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Planning and Response
| Working Together Government, communities, and individuals must work together to prepare for and respond to an influenza pandemic. Your congregation or organization does not need to do everything by itself. Rather, it should be one part of a community, local, regional, and national collaborative effort. One of the most important things that your congregation or organization can do is to get to know and work with your state, local, tribal, or territorial health department. You can also work with elected officials, emergency responders, law enforcement organizations, healthcare systems, schools, businesses and other employers, and other FBCOs. Planning State, local, tribal, and territorial officials are developing, improving, and testing plans for an influenza pandemic, and they will lead the response in their areas. The Department of Health and Human Services and other federal agencies help to support state and local pandemic preparedness and response planning by providing funding, advice, and other support. Learn More: Readiness Many hospital and healthcare systems, law enforcement and emergency responder organizations, schools, and businesses and other employers are also actively preparing for an influenza pandemic. For example, hospitals are now planning for dealing with the large numbers of people who become ill at the same time. Businesses and other employers are engaging in planning to continue to operate during an emergency. However, many of these groups may not be aware that your organization could offer valuable resources to your community during a pandemic. Getting Involved You should identify potential partners and meet with them to learn about their planning and to educate them about your organization’s plans and capabilities. Let them know about practices that may be important to your congregation or community during a pandemic, such as rituals related to the death of a loved one. You can also partner with congregations or organizations within your existing associations, networks, or denominations and you can team with local neighborhood organizations. You should develop collaborative efforts to keep your organizations running during an emergency. For example, large organizations can support small ones, or several small organizations can work together. Your state, local, tribal, or territorial government will be able to help you coordinate with other national and local pandemic preparedness efforts in your community. Example of Faith-Based and Community-Based Organizations (FBCOs) and Community Partnerships Iowa partnerships work together: - The Catholic Diocese of Davenport, Iowa, continues to share information and participate in joint planning sessions with the local health department, the State Department of Education, and the Iowa Catholic Conference.
- The county health department has contacted the local Catholic secondary school and made plans to use the building for patient triage, medical services, and/or morgue services in case of a pandemic.
- A member of the diocesan staff serves on the Iowa Department of Public Health's Contingency Ethics Committee, which is developing a document to guide decision-making during a pandemic.
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