Influenza Countermeasures from a virus point of view!

Hi. I'm Enza, a flu virus, and I can only live vicariously through other living things.  My ancestors may have started out infecting birds or pigs, but my favorite companions are the human kind, especially kids.  Kids help me spread very easily because they are always touching things and putting their hands in their nose and mouth.

Once I get going in your area, I can spread like wildfire.  Every person I infect can manage to infect at least 3 other people before they figure out that they are sick with the flu.  I try to get into a kid first, and then I know I can spread to other kids in school, at the playground, to mom and dad, the babysitter and even grandpa and grandma.  Getting started before the holidays is great, because there is so much traveling, visiting and kissing, and less time to pay attention to washing hands.

Sorry I make you feel lousy for a few days, but that is the way I get around.  By the time your body figures out I am in you and starts fighting me off, it has been 3 or 4 days and I have already gotten a lot of mileage from you.

I am a lot smarter than you think because I figured out how to change just a little bit so that my baby viruses can infect you again next year and you remain clueless.

There is one thing that I cannot tolerate…the flu vaccine.  Ouch, that vaccine is the death of me each year!  The vaccine helps your body recognize that I am not welcome and starts fighting me off before I get a chance to set up house.  How rude!  Where would I be if everyone got the flu shot and I do not have anyone left to infect.

Another thing that scares me is when you cover your mouth when you cough.  If you cover your mouth with your hands, I get to spread out on the next thing you touch.  I wait around to hitch a ride with someone new.  Now if you cough into your sleeve, like I saw some school kids doing, I don’t get to spread out!  Icky sleeves, but that is NOT helpful for my free ride to someone new!

Washing your hands!  What were you thinking?  Washing hands gets rid of me, the flu virus, and protects you from getting infected by my friends and family.  And I thought you were my friend!   Please keep this a secret between us.  If everyone washes their hands, I will have a hard time hitching a free ride.

Whhhaaaaa.......  Here comes Yu know who.... RRruuunnn!

Doctor Yu says cover your cough, wash your hands, stay home when you are sick and get a flu shot when it is available.  This will prevent influenza from spreading...... Wwwwaassshhhh so long little virus!

Aaaaaaaahhhhhhyayaiiii....

 

Diana T. Yu, MD, MSPH

Rekindle the Fire

Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears!

It is time to rekindle the fire, our motivation, for the response efforts of this summer have passed, and as our unit is in some "down time" this is an excellent opportunity to get back on track with some "old business". 

I am generally not one to dredge up the past, in the months before on the onset of the Pertussis Response efforts, our unit was in the middle of transition.

We were looking to the future, the future of our database and volunteer management systems we have in place.  We are fortunate here in Thurston County to have an excellent State of Washington Department of Health, with which we have been able to work very closely with.  Our contact (wow that sounds very Watergate-esque) at DOH has put a lot of work into a new program called WAserv (Washington State Emergency Registry of Volunteers).

To put it simply, WAserv will allow local system administrators (DOH) and volunteer managers (Your wonderful MRC Coordinators) to efficiently identify, activate, and deploy medical and support volunteers during disasters. It also functions as a communication tool for providing volunteers with information about training and exercises.

So far in the past, we have been using a variety of tools to accomplish what WAserv will in one convenient place. Around April of 2012 we had a large push to have our volunteers register on the site, and had a fairly successful time of it.

However, we have only had about 56% of our volunteer base register on the site.  it is our hopes to have all of our volunteers register on WAserv, as this will allow us to do a better job of serving you!  Trust me it will!  We have been involved in a myriad of work groups, exercise and trainings with Waserv to work out all the kinks, and have much better system to show for it

So I ask for all of you who are a member or a potential member to go here: https://www.waserv.org/ and register today!  If you already have an account, this might be a good time to log back in and update your information or to check out the changes that have occurred in the system.

I you have any questions, you can go here, or contact your MRC representative today!

