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Prisons Unprepared for Flu Pandemic |
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July
Valued Member Joined: May 24 2006 Status: Offline Points: 1660 |
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Posted: September 15 2006 at 5:00am |
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The same situation will exist in nursing homes, mental health hospitals, boarding schools. We have talked a lot about whether or not Dr.s and nurses will go to work in a pandemic. I wonder if prision gaurds will risk their lives of themselves and family to keep watch over prisioners and keep them feed, in clean clothes and so forth. I truly cant imagine it. If they have even some who quit, then you add to the mix, the fact that the gaurds are now at jepordy from the prisioners from a physical danger standpoint. In a worst case scenario, would it be better to let them sit in jail or let them loose? If you let them loose, think of the danger to society. I am not talking about the ones in for a couple days, I am talkin maxium security prisions. Should a Dr. and nurse be required to treat murders and rapists and child molesters when they are going to be so badly needed in the outside world. This could happen, with a horrific enough terrorist attack also, not just pan flu. What are your opinions? |
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jknoel
V.I.P. Member Joined: June 30 2006 Status: Offline Points: 145 |
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This isn't any different than all other institutions in the country. If anything, jails are better off because you can just lock everyone up and not let them out.
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The only way to grow is to take a chance.
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emmajones
Adviser Group LOCATION: PENNSYLVANIA Joined: July 19 2006 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 259 |
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Should a Dr. and nurse be required to treat murders and rapists and child molesters when they are going to be so badly needed in the outside world. This could happen, with a horrific enough terrorist attack also, not just pan flu. What are your opinions?
My opinion? No, doctors and nurses shouldn't be required to treat prisoners if to do so means they desert the hospitals. The prisoners made their beds. It's the same feeling I have about the majority of non-preppers who were warned but jeered at us preppers. The vast majority will simply have to take the consequences for their actions. There will only be so many rations - of food, water, healthcare, etc. - to go around. |
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b4giving
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MelodyAtHome
Valued Member Joined: May 16 2006 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 2018 |
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I know I'm going to get yelled out but I think murders and rapists should not be allowed to live. I'm not talking about the 18 year old boy who has sex with his 17 girlfriend. I'm talking about those guys who kidnap, especially little children, rape them, torture them, etc...same with the murder. I'm not talking about the wife who has been beaten for 20 years, torture,etc..then in self defense shoots her hubby...You know who I'm talking about...they should be eliminated. Sorry if you don't agree...this is just my own personal opinion. I'm tired of paying taxes so these murders, rapists mostly are getting college degrees, 3 full meals, exercise, TV while hard working people out in the world can't get health insurance for their kids or themselvers, barely fee themselves and keep a roof over their head. It's just not right.
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Melody
Emergency Preparedness 911 http://emergencypreparedness911.blogspot.com/ |
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emmajones
Adviser Group LOCATION: PENNSYLVANIA Joined: July 19 2006 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 259 |
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Melody, I won't yell. I agree. My tagline is "be forgiving", but there are some humans who have committed such evil that their forgiveness can only be given by God alone. This life is better off without them and they can go to the next and take the consequences.
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b4giving
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emmajones
Adviser Group LOCATION: PENNSYLVANIA Joined: July 19 2006 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 259 |
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My ex-husband, with whom I had a child, spent years in and out of prisons, never for crimes against people, just property, and also for drugs. Anyway, I never got any child support. It galled me to think that while I worked 2 jobs to keep my son housed and fed, MY tax dollars went to support HIM in prison! The irony! There must be a better way.
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b4giving
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Just think of them and treat them as terrorists.Because thats exactly what they are.Just the home grown version.These kinds of acts are not accidents.They are planned out acts of hate and heartlessness.Do not mourn for these people.Mourn for the victims that had no choice in the matter.Even peta knows you put down a rabid animal.
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At first I thought the same thing that if the prisons just shut the doors then the panflu wouldn't get in. The thing is though that there are many people working in the prison that are not prisoners. Like the guards. It would only take one infected guard to spread all around the prison. There are many people in prison that I think should never be let out, shouldn't even be allowed to live, child molesters, rapists, some murderers. But there are also some people in prison that are innocent, some that have commited minor crimes etc. It's these people I worry about. No one should have to die because they wrote bad checks.
I don't know what the solution is though. Maybe the prisons could make up a list of non violent offenders and let them go? I do hope that the violent offenders will not be released, regardless. If they die, they die. Tough, but it was tough what they did to others too.
