Pandemic Influenza Plan - Questar III

Section 3: Healthcare Planning and Emergency Response
I. Overview
Emergency response, including maintenance of critical services and surge capacity in the
health care system, has been an integral part of both CDC and HRSA cooperative
agreements for terrorism preparedness. Over the last five years, New York State
hospitals have been developing Comprehensive Emergency Management Plans. These
plans have significantly elevated their ability to respond to all hazards, including bioevents
such as a smallpox and pandemic influenza outbreak.
Pandemic influenza differs from many biological threats in its potential magnitude and
duration, including the likelihood of second and later waves of disease. Several features
set pandemic influenza apart from other public health emergencies or community
disasters:
• Influenza may be an acute but self-limited and uncomplicated infection that does
not require medical evaluation or therapy.
• Outbreaks can be expected to occur simultaneously throughout much of the U.S.,
making it more difficult for healthcare providers to share human and material
resources that usually occur in the response to other disasters. Localities should be
prepared to rely on their own resources to respond as much as possible. The effect
of pandemic influenza on individual communities will be relatively prolonged
(weeks to months) in comparison to disasters of shorter duration.
• Because of widespread susceptibility to a pandemic influenza strain, the number
of persons affected will be high.
• Health care workers and other first responders will be at higher risk of exposure
and illness than the general population, further straining the health care system.
• Effective preventive and therapeutic measures, including vaccine and antiviral
agents, are likely to be delayed and in short supply.
• Widespread illness in the community could result in sudden and potentially
significant shortages of personnel in other sectors that provide critical public
safety services.
A pandemic will overwhelm the current healthcare system. The increase in patients
requiring hospitalization and critical care will result in shortages of multiple resources
including personnel and equipment. This will in turn create a situation where nursing
homes and homecare agencies will be required to accept more clinically complex hospital
discharges and will have to care for patients they would normally discharge to the
hospital. New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) will need to authorize
hospitals, adult care facilities and nursing homes to expand their capacity by utilizing
common areas that would not normally be approved for use. Community Health Centers
and other primary care providers will need to expand their triage and outpatient treatment
capacity to relieve pressure from hospital emergency departments. All facilities will need
to supplement their highly trained professional staff with volunteers and lesser trained
staff.
Standards of care and the current regulatory approach will, by necessity, need to be
changed. NYSDOH will convene in early 2006 a panel to review the potential impact of
February 7, 2006 3-3