of competition between towns around there! Please let Goju know if he can send your contact info along to me and then I will send you the names of your fellow, and very energetic, citizens. I think you could accomplish quite a lot.
Most excellent work Goju! Now let’s see… how many lives did YOU just save, my man? You’re an inspiration.
Excellent, Goju! Fairfield County rocks!!
lugon – at 15:53
here’s older material on the wiki, but this is the nucleus of the activists’ page:
Goju-wow!! huge success- congrats- you have worked hard to get to this point, and will work even harder now!
re “While the info “may” have been new, it is within “certain” people’s juristictions.”
ditto for me-bureaucrats are very terratorial. Wish I could say my township was this receptive, but persistance is key.
IF we have enough time to be persistant…..
Goju - your hard work and passion are creating change! Powerful, what a caring and motivated individual can do. Congratulations!
i just want to save my own life and the lives of my kids. Selfish - ya….. Its the lifeboat idea i think.
I hope you all take the lead … use my efforts and get the towns into competition with each other.
Goju-Your efforts and the reaction to them are very heartening. Think I hear it Coming! The BIG MO!!
Onya for raising awareness levels and your kids should be proud of ya. Just wondering- will the N95 masks keep out virus? You also said that this wasn’t for the civilian’s. What was the recommended PPE for civilian’s(or was it just recommended that they stay inside for the whole of a pandemic wave, and be told when it was safe to come out-which I would find valid)?
Goju, Now we just have to clone you. :-)
And now, to honor our own and our family’s lives, we must walk the talk to our own town, as dear Goju has taught us can be done.
Amen Stilearning!
A soft feeling of gratitude, and Amen to you dear Goju.
i am sadly watching this thread of hope (and i do not use the word lightly) slip further and further down into the basement of FW.
What I want is for each of you to realize the great potential within yourselves to make a difference… to save lives.
I am not a politician. I am a recording engineer by trade, a husband of 23 years and a father to 3.
I have realized I cannot protect my family alone. My guns and boxes of ammo will not save them. Buying bags of rice for my neighbors will not save them.
Getting everyone in this country to prepare is the only thing I can think of that will save them.
I have taken that first step in my own home town. I have tasted success.
I have the local newspaper onboard. I have the Town gov onboard.
I know i have a huge uphill battle but i am determined. Maybe you will see me one day in your town, helping to spread the word
Goju, do what you can and leave the rest alone is what they say. You are doing a great service. You can only lead a horse to water but cannot make him drink.
Thanks for all you do.
i just received 3 pamphlets in the mail from my town.
1 - What you need to know about storms and power outages - from the power company 2 - Be aware / Be Prepared, an emergency prep guide form the town 3 - persona/family preparedness - from Nursing and Home Care Hospic
They cover all emergencies. They recommend 3 days supplies. the town guide states 3 days in the fron and throughout then says 3–7 days in the back.
I understand the reasons for the all ahzards approach but i found it to be confusing to the point that it all became gibberish and did not motivate me to do anything.
I am thinking i need to focus our town on preparing stricktly for Panflu - if you are prepped for 8–12 weeks, then you are covered for everything - you just dont need the plastic sheets and duct tape…. well maybe you do.
Anyone else get one of these in the mail?
I’ve never received anything in the mail, but there are documents that you can download from state Web sites that talk about all hazards. It is a legitimate message, because, as we’ve all said here many times, once you’re prepped for pan flu, you’re prepped for just about anything.
Our state has recently started recommending 7–10 days prep.
You might want to turn this fact into a pleasant side effect of prepping for pandemic and as a means of unifying your message with that of the other docs.
It’s too bad that went out mentioning three days. It will give the impression of conflicting messages. It kind of tells me that the right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing. I’d try to pull them together to get on the same page so the message coming out from town officials is the same.
I got interrupted during last post. What I meant was you might want to turn the all hazards message into a selling point for pan prep.
Edna, please elaborate. all we have is all hazrds. I am so jealous of you all!
http://www.fluwikie.com/pmwiki.php?n=Main.PandemicFluAwarenessWeek2006
feel free to contribute to the provided wiki links.
Goju - You have inspired me to take the next step…I’m scared, but I am going to take it!
be brave seacoast - know in your heart that you are doing a great good upon this planet.
I couldn’t sleep for nights before that meeting… now I slept like a peaceful baby.
Focus on CFR - from 50% in 1997 to 80% in 2006 Focus on the increase of cases Focus on the ages hit Focus on no vaccine
Only solution - prepare all to SIP
OK, this has been eating at me, but I did not want to stick my neck out any further, but you are right, I know in my heart what I should do.
