Yukon Kuskokwim Nushagak science

http://www.ak-prepared.com/plans/mitigation/

Unfortunately, nearly everything is hard to find and the checklists are not well presented (why does a state of Alaska site have a dot com URL instead of dot gov?).

Basic Template for Alaska Small Community/Tribal Emergency Operations Plans
Alaska Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, 1 Jan 2006 This document is a basic template for emergency operations plans for Alaskan communities developed by state homeland security officials. Small Community Model Plan Acrobat Reader Version

The MS Word format is more useful, Small Community Model Plan MS Word Version

The ways in which communities govern themselves differ widely throughout Alaska. Rural communities are often incorporated as cities, but not always. Native communities may instead choose to be governed by a tribal council. Yet others may be governed by a non-profit community association. Most native communities also have a village corporation. Each of these organizations usually owns assets needed in an emergency response. They should agree to work in unison to prevent, prepare for, respond to and recover from emergencies and disasters. This template presumes that to be the case.

“This SAR image is of the Kuskokwim River delta, Western Alaska. It was taken by Seasat on July 13, 1978. The patterns are formed by river water flowing around sand bars. The pock-marked land is covered by small permafrost lakes.”

See the larger image here

http://southport.jpl.nasa.gov/polar/sarimages.html

I’ve always found this is a fascinating image. Kongiganak and Kwigillingok can be seen.

….How would the YK Delta respond to a pandemic?

In preparation for the possibility of a pandemic, organizations in the YK Delta have joined together to plan a coordinated response.

These organizations include the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation, the Association of Village Council Presidents, Bethel Regional Public Health Center, Bethel Family Clinic, other departments from the State of Alaska, and local emergency responders.

Our goal is to keep the people of the YK Delta informed with the most accurate information about any developments or risks associated with the H5N1 “bird flu” or any other possible pandemic that could impact the people of the YK Delta. In the event of a pandemic, our planning committee is focused on assuring a coordinated response and recovery to our villages in the YK Delta….

Read the entire article in the

YKHC Messenger, July 15, 2006
http://www.ykhc.org/1250.cfm

2006-07-27 I moved this up from a comment on Local alcohol prohibition, police presence and serious injury in isolated Alaska Native villages so I could better characterize the entry. mpb

I have been assembling references about alcohol control points and whether increasing prohibition (which the City Council of Bethel wishes to do) has any effect on the rate (prevalence) or incidence of crime, chronic alcoholism, or addiction. The references have been assembled in

http://www.connotea.org/user/Hlthenvt

or use your own tags (search terms) to find similar articles cited in the collection as a whole

http://www.Connotea.org

This issue [further alcohol control through a city-run office] needs careful examination which the City of Bethel Council hasn’t yet done, before changing community policy.** Public involvement procedures should provide at least three proposed alternatives–

no action

action 1

action 2

with the pros and cons (positive and negative impacts) of each alternative. (Or, multiple working hypotheses with procedures to falsify them.)

[**the proposal was removed from City Council action by a special election which now requires any establishment of a city-run alcohol dispensing center to be put to a vote of all Bethel voters.]

Site Search Tags: prohibition, Bethel, CoB, connotea, policy

I’m glad YKHC included the reference to where one can sign up directly for the Fish & Wildlife news releases. 2006-07-28 Turns out this is not a valid address for the list-serv and the Alaska regional news service evidently no longer exists, “Instructions on how to subscribe to the fws-alaska-news listserver for the Alaska Region (Region 7). http://www.r7.fws.gov/ea/subscribing.html”

YKHC Messenger 06-06 No Bird Flu
Samples show no Bird Flu found in YK Delta … has tested 1210 samples taken from subsistence harvested birds in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta area.
…

http://www.ykhc.org/1236.cfm

This as-it-happens Google Alert is brought to you by Google…

from the press release in the Yukon Kuskokwim Health Corp. newsletter

Samples show no Bird Flu found in YK Delta

As of June 13, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, working with State and Federal partners, including the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation and the United States Geological Survey’s National Wildlife Health Center laboratory in Madison Wisconsin, has tested 1,210 samples taken from subsistence harvested birds in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta area….

