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Led by the Nebraska Emergency Management Agency, the statewide exercise will involve most state agencies and each of the University of Nebraska campuses.
The goal is to enhance Nebraska’s capability and capacity to respond to and recover from threats or incidents of terrorism, disasters, and major emergencies.
Deb Thomas, UNMC assistant vice chancellor for finance and business services, and University of Nebraska coordinator for disaster planning, said disaster planning in the university system began aggressively after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
“Since then, we’ve been participating in the Nebraska Emergency Management Agency’s annual disaster exercise, and all the planning and training that goes with it,” she said. “The focus was terrorism at first but planning started to broaden into pandemic planning.
“About a year ago, Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt went around the country to all the states and in essence told everyone that state governments needed to be prepared for a potential pandemic flu. We were told the federal government wouldn’t have enough resources and people to support the needs of states,” she said. “We have continued to ramp up our efforts.”
Thomas said in 2002, Don Leuenberger, vice chancellor for business and finance, and Keith Swarts, director of UNMC business services, launched UNMC’s disaster planning effort.
About two years ago, the UNMC Business Continuity Committee, directed by Leuenberger, was formed to bring together a team of representatives from UNMC’s infrastructure. The group meets regularly for campus-wide planning and Rick Boldt serves as project manager for the group.
“The goal of planning is for continuity of operations — to be able to continue to function in the midst of a disaster,” Thomas said. “We have been told that up to 40 percent of our workforce would be absent in a pandemic. How we do disaster planning at UNMC is a little different than the other campuses.”
She said the annual Terrex exercise will evaluate various areas, including whether current plans work and where improvements might be needed.
For the last two months, the group has been involved in an electronic pandemic flu e-mail exercise led by Keith Hansen of the Center for Biopreparedness Education.
“This helped us immensely in preparing for the exercise, during which we will react as if we were dealing with pandemic flu,” Thomas said. “It’s important to test your plans and bring your people in on this process on a periodic basis, or they won’t be ready. We cannot afford not to be ready.
Employees can learn more about how to be prepared during a pandemic. The last of three weeks of displays and education are scheduled on Friday, Nov. 16 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., pandemic readiness information and displays will be at Durham Outpatient Center, 2nd floor atrium near gift shop. From noon to 1 p.m., Sharon Medcalf of the Center for Biopreparedness Education will present, “During a Pandemic: Caring for the Ill at Home,” in the Wittson Hall Amphitheater.
“While we’re preparing the institution for this, it’s incredibly critical for employees to prepare themselves and their family for a potential pandemic as well,” Thomas said.