Flu pandemic prep: with the possibility of a deadly flu pandemic—today's worry being avian flu—good planning may be the best medicine. Is your school prepared?

University Business, Feb, 2007 by Ron Schachter

"I know some schools in their 10th, 12th, 15th revisions as new information comes along," adds Richmond's John Sheffield.

Much of that information can come from conducting pandemic simulations. Last March, Carnegie Mellon gathered its key players for a "tabletop" exercise. "We said, 'This is the scenario. What are we going to do?' "Anita Barkin explains. After their initial response, the participants continued to interact at hypothetical five-day intervals, with an eye to testing their planning, coordination, and communication.

"We debrief on what we do well, what we do not so well, and where the gaps are. Then we enhance our emergency plan to address them," says Barkin, who plans a similar drill in several months.

These universities also have begun to educate their students on the possibilities of a flu outbreak and its consequences. Carnegie Mellon distributed a campuswide e-mail announcing that the school was making an emergency plan. At the University of Richmond this past fall, health officials took advantage of the seasonal flu season to put up posters from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, promoting good cough etiquette to prevent the spread of germs. They also installed eight hand stations around campus to dispense antibacterial hand soap.

Eventually, officials at schools undergoing preparations for a health crisis say they plan to engage students actively in any evacuation plan, asking them to consider in advance how they would leave campus and what they would take with them. Students from across the country or from other countries will have to identify nearby relatives or family friends who could accommodate them. Richmond is promoting a buddy system, so that if some students cannot make it home, they can join a pre-identified fellow student closer by.

Learning from Each Other. and Going It Alone

Along the way, IHEs are working together, sharing best practices and thorny questions. "There are a lot of wheels to be invented. It's great when you don't have to invent them all yourself," says DeBoer. A year ago, Minnesota hosted a web conference for its fellow Big Ten universities, in which a representative from each school shared the main points of its emergency plan so far.

Boston University and neighboring institutions Harvard and MIT exchange information regularly. After BU prepared its blueprint for a campuswide evacuation, it shared the results. When one of the other schools investigated the use of MRE rations (the self-heating "Meals Ready to Eat" used during military campaigns), it reported back with its findings.

Still, cautions Maryland's Osteen, "no one has a boiler-plate plan of what you can do. Quite frankly, we have been carving out our own plan and what makes the most sense for us."

The same goes for following guidelines from the World Health Organization, Centers for Disease Control, and her own American College Health Association, admits Barkin. "There's not a ready-made plan," she says. "There are models, resources, and checklists. But your plan really has to fit your demographics."