Thank you for the push, Goju.
Goju and Pixie - just checking in for a minute before dashing off to yet another birthday party (I hate Saturdays!). I’ll be in touch after the weekend whirlwind is over.
I just returned from the Wilton Emergency Prep Day event at town hall.
It was great - the police did a mock drill showing off their Swat team I ( the police chief is very handsome and all those young men in swat outfits? - HOT my daughter said), Fire dept had kids using fire hoses and fire extinguishers, CLP was there showing how they deal with power outages - giving away compact lightbulbs… so many interesting thinhs to learn about… No Pandemic Flu Info….. BUT…
Marina, my daughter and I went and were greeted by the First Selectman. The warmest welcome I could ever have imagined. We saw several of the people who were at the meeting. They all greeted us with the same warm and thankfull greetings. Seems they liked the presentation and are eager to hear our suggestions. They really do not know how to get the word out and want our help!
here is a website the New Canaan health dept put together on their own…
While it needs some tweeking, it shows that their hearts are in the right place.
Folks, i have a new found hope which is quite inspiring. All I can say is take the risk, go to your local gov… tell them what you know and about my efforts and how a small town in CT is going to try their best to save the lives of their children and residents.
It will not be in vain. Trust me.
Goju - I am putting together info to send to our local papers to tie in with Awareness week. Do you know if Wilton/Westport/Weston have websites similar to New Canaan’s? Any other twons in FF county? I think if I can show other towns are taking this seriously then we should as well.
Thanks!
Not yet… give me some time. I cannot step on toes here.
The people are all very dedicated to their jobs. They just need some of our guidence. - WE are the experts.
lauraB - If you want Marina and I to come and do the same presentation we will. wlitonresident1@yahoo.com
Goju,
A lot of people have written about how pleased they are that you are doing this and making things happen at the community level. What makes me even more glad for you is your relvelation that there are a lot of dedicated people working very hard on this. They need our help.
I hope you remember to spread this message as well as the other preparedness ones. :-)
anon-22
i am building an army. I know i have the FW regiment squarely behind me. We can change the world…. one person at a time!
I’m so glad for your success,Goju. Thank you for putting in the effort to get them to GET it.
other folks, don’t get discouraged. There may be a variable you are not considering for why the leaders at Goju’s presentation were so open. (in addition to the great presentation). I hope you all know that those three towns in CT are very rich towns in general. My best friend, a visiting nurse who owns her own house, struggles as her teenager gets made fun of for being “poor”. This is the forth town in fifteen years in Fairfield county that she has lived in, they were all like that. In general people have very high incomes.
Reality is, those of us with some disposable income are more likely to be open, and allow our leaders to be open, to spend “discresionarlly” funds on “possibilities”. Poorer people and areas are concerned with other crisis so that prepping for the possiblility of a pandemic takes a back burner to more pressing concrete and present day issues (housing, healthcare, poverty, unemployment etc)
Don’t give up folks, kudos to all of you for persevering. As above, it has worked way better for me to establish a relationship with someone first before sending constructive feedback. And it never works by email unless I’d have arranged that beforehand. Everyone wants their emails short and sweet. I’d begin with “thanks for all your work on the town pandemic plan. I am so relieved that you have put the effort in to consider how to keep us safe. I personally am preparing and have done quite a bit of research on the subject. I am hoping to talk to you about some questions I have…concerns…etc..Regards, xxx”
from Dale Carnegies How to win friends and influence people” also the nice thing to do. Thank them for what they did do. Many communities are in a better place prep wise this year then last at least. It’s not their fault they are ignorant of the info we know.
We’ll have to start a thread re “the poor”. The very basic should be simple masks and education (specific) and soap and tricks (asynchronous transfer). Big problem. Probably a small number of things to do … if we focus on short term things.
Jabber - you are so right about openeing with a pat on the back. They HAVE done the best that they can.
They NEED our help and gentle guidence
BTW - money is not an issue for this. No money was mentioned. If any money needs to be spent, I will most likely have to raise it. I dont think it will be too much of a problem. I am going to the chamber of commerce. All biz in town will make money and all residents will save money and have peace of mind. Everybody wins.
Wow! If you show that prepping is moneywise, then you’ve made it!
Also, you may want to look into “community currencies” http://www.birdshot.cc as a way to foster community cooperation etc. That’s another “win win” proposition, if I understand it correctly. It would be great if someone with knowledge would look into it.
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