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I would gladly take in a elderly person or a person who is mentally impaired during a pandemic, but you can leave the prisioners right where they are at. Except the non violent ones. They should be let go. Martha Stewart vs Charles Manson, Martha is my choice all the way, she could even help spruce up the place. LOL
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July
Valued Member Joined: May 24 2006 Status: Offline Points: 1660 |
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Ticking Time Bomb': Prisons Unprepared For Flu Pandemic
Libraries 25 Sep 2006
As the fear of an impending avian flu pandemic is compelling hospitals, businesses and cities to develop preparedness plans, one of the most potentially dangerous breeding grounds of disease is woefully ill-prepared for a crisis, according to a new study being presented today by researchers at Saint Louis University. “There's a real failure to recognize how important the health status of inmates is to the public health of all of us,” says Rachel Schwartz, Ph.D., a researcher at the Institute for Biosecurity at Saint Louis University School of Public Health. “Nearly 85 percent of those in jails and prisons will be released within a year. So even if we as a society don't think protecting them from disease is a priority, prisoners released into the general population pose a real threat to society.” The research is being presented today at the Correctional Medicine Institute's 2006 Conference in Baltimore. There are more than two million prisoners in the United States, making up what Schwartz calls “a highly vulnerable population.” “There's a much higher level of disease among prisoners - people with HIV, drug-resistant tuberculosis, hepatitis C and other diseases,” she says. She adds that 80 percent of inmates come to prison with some sort of illness. “And once they're incarcerated, they're more likely to get other diseases. It makes correctional facilities into ticking time bombs. Many people crowded together, often suffering from diseases that weaken their immune systems, form a potential breeding ground and reservoir for diseases.” Schwartz and fellow researchers studied research and protocols from the Centers for Disease Control, the World Health Organization and other governments to identify what plans were in place for prisons should an infectious disease break out. Many of the correctional facilities that Schwartz and colleagues studied have acknowledged they don't have an adequate plan to deal with a pandemic or similar health crisis. Schwartz says there's reluctance among government leaders to provide prisoners with medical care, such as flu vaccines. “The thinking is that there won't be enough for the general public, and that they should get the shots first,” she says. “We tend to think of all inmates as being violent offenders, but the average length of incarceration is only 48 hours. Many are not convicted criminals, but rather people merely accused of crimes and awaiting trial. “We know that illness among prisoners will eventually spread and cause illness in society, so we must address this now.” The solution, says Schwartz, is to spend more energy and money on preparedness. She and fellow researchers developed a plan to educate the judicial and prison systems on ways to prevent the spread of disease, from meticulous hand-washing to appropriate use of quarantine and isolation in prison and jail settings. The pandemic plans are designed to provide useful information for many kinds of crisis situations, Schwartz says. “Ideally, they will help authorities prepare and respond to anything from a bird flu breakout to a biological attack. The information is also critical for existing illnesses within prisons, like HIV, not just emerging infections.” Saint Louis University School of Public Health is one of only 37 fully accredited schools of public health in the United States and the nation's only School of Public Health sponsored by a Jesuit university. It offers masters degrees (MPH, MHA and MS) and doctoral programs (Ph.D.) in six public health disciplines and joint degrees with the Doisy College of Health Sciences, and schools of Business, Law, Medicine and Social Service. It is home to seven nationally recognized research centers and laboratories with funding sources that include the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Health Resources and Services Administration, the American Cancer Society, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the World Health Organization. The Saint Louis University Institute for Biosecurity was established in 2000 to provide public health and emergency response professionals with the education needed for preparedness, response, recovery and mitigation of emerging public health threats. Faculty and staff at the Institute conduct research that contributes to the development of national policies to address these threats. Saint Louis University Medical Center St. Louis, MO 63103 United States http://www.slu.edu/pr Article URL: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=52606 |
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I don't see why if the gov can quarantine a whole town at will it can't quarantine a prison just the same.
If a person's jail time happens to be up and they are prohibited from leaving, tough &%$#. It is the same as quarantining an ordinary building or town that is infected. An ordinary citizen could not leave. why would a prison be any different? If there is no known source of infection within the walls of the place, why would a quarantine be imposed that would not be imposed on any hospital, boarding school, camp, college campus, etc.? If there is no known infection in the place, that would be against people's civil rights. The same standard should be applied as would be to any other institution. The rates of communicable illness is really high in hospitals and day cares, but should we force all daycare workers into quarantine when there is no documented illness in their environs ?? Of course not. |
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Dlugose
Valued Member Joined: July 28 2006 Location: Colorado Status: Offline Points: 277 |
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May I remind you nurses already work in prisons, with either onsite or telephone back up at times from doctors. So prisons are not necessarily a drain on resources. At first prisons would be safer than more public places, and prisons would alter their visitation policies, screen incoming prisoners and staff on a daily basis, as would all responsible employers. Here is what Minnesota corrections people are planning, from http://www.corr.state.mn.us/publications/documents/Flupandemic4-06.pdf
Q & A on the DOC Pandemic Plan
How are you going to manage prison security with a
30% reduction in staff? We have the ability to lock down many living units to contain movement and, therefore, transmission of influenza. All activities will be evaluated to determine which are essential so we can focus our resources on priority functions (i.e., security, sick call, and food services). We will assess the need for staff cross- training to ensure all essential functions are covered. We will work with DOER to develop creative staffing patterns to minimize face-to-face contact of staff and provide sustained staffing coverage for prolonged pandemic periods and subsequent waves. We are identifying management staff “three-deep” to ensure seamless operations from a management perspective. What if it is greater than 30% reduction in staff?
