Article published March 19, 2006
Reprinted courtesy of Fosters Daily Democrat, Dover, NH
By ROBERT M. COOK
Staff Writer
CONCORD — State health and emergency response officials say they soon will reach out to all of New Hampshire's cities and towns and ask them to develop partnerships and local emergency response plans to fight avian flu.
The state also has 10 trailers stocked with emergency supplies useful for large-scale vaccinations or other large medical operations, with two more on the way.
The trailers are stored on state Department of Safety grounds at the Lakes Region Correctional Facility in Laconia, said James Van Dongen, spokesman for the state Bureau of Emergency Management. The two trailers that have yet to arrive are larger, he added.
Their supplies include safety goggles, respirator masks, bull horns and cots.
The trailers soon will be moved to different parts of the state, and each of the state's 10 counties may end up having one. But the state still must work out agreements with the cities or towns that agree to take them, Van Dongen said.
The trailers must be stored in large buildings such as garages or warehouses to protect them from the elements. The state also hopes to have the trailers located no more than one hour apart from each other, he said.
The state also has been awarded more than $800,000 in federal funds for avian flu planning. John Stephen, commissioner of the state's Department of Health and Human Services, said a committee he created in January could decide by the end of the month how best to distribute the funds.
The Pandemic Preparation Planning Committee is due to meet on March 27 in Concord. Cities and towns that accept funding will have to agree to create local plans to handle avian flu outbreaks or other large-scale disease emergencies.
Stephen added that they also must form agreements with neighboring communities to share resources and work together.
New Hampshire and Maine each received more than $800,000 of an initial $100 million in federal funds earmarked for avian flu planning. Congress approved $3.8 billion in December for pandemic flu planning, and federal health officials have received $350 million to give to states and local communities. About $100 million has been disbursed so far. The remaining $250 million will be distributed in the future.
Federal officials this month warned that the disease, also known as bird flu, could arrive in the United States within the next six months with migratory birds carrying the virus. U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt issued a statement on avian flu that has been posted on www.pandemicflu.gov.
"It is only a matter of time before we discover H5N1 in birds in America," Leavitt said. "The migration patterns of the wild fowl that carry the virus makes its appearance here almost inevitable."
The World Health Organization has confirmed 173 cases of the avian flu virus in humans, most of whom had close contact with diseased birds. Of those, 93 people died, almost all of them in Asia. Vietnam has been particularly hard hit.
In January, though, the first human cases were confirmed in Turkey — far from the origin of the virus in central China. In recent weeks, officials in several European and African countries have confirmed the virus in wild or domestic flocks of birds.
While avian influenza does not now readily infect humans or spread among them, scientists are worried that the virus soon could acquire that ability through normal biological mixing, setting off a disastrous human pandemic. The federal government plans to urge states to hold exercises this year and will hold a nationwide pandemic drill as well, according to Leavitt. New Hampshire held an emergency vaccination drill in Portsmouth, Salem, Manchester and Colebrook in November 2005. Thousands of residents received free flu shots.
Stephen said the state also established 29 "all-hazard sites" during a 1999 bioterrorism preparedness drill. Stephen said he'd like to see the sites focused on flu pandemic planning.
The state also has created 14 public health networks that encompass 113, or nearly half, of the state's cities and towns and almost 70 percent of the state's population. Three of the networks are based in Portsmouth, Dover and Rochester. Each one serves several towns.
Betsey Andrews-Parker, Northern Strafford County Health and Safety Council coordinator in Rochester, said of the state's 14 public health networks, she is confident in the planning her group's six member communities already have done. The network serves Rochester, Farmington, Milton, Middleton, New Durham and Strafford.
Andrews-Parker said the region recently was awarded a $13,000 grant to recruit and train up to 200 volunteers to help emergency responders statewide.
"We would like to make sure that every individual is prepared to deal with an emergency," she said.
Stephen said the success or failure of the state's planning efforts will be linked to the quality of local planning. "We need to be as prepared as we possibly can be," Stephen said.