Plan now to attend a variety of November pandemic preparedness and awareness activities being organized by The Nebraska Medical Center and UNMC. Events are scheduled for normal work hours and shift work hours.
Activities will include noon presentations on pandemic flu and tips on how you and your family can prepare and how you can care for a sick loved one at home.
Table displays also will be on hand and will feature information about wearing personal protective equipment, using home preparedness kits, social distancing and aemonstration of the Healthcare and Emergency Responder Organization Education through Simulation (HEROES) — an educational tool used to prepare health professionals, students and first-responders on public health emergencies.
Informational brochures, including the 20-week Disaster Preparedness Preparation Guide for Emergencies, also will be available.
Shelly Schwedhelm, director of emergency, trauma and preparedness services at The Nebraska Medical Center, said the goal of the events is to raise awareness about the need to plan for major disasters.
“We hope by doing these activities that we get our employees to think about how they could prepare for a disaster,” she said. “We’ll offer them resources on how to plan with their family and co-workers to be better informed and prepared.”
Deb Thomas, UNMC assistant vice chancellor of business and finance, said many UNMC employees are investing hundreds of hours preparing the medical center for a pandemic.
“But this is not enough. Each UNMC employee needs to prepare themselves and their families for a pandemic,” Thomas said. “These programs are an effort to educate employees on how to prepare.”
Various information and resources on preparedness are available at www.unmc.edu/avianflu.
Here is a schedule of pandemic preparedness and awareness activities:
Friday, Nov. 2
- 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. — Displays at Clarkson Cafeteria.
- Noon to 1 p.m. — Presentation, Storz Learning Center 2 and 3, “Pandemic Flu 101,” by Sharon Medcalf of the Nebraska Center for Biopreparedness Education.
Thursday, Nov. 8
- 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. — Displays at University Tower, 3rd Floor near hospital elevators.
Friday, Nov. 9
- 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. — Displays at University Tower, 3rd Floor near hospital elevators.
- Noon to 1 p.m. — Presentation, Wittson Hall Amphitheater, “Infection Control during a Pandemic — at home, in the community and at work,” by Phil Smith, M.D., chief of the section of infectious diseases at UNMC and medical director for the Nebraska Biocontainment Unit.
Friday, Nov. 16
- 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. — Displays at Durham Outpatient Center, 2nd floor atrium near gift shop.
- Noon to 1 p.m. — Presentation, Wittson Hall Amphitheater, “During a Pandemic: Caring for the Ill at Home,” by Sharon Medcalf of the Nebraska Center for Biopreparedness Education.