You can subscribe to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Alaska Region listserver, to have our press releases sent to your e-mail address automatically, by sending an e-mail message to: listserv@www.fws.gov. Please indicate that you would like to subscribe to FWS-Alaska news and give your name in the body of the message.

Because our birds fly way south for winter…

Regional action plan for avian flu, Tuesday, July 25, 2006

THE Sectretariat of the Pacific Community has been tasked with drafting an action plan in the event a human case of the avian influenza is reported in the region.

This was resolved at the weeklong meeting in Nadi this week which focuses on the implementation of the Pacific Regional Influenza Pandemic Preparedness Plan.

http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=45318

http://www.spc.int/lrd/index.htm

…The aim of the project is to establish immediate measures to prevent and/or respond to a possible outbreak of avian influenza and pandemic human influenza in the region. The focus will be on building capacity within Pacific Island countries for surveillance and diagnosis of avian influenza, and other emerging diseases, and emergency response planning. Activities will cover both public and animal health….

“In the Pacific, human influenza outbreaks can happen at any time of the year, being more influenced by the flow of people from temperate regions than by the local climate. Many islands are visited by large numbers of tourists and there is the potential for new strains of influenza to be transported back to Pacific Island communities in the Northern and Southern hemispheres….

Although there is no certainty that an influenza pandemic will occur, it is a potentially serious threat that must be addressed. The Pacific is vulnerable to the introduction of pandemic influenza through the movement of people, migratory birds and legal and illegal trade in poultry and poultry products. To respond to such a threat, Pacific Island countries need effective preparedness plans and the resources and capacity to implement them. While some countries have developed, or are in the process of developing preparedness plans, and some surveillance and laboratory capacity, none of these have been tested for a pandemic scenario. The priorities identified by regional governments include improved surveillance, development and testing of plans, strengthened public health measures, and inclusion of more sectors/stakeholders in planning and implementation.”

Site Search Tags: Polynesia, Pacific+Island

As students of this site are aware, avian influenza already exists in the waterfowl and domestic fowl of North America (contrary to the many public services announcements in May and June 2006). It is a natural phenomenon.

http://tinyurl.com/fok3n
Archive Number 20060704.1834, Published Date 04-JUL-2006
Subject PRO/AH/EDR> Avian influenza, ostriches - South Africa, H5N2: OIE

“[First of all, this is _not_ the Avian Influenza virus that has infected humans. We have previously seen this virus — Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza H5N2 (HPAI H5N2) — in North America and Europe. In 1983, a now historic outbreak in Pennsylvania in the USA was attributed to H5N2. Mexico (1994) and Texas, USA (2004) also had North American HPAI H5N2 outbreaks. Italy had HPAI H5N2 in 1997 (Italy also had HPAI H7N1 in turkeys in 1999- 2000). A complete table of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza outbreaks in poultry by subtype until the end of 2003 is available at

http://www.who.int/csr/don/2004_03_02/en/

Read the rest of this entry »

Do you have an idea for a cutting-edge technology that could protect the environment while growing the economy? The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is offering college professors and their students an opportunity to turn ideas into reality through its P3 (People, Prosperity and the Planet) grants competition. EPA’s P3 is a student design competition for sustainability that is now in its third year. Previous P3 winners have already taken their innovations to the next level - including starting successful businesses, winning additional awards, and providing environmental solutions to developing countries.

The P3 request for ideas will be open from August 15 to December 21, 2006 deadline. Interdisciplinary student teams will compete for $10,000 grants to research and develop their design projects during the 2007-2008 academic year. EPA expects to award approximately 100 new grants from the eligible applications in the summer of 2007.

Then, in spring 2008, all P3 grant recipients will be invited to Washington, D.C., to compete for the P3 Award. The National Academies, advisors to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine, convene a panel to evaluate and recommend the winners of additional funding (up to $75,000) to further develop the design, implement the project in the field, and move it to the marketplace. The judges look for design innovation and technical merit along with relevant social, economic and environmental considerations that are key to sustainable designs. Approximately six P3 Award winners will be chosen by the EPA.

