|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Home » About Norwich » SGS Today »
News Article
[Photo credit: ©iStockphoto.com/zorani].
MSBC students help Norwich prepare for pandemic flu
by Dirk Van Susteren, correspondent
© July 24, 2009 Norwich University Office of Communications
The federal government has recommended that schools and businesses prepare for the worst if H1N1, commonly known as swine flu, stages a virulent comeback. Norwich University will be ready thanks to some help from a volunteer group of graduate students.
The students, from Norwich's online Master of Science in Business Continuity (MSBC) program, have been working since mid-June to update and refine the University's existing flu pandemic plan. Most students are involved in some form of business security or continuity planning at their regular jobs at corporations or universities around the country, so they bring hands-on experience to the planning table.
The project was conceived by Matt Bambrick, 40, of Chicago, a security compliance coordinator at Exelon Corp., a utility services holding company. Bambrick suggested the project to MSBC Program Director John Orlando, who supported it enthusiastically and posted a message on the MSBC website seeking volunteers.
As the flu ran its first course through the country in the spring of 2009, more than 700 schools suspended classes to help prevent its spread. The bug, first detected in Mexico, is now afflicting several South American countries and Australia. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports there's no evidence the virus has mutated into a particularly dangerous form.
Bambrick and fellow students have been reviewing Norwich's 7,500-word plan for a month, and have been emailing and telecommunicating with each other and David Magida, the University's chief administrative officer. Magida said that by Sept. 1, 2009, he expects to send a revised draft to the University's incident command team and the president's cabinet.
"This has been a great opportunity," said Magida. "It's a win-win situation, with the students [already] having extensive experience and this being a part of their academic pursuits … and with the University having a need." So far, the students have helped plug several holes in planning, he said.
The original plan, drafted in December 2008, establishes a command structure for dealing with a campus epidemic, with Magida as its "commander." It describes the roles various federal, state and local agencies would play during a serious outbreak; outlines how the flu virus is transmitted and how its spread might be mitigated; and lists the medical, academic and financial challenges the University faces if many students become ill or Norwich decides to shut down.
|
|
| |
“This has been a great opportunity. It's a win-win situation, with the students [already] having extensive experience … and with the University having a need.”
— David Magida |
|
|
The plan cites a CDC warning that 35 percent of Vermont's general population could become ill, and that there could be "shortages of vaccine and antiviral agents, of hospital beds and medical equipment, and increased risks of exposure and disease for health-care providers and first responders."
Magida said the student team offered several preliminary recommendations — one being that during an epidemic the University should have "phased-in responses" to consider before the final step of closing and sending everyone home.
Student Lynn Meadows of Nashville, Tenn., who is the business continuity administrator for Hospital Corporation of America, said the Norwich plan would benefit from better contact information in its list of faculty, staff and off-campus vendors to reach during a health emergency. "The contact information is always hard to keep up-to-date because names and telephone numbers turn over," she said.
Bambrick hopes the team's recommendations are "all-inclusive," meaning they address: caring for students; disseminating information to parents and the public; evacuation; working with vendors so food, fuel and other goods continue arriving on campus; and determining whether to shut down the campus.
Magida said the final plan should be implemented cautiously in a way "that will be taken seriously but that will not be the cause of overreaction or panic.
"As is the case with government agencies and other institutions, Norwich must walk a fine line with its communications," he said.
Ed Gregory, director of business-continuity planning at DePaul University in Chicago, and the only study-team member not enrolled in the MSBC program, credited Norwich for having a plan. "I think a lot of colleges and universities don't [even] have a pandemic plan, so Norwich is ahead of the game," he said.
Orlando added that students have contributed to the revision on their own time.
"They won't get extra credit; they won't have anything to show for this in their transcripts. … [But] this will help foster their personal development and make them better professionals and leaders in their fields," he said.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Norwich University - School of Graduate Studies
|
Admissions: 1-800-460-5597
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