MRC Summer Events Recap

As the rain pounds the roof outside and the winds whips the tree branches around, it make me long for summer with warm, dry, weather and the plethora of activities that the Medical Reserve Corps participates in.  So as the rain continues to come down, I thought I might brighten this dreary day with a recap of the summer events that the MRC participated in.

Pertussis Response Vaccine Clinics

When the MRC was activated to support the Thurston County Public Health and Social Services Department in May, little did we know that we would be providing such an overwhelming response to the Pertussis Epidemic in Washington State.  We began with our first clinic on May 19th hosted here a the Health department.  We saw over 100 people come through our clinic to receive their Pertussis vaccine, and I do not think it could have been more successful.  I guess neither did the health department, as they began to lay plans for us to participate in more clinics. 

Our very own Dr. Yu and two our our MRC volunteers took their show on the road and headed up to Nisqually to provide Pertussis vaccine at a community event.  We held our next clinic out at the annual Yelm Prairie Days festival where we had a booth and dispense vaccine out in the community.  The Nurse Family Partnership (a great program here at the Health department) asked us to put on a small clinic for its members in June.  We held another clinic at the Union Gospel Mission on July 19th, which happened to be during Lakefair, and we were able to send out a team to dispense vaccine out at the fair.  That wouldn't be the last fair we were seen at dispensing vaccine, we even managed to sneak our way into the Thurston County Fair if you could believe it giving our shots on the opening and closing day of the fair.

The fair ended our Pertussis only clinics, as our vision for our clinics changed, and we began to plan for  Back to School Vaccine Clinics.  We held these clinics in three consecutive weekends with the main focus of delivering required vaccine for children for school.  However, this did not stop us from continuing our Pertussis response efforts and "sticking" the parents too!

Paddle to Squaxin:Tribal Canoe Journey

We really got lucky this summer by being asked to be part of such a spectacular event.  The Paddle to Squaxin was not in our original summer events list, but when we were asked to participate, how could we say no? 

The Paddle to Squaxin is part of a Native American event that has been going on for the last 20 years or so, where the tribes of the Northwest paddle from their homes to another tribe and have a week long festival.  I am sure my summary did not do this event justice, but just imagine, over 100 canoes carrying roughly 15 people in each canoe landing on the shore in the Port of Olympia, with over 10,000 spectators, and you can just imagine the grandeur of this event.

We took this as an opportunity to train, and we stood up first aid tents at the main landing site, but also the soft landing (the pre-landing site if you will) and provided first aid to the paddlers and the spectators.  you could just imagine the blisters that were seen, some of these paddlers have been going at it for over a month!

With the Canoes landing on the shore, they made their way to the Squaxin Island Tribe where they continue on with there week long festivities.  During the week long event some of our volunteers staffed the first aid clinic out there to provide support for the overwhelming number of people congregating in the Squaxin Island Tribe.

These are just two of the major events, that the MRC participated in this summer, check back regularly as I will continue to post of the happenings of the MRC, there are always more raining days in the future!

Welcome to the Thurston County Medical Reserve Corps

Welcome to the Thurston County Medical Reserve Corps blog!

We will try to update you on what is happening with the Thurston County Medical Reserve Corps on a regular basis, but first, here is a little overview of the Thurston County MRC.

The mission of the Thurston County Medical Reserve Corps is to allow local health professionals and others to voluntarily contribute their skills and expertise to provide public health surge capacity.

Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) is a community-based volunteer program that strengthens and expands the local public health system's response during a health emergency or disaster.  Members include medical and non-medical professionals who contribute their unique skills and expertise to prepare for and respond to health emergencies.  The Thurston County MRC is one of over 800 nationally recognized Medical Reserve Corps units. Thurston County MRC members have assisted in a range of health emergencies that include response to local flooding and H1N1 influenza pandemic.

For more information and how to join visit our main website or find us on Facebook!