The P3 competition is open to teams of students attending colleges, universities and other post-secondary educational institutions. Interdisciplinary teams are strongly encouraged, including representatives from multiple engineering departments and/or departments of chemistry, architecture, industrial design, economics, policy, social sciences, business, etc. Collaboration and partnerships with colleges and universities outside the United States are permitted, but only U.S. educational institutions are eligible to apply.

http://es.epa.gov/ncer/p3/apply/index.html

Site Search Tags:
deadline,
EPA,
grants,
appropriate technology,

Published: July 24, 2006 

http://tinyurl.com/rwplc
Scientists of tub toy fame will tell their tale in Sitka
BEACHCOMBERS FAIR: Flotsam revealed much about ocean currents.
By KATE CHENEY DAVIDSON, Anchorage Daily News, Published: July 24, 2006

American Public Health Association Offers Behavioral Hygiene Promotion Research Grants to Young Faculty and Students

Deadline: October 1, 2006

The International Health Section of the American Public Health Association (http://www.apha-ih.org/), in collaboration with Colgate Palmolive (http://www.colgate.com/), has announced the second annual round of a small grants program to support young faculty and students in schools of public health to carry out community-based field research in behavioral hygiene.

These competitive grants will be awarded for community-based research projects investigating the role of hygiene (especially handwashing with soap) in personal and community health and infection control, including investigations about the knowledge of proper hygiene habits, hygiene motivation, and behavior change. The research should focus on mothers, families, and children in resource-poor settings.

Three awards of approximately $10,000 each will be made, on the basis of merit, but with preference being given to projects in one of the following countries: Puerto Rico, Mexico, Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Thailand, Malaysia, South Africa, Senegal, Kenya, Mozambique, or the United States (with migrant or immigrant populations). Awards are to be made through schools of public health based in the United States or in another country as long as the field
research is carried out in one of the above countries.

Visit the APHA International Health Section Web site for additional information.

RFP Link:

http://fconline.foundationcenter.org/pnd/10003418/apha-ih

For additional RFPs in Health, visit:

http://foundationcenter.org/pnd/rfp/cat_health.jhtml

Site Search Tags: public+health, hand+washing, grants, children, student, hygiene

Native America Calling did a program today about MRSA so I figured I’d better finish this draft post. We had several people from Bethel call-in with good tips.

The TIME magazine article says the resistant bacteria are “racing across the US” but we have had a high prevalence here in the region for some time. It would be nice if someone could find the figures for the number of cases per capita per year, the trends over time, and just how sick people get.

Protection against acquiring the resistant infection is similar to that of protecting against H5N1—wash your hands, maintain your health. If we reduce our disease load (morbidity), for example, lessen the number of MRSA cases, then we have a better chance of not getting as sick from any epidemic.

A nasty, drug-resistant staph infection–the kind usually seen in hospitals–is racing across the U.S.
By CHRISTINE GORMAN, Sunday, Jun 18, 2006,

“It has spread rapidly through parts of California, Texas, Illinois and Alaska and is beginning to show up in Pennsylvania and New York.

Read the rest of this entry »

Some mapping software requires decimal longitude and latitude. GPSvisualizer.com will provide those calculations, as well. I don’t think the precision from street level is very tight on some of these locations (airport, zipcode, city name)

Quick Geocoder

You entered: BET
The airport database found:

ICAO PABE
IATA BET
Airport Name Bethel
City Bethel
State AK
Country United States
Latitude 60.77972222
Longitude -161.8377778
Coordinates
60.77972222, -161.8377778
N60°46.783333, W161°50.266668
Elevation 37 m (121 ft)”

Site Search Tags: maps, Bethel, gpsvisualizer

Read the rest of this entry »

This is an interesting read about a previous pandemic of avian influenza. Note the impact of behavioral change on the epidemiology of the disease and why the disease would affect people differently in St Louis from Philadelphia.

It is a good example of why histories from that era (and later pandemics like the 1960s out here) are so important to record, study, and learn from. I encourage every reader to collect those stories. And to compare what is learned from the past with contemporary planning
Read the rest of this entry »

printed in the Anchorage Daily News which I don’t think intended this to be satire.

http://www.adn.com/life/health/birdflu/story/7939198p-7832627c.html

By MARY PEMBERTON, The Associated Press
Published: July 7, 2006

Alaska is taking an aggressive stance against a possible outbreak of deadly bird flu in humans by placing its order early for medicines intended to slow the spread of a pandemic.

State officials will eventually order enough antiviral doses to cover about a fourth of Alaska residents.

