by Jason Salas, KUAM NewsWednesday, January 18, 2006 Subscribe to Jason's newsfeed
The membership of the Guam Hotel and Restaurant Association heard a presentation by the Department of Public Health on the status of the island's readiness in the event of an Avian Flu pandemic. Public Health's Art San Agustin briefed some of the leading minds in local business about what government plans to do, should the potential of an outbreak become realty.He said the activities include "a series of meetings identifying our needs for the island in terms of increasing our capacity, looking at our ports of entry to conduct screening as well as health screening at those ports of entry, so it's really just an update to share what we're doing as a department, [and] our collaborative efforts with other agencies."San Agustin also mentioned the Guam Emergency Response Plan and its appended Pandemic Influenza Plan, drilling down into coordination activities between his agency and others in Government of Guam, and the island's private clinics for treatment in the event of a suspected case of a visitor to the island the Avian Flu."We would have contact made with Customs and then with Public Health, who would have contact with [the Guam Memorial Hospital] to have that visitor assessed. And if that visitor is cleared then she would be tracked and released to whatever hotel she was staying at; otherwise the visitor may be detained at the Hospital for further assessment."Representing the visitor industry, Dave Tydingco initially was hesitant from participating in discussions about the plans to deal with Avian Flu locally, seeing such as activities that might unnecessarily incite public panic. He now says he's taking a more active role in disseminating information to the public in the interest of corporate social responsibility. Said the GHRA chairman, "It's really important for us to use these forums to educate all our members about where we stand in terms of preparedness. More importantly, after this it lays the foundation for us to better coordinate and communicate with the officials who are in charge. "And we need to continue this discussion because again as we discussed, the plan continues to evolve."