Writer issues pandemic warning

May 24, 2008

Writer issues pandemic warning by Graeme Morton, Calgary Herald

Published: Saturday, May 17, 2008

Community engagement, often led by church and faith groups, will be a

key ingredient to dealing with any future pandemic, according to a

Calgary author and advocate.

Nikiforuk told a church-led conference on pandemic preparedness

that the general public are often the first responders to any

emergency, be it a medical crisis or a natural disaster.

" And it's almost always the case that people respond to these

emergencies with creativity and resourcefulness, " says Nikiforuk,

author of Pandemonium: Bird Flu, Mad Cow Disease and other Biological

Plagues of the 21st Century.

" Centralized, top-down decisions without any consultation or

involvement with the grassroots just don't work very well. The

question remains: 'Will the public take a pill if it doesn't trust the

doctor?' " Nikiforuk adds.

Nikiforuk says history has shown a connected, harmonious community is

vital in mitigating the effects of an event like a bid flu pandemic.

He pointed to a devastating heat wave in Chicago in July 1995 when

more than 600 deaths were recorded in five days.

The highest mortality rates were found in neighbourhoods where there

was, in Nikiforuk's words, a social void. Seniors died when they

locked themselves in sweltering apartments, afraid of strangers and

with no one checking in on them. In other communities, where people

knew and cared about each other, the death rate was much lower.

Nikiforuk says the health-care system will be swamped in the early

weeks of any bird flu pandemic. Faith and community groups will have

the chance to play important roles in caring for those within their reach.

" If you enlist the general public in both the planning and execution,

good things will happen, " Nikiforuk says.

He noted that in the wake of the global flu pandemic in 1918-19, New

Brunswick had notably low death rates.

" Hotels were turned into hospitals, schools became cafeterias, and

health officials used the network of Roman Catholic parishes to

connect with people, " says Nikiforuk.

" The outcome of a pandemic is never written in stone. We as a

community could create a shining example of what can be accomplished

when people work together. "

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