Eastern Region - Agriculture

Emergency Preparedness

and

Agro Security

Novel H1N1 Information Page

Recently, the World Health Organization issued a world-wide pandemic alerted based on the continued rising number of Novel H1N1 Influenza cases being reported. Because of the possible impacts created by a pandemic, it is an excellent time to review your office Continuity of Operations Plan or COOP. Keeping our Extension offices open and accessible to our clientele during a major flu outbreak while maintaining our own health could be difficult.

Another factor for Extension to consider is that many of our offices are located in rural counties where resources are limited. Your role as an educator might be to assist those small business owners in your communities to develop their COOP … and don’t forget that farms are small businesses, too! Working with the entire family to help them develop a small business plan to keep the farm operating might just be the factor that saves some of our family farms.

Below are some links to information that you can use in your counties to help educate you and your clientele. There is also a link to the federal website to assist small business owners in developing a disaster plan. This is an excellent source of information that you can use to present programs throughout your county to small business owners, commodity organizations and even your local county governments.

The Extension Disaster Education Network has an excellent website that compiles many of the significant documents from CDC and other health agencies. There are also several documents that are very useful for those working with children and 4-H groups. Here are some of the more useful websites and documents:

Novel H1N1 Fact Sheet

CDC Novel H1n1 Flu Information

CDC – Emergency Preparedness and You

Pandemic Influenza

Pandemic Preparedness for Small Businesses

Preparing for the Flu: "A Communication Toolkit for Child Care and Early Childhood”

Public Health and Influenza

Ready Business – Resources to Prepare a Disaster Business Plan

Ready Business Disaster Plan/Continuity of Operations Plan

TN Department of Health

University of Tennessee Flu Website

Updated Guidance for Schools for the Fall Flu Season

Suggested Talking Points on Swine Flu (animal influenza)

Return to Emergency Preparedness and Agro Security Main Page