MILWAUKEE– As Swine Flu has touched our community, health care workers and health care facilities need to take immediate steps to determine if their workplace is ready to manage a swine flu outbreak.
“As health care professionals, it is our responsibility to the community to ensure healthcare facilities are safe and do not contribute to further spread of the Swine Flu,” stated Dian Palmer, a Registered Nurse and President of the SEIU Wisconsin State Council.
Flu spreads from person to person through the air and by contact with infected surfaces such as telephones and doorknobs. There are three well-established methods for managing an outbreak of the flu virus:
1) Vaccines to prevent catching the flu or to reduce its symptoms;
2) Antiviral medications to treat symptoms of flu, and
3) Implementation of standard infection control procedures to prevent spread of infection.
If more widespread swine flu outbreaks occur in Wisconsin, we will be faced with a huge surge in the numbers of infected patients needing care, health care facilities could have difficulty meeting patient needs. Most facilities would experience staff shortages, and most would lack space for isolating large numbers of infected patients.
SEIU Wisconsin encourages those in the health care community to come together to create a Swine Flu Response Plan to protect health care workers and members of our community.
Health Care workers must ask the following questions:
1. Is your employer providing training to all workers who may come into contact with patients with swine flu about how to recognize and differentiate between seasonal and swine flu and how to prevent potential exposures to both kinds?
2. Is your employer:
a. Providing respirator training?
b. Providing workers with a selection of N95 and more protective respirators to choose from?
c. Fit testing these respirators so that they achieve a good respirator face seal for all workers with potential exposure to swine flu, and other airborne biological threats?
3. Is your employer encouraging visitors and staff with cold or flu-like symptoms to stay at home? If so, will staff be paid for lost work time if they stay at home or are sent home from work?
4. Respiratory etiquette is a CDC encouraged practice of placing surgical masks on all patients exhibiting cold or flu-like symptoms. Has your employer implemented such a policy and is it being followed?
5. Is your healthcare facility taking steps to educate the public of how to prevent transmission of swine flu, such as distributing educational materials and posting information on their website?
6. Does your employer have a written plan for you to review that covers how they will retain and increase staffing to deal with a surge in patients as a result of a swine flu outbreak or pandemic?
7. If and when a vaccine becomes available for the swine flu, how will workers be covered if they become sick or injured by this new vaccine?