Meeting Summary

Communicable Disease Preparedness Committee

Date
May 8, 2007 

 Members Present: Angela Throneberry, Lori McKee, Darrell Smith, Katrina Doolittle, John Balog, Stephen Lopez, Jose Gamon, Teresa Bergin, Mary Jaspers, Gladys DeNecochea, Augstin Diaz, Larry Olsen, Angela Arvizo

New members:  Julie Weber, Mike O’Larey, Assistant Athletics Director, Nancy Baptiste, Director for Myrna’s Children’s Village, Teresa Brobeck, Coll Assoc Proffesor for Speech and Hearing Center

 Members Absent:  Joe Palmer, Benjamin Diven, Ruben Torrez, Leigh DeRoos, Mary Benanti, Karl Hill, Michael Abernethy, Jeff Witte, David Pearse, Nellie Quezada-Aragon, Susan Grotevant

 The meeting began at 3:03 PM.

1. Meeting convened with 14 regular members, 4 new members were present representing, Housing, Athletics, Myrna’s Children’s Village, Speech and Hearing Clinic

2.      Data management was identified as a concern as we expand this planning campus wide.  Also, it was noted that policies need to accommodate the academic operations as well as support functions.   Access to the data must be interactive and comprehensive in order to maximize data usefulness.

3.       K. Doolittle requested committee comments on the CoOP template in advance of requesting all NMSU departments to complete the template.

4.      L. McKee pointed out the need to account for interdepartmental overlap between certain plans.  The example cited was in her own plan that must account for custodial personnel assigned to the UHC and this should be reflected in the OFS custodial plan as well.  She further remarked that smaller groups can test this concept to learn of and address any apparent inconsistencies.

5.      K. Doolittle and L. McKee then suggested that the communicable disease response checklist is just one component of the “all-hazards plan”.  The idea is to establish a robust plan that distinguishes between the basic responses that are a part of all hazards and but also includes information on specific events.  The suggestion is to add sub-sections to Section J of the plan template to specify the respective hazards and unique response criteria, i.e., J-1 could be a communicable disease event, J-2 would be a fire, J-3 would be a bomb threat, J-4 would be a weather emergency, J-5 would be an active shooter, and J-6 would be an extended power outage.  S. Lopez commented that recognizing and accounting for interdependencies are critical, for example during a power outage.  A poll of those in attendance was unanimous in agreement on this point.

6.      L. McKee stated that UHC employs one radiation technician, so identifying three back-up  persons is problematic and suggested that others consider this possibility in their plans.

7.      L. McKee commented that owing to the inevitable changes in personnel and organizational structure the system should be “update-able”.   K. Doolittle suggested that we will need to look for a software product or arrange support from ICT.  

8.      L. McKee noted that updated contact information is a critical function regardless of what software system is chosen. She asked Teresa to investigate activating any capabilities in the Banner system to identify certain personnel “essential” that would generate a list of personnel and their contact information.  Teresa will inquire about activating a “essential employee” tab and noted that this could be a separate Banner query.  Teresa noted that the “@nmsu.edu” was formally designated as the primary email address at NMSU. 

9.      K. Doolittle asked for additional comments (there were none) and asked that those in attendance have their CoOP templates specific to Pandemic Flu planning ready for the June meeting.  She stated that the Provost and Sr. Vice President for Planning, Physical Resources and University Relations want departments in the CDPC to demonstrate the template for coop plan(s) before releasing to the rest of the campus community.

10.  K. Doolittle then defined tasks for the working groups.

a.       Financial Planning;  identify funding sources both internal and external

b.      Policy Working Group; social distancing, and travel restrictions.

c.       Material Resources; identify consumables and other necessary commodities.

d.      Education & Awareness; prepare materials specific to our target populations.

11.  Working Group & members are

a.       Financial Planning:  L. McKee, A. Throneberry, S. Grotevant

b.      Policy: A. Diaz, G. DeNochochea, M. Jaspers, A. Arvizo

c.       Material Resources: M. Abernethy, L. DeRoos, D. Shearer

d.      Training & Education: T. Bergin, J. Balog, N. Baptiste,  J. Weber, R. Williams, K.Doolittle

12.  K. Doolittle encouraged document sharing among the working groups.

13.  L. McKee reminded members that CoOP plans for pandemic flu are to be submitted and collated in June.  She also noted that New Mexico is rather remote and not expected to be the initial site of an outbreak.

14.  J. Weber stated that student housing does not expect to close during a pandemic flu.

15.  L. McKee stated UHC/ Medical Reserve personnel will attempt to support permanent campus residents & but if they are overwhelmed they will rely on the community healthcare resources.

16.  K. Doolittle state the goals of policy deadline are to have drafts for Travel Restrictions and Social Distancing completed by July or August.  Training and education documents should  be available in September.  L. McKee said it was essential to be able to use the working group plans to obtain start up funds for initial purchases.

17.  L. McKee noted that NM Dept of Health has produced documents and handouts on panflu preparedness and that she will promote influenza vaccination and immunizations during 007/2008 new student orientation sessions.

18.  S. Lopez remarked that a wireless text messaging service is being set up for use campus wide.  L. McKee noted that the NMSU phone tree capability works well.  K. Doolittle said she would re-send the weblink hosting the instructions on how to construct the phone tree.

19.  D. S. asked if the voicemail diode can be altered in some way (a special way of flashing for instance) to indicate an emergency message is on the voicemail.  There were no remarks if this is possible or not.

20.  S. Lopez observed that southern New Mexico is at the forefront of planning in the state and that on June 12^th & 13^th there will be a test of the regional medical response to a simulated hurricane event.

21.  The committee scheduled the next meeting for 9:00AM on Monday June 11.  K. Doolittle will provide bagels and juice.

22.  L. McKee reminded everyone to forward their CoOPs if they were not going to be present for the June meeting.  Working groups will meet independently.    

 The meeting adjourned at 4:06PM

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