Officials are being bold because the state is a crossroads for migratory birds, which could be carrying the virus here from other parts of the world….

“If we get to 2007, we will be on our road of having a reasonable supply,” Mandsager said….

State health officials this summer will come up with a map for distributing the drugs quickly if there is an outbreak. The plan calls for moving some of the antivirals from Anchorage to cities and towns such as Bethel, Nome and Kotzebue, and eventually to the villages.

“It won’t do any good to have the medicine if we don’t have a distribution plan,” Mandsager said…. emphasis added

With regard to antivirals as effective agents against an H5N1 human pandemic—see discussions here:

from EffectMeasure [It’s not the plan, it’s the planning. - http://ykalaska.uniblogs.org/2006/04/14/ its-not-the-plan-its-the-planning/]
“But an important issue raised by the IAFF (echoed by health care workers) is policy around prophylaxis of essential workers.”
http://effectmeasure.blogspot.com/ 2006/04/firefighters-and-bird-flu.html

Bird Flu: Communicating the Risk, Sandman & Lanard - http://ykalaska.uniblogs.org/2006/03/21/h5n1-risk-sandman/

datetime=”2006-10-09 T05:49:12+00:00 Distance between 41:16:00N 129:06:00E (Gilju in Hamgyong province, North Korea) and Bethel, Alaska, United States, as the fallout flies:

3122 miles (5024 km) (2713 nautical miles)

Initial heading from 41:16:00N 129:06:00E to Bethel: northeast (40.2 degrees)
Initial heading from Bethel to 41:16:00N 129:06:00E: west (277.2 degrees)

View larger map here

http://tinyurl.com/hhxnw

Read the story here–

http://tinyurl.com/ezf37
A warhead found in Alaska? The report’s longevity illustrates the uncertainty and fear.
By Barbara Demick, Times Staff Writer, July 7, 2006

The North Koreans have been trying to develop a multistage missile capable of reaching the United States since at least the early 1990s…

Debris was strewn thousands of miles from the launch site, leading to speculation that the range was longer than it actually was….

Site Search Tags: maps, Bethel, news

Previous post — What impact will Iraq war call-up have
http://ykalaska.uniblogs.org/2006/06/27/ what-impact-will-iraq-war-call-up-have/

Jody has a nice quiet story this morning about a disquieting deployment into the Iraq war.

Alaska Communities Struggle with National Guard Deployments

Listen to this story… by Jody Seitz

Morning Edition, July 4, 2006 · National Guard deployments to Iraq are drawing on a unique population of older Guard members in Alaska. The absence of these men from their communities poses distinct challenges to families already stressed by the high price of energy, the lack of jobs and, in some communities, the loss of municipal services. Jody Seitz of member station KDLG reports.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5532219

Other NPR (National Public Radio) stories can be found here

http://tinyurl.com/gz3jh

Site Search Tags: Iraq, Guard, war

The report itself is here

Weekly Epidemiological Record
http://www.who.int/entity/csr/disease/avian_influenza/ guidelines/wer8126/en/index.html

Data used in the analysis were collected for surveillance purposes. Quality, reliability and format were not consistent across data from different countries. Despite this limitation, several conclusions could be reached.

* The number of new countries reporting human cases increased from 4 to 9 after October 2005, following the geographical extension of outbreaks among avian populations.
* Half of the cases occurred in people under the age of 20 years; 90% of cases occurred in people under the age of 40 years.
* The overall case-fatality rate was 56%. Case fatality was high in all age groups but was highest in persons aged 10 to 39 years.
* The case-fatality profile by age group differs from that seen in seasonal influenza, where mortality is highest in the elderly.
* The overall case-fatality rate was highest in 2004 (73%), followed by 63% to date in 2006, and 43% in 2005.
* Assessment of mortality rates and the time intervals between symptom onset and hospitalization and between symptom onset and death suggests that the illness pattern has not changed substantially during the three years.
* Cases have occurred all year round. However, the incidence of human cases peaked, in each of the three years in which cases have occurred, during the period roughly corresponding to winter and spring in the northern hemisphere. If this pattern continues, an upsurge in cases could be anticipated starting in late 2006 or early 2007.

http://www.who.int/csr/don/2006_06_30/en/index.html