Prepared in case of outbreak
GB Hospital joins countywide pandemic drill
BY FRANKLIN HAYES Gulf Breeze News franklin@gulfbreezenews.com
Santa Rosa County officials prepared for the worst last week as a majority of county agencies participated in a simulated pandemic flu exercise Nov. 6. Santa Rosa County Commission departments along with the department of health, sheriff's office, clerk of the courts, supervisor of elections, tax collector, Santa Rosa Medical Center, Gulf Breeze and Jay hospitals, the school district, court system, and volunteer agen- cies including the Community Emergency Response Team and Medical Reserve Corps all coordinated efforts to simulate their response to epidemic countywide sickness.

Franklin Hayes/Gulf Breeze News Gulf Breeze Hospital ER Technician Charlie Deason, left, role plays as a patient infected with a deadly flu as student nurse Morgan Neal checks his vital signs.

Hospitals practiced responding to "surges" of patients at their facilities. Gulf Breeze Hospital emergency room staff, which typically treats approximately 80 patients a day, drilled with 10 simulated pandemic flu patients.

"We were testing our ability to isolate those patients from the rest of our patients," said Gulf Breeze Hospital's Clinical Nurse Manager, Priscilla Brewer. "Our job is to protect other patients and staff and control the pandemic as best we can."

According to statistics compiled by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the flu pandemic of 1918, which killed between 500,000 and 700,000 Americans, stands as the deadliest disaster in American History. According to the same statistics, the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001 ranks as the nation's 15th worst disaster in terms of lives lost.

The Santa Rosa Board of County Commissioners approved a pandemic flu plan in June of 2006.

Points of interest from the County's emergency plan include:

Implementing a staggered work shift policy for governmental offices. With fewer people in one place at one time, infection rates could be reduced.

Requiring the use of masks by employees that are in frequent contact with the general public.

Decreasing the number of meetings held, requiring departments to work via email.

Allocating resources to allow county computer networks to operate from home.

Recommendations to school board allowing schools to close as long as possible, implementing a staggered schedule and denying admittance to infected students.