The situation will be evaluated on a day-to-day basis. Should we need assistance to maintain opera- tions, we are identifying additional resources. We can move staff from one facility to another, staff at our central office can be deployed, and organizations such as the National Guard can assist if necessary. What steps are you currently taking to ensure that
the DOC is prepared for pandemic influenza? We have established a Core Team to implement a written plan. That plan is based a variety of elements such as comprehensive continuity of operations plans addressing physical disasters, employee shortages, and riot management. We are stockpiling supplies necessary to manage facility operation for an initial eight-week period; i.e. food, medical supplies, medication, and personal protective equipment. We are also in regular contact with the MDH and Homeland Security. How will you minimize potential for prison riots?
We have given great thought to ensuring the safety of staff and offenders during a pandemic. One rule of thumb in managing an offender population is to keep them well-informed, busy, and to maintain as normal of operations as possible. We have identified what is important to offenders; i.e., visiting. We may need to eliminate face-to-face visiting to minimize disease transmission, but will modify protocol to meet the offenders’ need to stay in touch with their families. Increased phone use may be one mechanism to meet this need. We can and will restrict movement if neces- sary. We have the ability to lock down entire units should we need to do so. How do you know that you will have adequate
supplies, medication, and food? We are currently working with our vendors in all areas to stockpile identified supplies. Will you close any prisons?
At this time, we don’t anticipate the need to close a facility. Each facility will have a contingency plan to continue operations. What kind of staff training will be necessary to deal
with an influenza pandemic? We are providing training on the disease to ensure that staff are knowledgeable about transmission, infec- tion control measures, and how to stay healthy. How are you going to communicate with staff and
offenders on the plans the DOC is taking? There are many avenues in place, including the department’s staff intranet and offender publications. These mechanisms are updated regularly. We also post and distribute public health publications. What steps are you going to take in the facilities to
minimize transmission of influenza? We have identified numerous measures to minimize exposure of the offender population and staff. For example, we are devising a protocol to substitute daily visits to the Health Services Clinic to reduce direct contact. We are also looking at delivering meals to living units. There are a number of other activities where offenders and staff congregate that can be modified to minimize transmission. How are you going to ensure that sex offenders in
the community are supervised adequately? Level II and III sex offenders, the most serious of sex offenders, are currently under intensive supervised release and monitored by specialized corrections agents statewide. These agents work in teams and can be mobilized to other areas of the state to provide supervi- sion if the need arises. Will you be using more electronic monitoring of
offenders in the community? The use of additional electronic monitoring could be part of the solution to enhancing supervision of serious sex offenders on an “as needed” basis. |
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Dlugose RN AAS BA BS Cert. Biotechnology. Respiratory nurse
June 2013: public health nurse volunteer, Asia |
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The question has been posed here, should medical personel go to work and endanger their own family. The answers have varied from person to person, medical people are going to get sick, they will be exposed. In my opinion, if medical personel may not show up to work at a hospital or nursing home, they will feel no obligation to go to work at a prision. Furthermore, it is not just the medical personel, but the gaurds, will they go to work and endanger their families and leave sick loved ones at home? We all know that it is not uncommon for prisioners to deliberately throw or decorate their cells with their own waste. They do so even if they have aids. Lets face it, a person who comits the acts these people have and is in for life, without parole has nothing to lose. Prisions have a large traffic volume, it is a small city, people deliver goods from the outside all the time, gaurds, social workers, pastors, medical people, repair workers. Anything on the outside is present in the prision on a smaller scale.If we talk quarentine, we are talking locking innocent people in the form of prision employees up with prisioners. That is certainly not right. No other employer could get by with saying in the event of a pandemic, you cant leave. Dont under estimate the seriousness of this problem. Remember in NOLA cops walked off the job. They knew it was a matter of time before help was coming. Just another problem the government while telling us to prep, should be dealing with now. After all they are the ones saying not if but when.
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