Congregational Planning for Flu Pandemic

(courtesy of the ELCA web site)

Communication
Worship
Community Outreach
Other helpful links

Communication

In the event of pandemic, it would be important to be able to communicate rapidly with your congregation. It may be that people could be discouraged by public health officials from gathering in groups, such as at church. Many of the usual ways we communicate, i.e. telephone and e-mail, may be over-taxed and unreliable. Therefore the best way to guarantee the fullest communication is to identify and practice as many different ways to communicate as possible. Even though you may develop many different ways of communicating in order to prepare for a pandemic, you will find that these ways can be applied now to enhance your congregational life in many ways. You may wish to identify members of your congregation that have particular expertise in information technology. They could be helpful in preparing your congregation to use many different ways of communicating. Enhanced means of communication should minimally involve telephone, e-mail, Web page, Internet groups, and pod-casting.

Telephone & Cell Phone

Discuss with a representative of your phone provider what the available options are in your community for teleconferencing. Conference calls permit large groups of people to communicate at the same time from their homes and businesses. Your local phone provider may offer options you can consider for conference lines and group calls.

Additionally, you may make a search of the World Wide Web to identify free conference call facilities. There are also local and national companies that provide conference calling services. Usually you only pay for the services when you actually use them, but if you wish to pursue this option you should arrange for an account with such companies ahead of time because they will be swamped with new requests if a pandemic happens.

Automated calling services are also available. To find some of the options available commercially, just enter “voice broadcasting service” in a Web search engine and you’ll find a number of vendors.

Text messaging services are often operational during times of crisis or tragedy when regular cell phone calling may not be possible.  Encourage members to learn how to text in the event of an emergency occurs.

Many congregations have prayer chains over the phone. You can expand this concept to create a congregational calling tree to be of use for inquiring after the well-being of your members and sharing information.

E-mail

While there are still people without an e-mail address, most people today have an e-mail address. E-mail is the most popular form of communication after the telephone. Request that congregational members provide an e-mail address and ask their permission to use it to share important information.

Create e-mail lists of all your members so that you can send messages to everyone simultaneously. Many congregations send a version of their newsletters electronically and save postage costs.

Assure members that you will use their e-mail addresses only according to the ways they agree for them to be used. Remember that the “polite” way of addressing group e-mail is to include the list of recipients in the “Blind Copy” field, so that the list of addresses doesn’t print out to be longer than the content of your message. Your information technology savvy members can assist the congregation in drafting a privacy policy.

Web Page

If your congregation doesn’t already have a Webpage, you really should! People increasingly turn to the Web for information. You can provide up to date information through the Web that people can access from anywhere. You can also update the information from anywhere.

For tips on starting or enhancing your congregation Web presence, check out free Web hosting (e.g. www.lutheransonline.com)  and timely information you can include on your site.  Through Lutherans Online, you can create a free web page.  The site also contains elements of another useful communication tool, the Internet Group.

Internet Group & Social Networking Sites

Internet groups and social networking site (Facebook, My Space, etc) are similar to Web pages, but have many more capabilities. An Internet group goes beyond a Web page by not merely sharing information but also permitting a group of people to communicate with each other in important ways including live-time electronic chatting, file sharing, and messaging.

If you have a commercial Web page, your current Internet service provider may offer elements of Internet Groups that could enhance your current Web page to include these functions. Again Lutherans Online Web pages include many of the same functions that Internet Groups can serve.

Congregations should have all of the above communication channels identified and frequently practiced so that in an emergency, you can reach as many people as possible as quickly as possible. Outside of an emergency, it is still a good idea to create the capability to communicate your congregation’s programs in numerous ways.

Pod-casting

Pod-casting is a method of publishing files to the Internet, allowing users to subscribe to a feed and receive new files automatically by subscription, usually at no cost. Your congregation should be equipped to pos cast worship and Bible studies as necessary.

Worship

In the event of a pandemic, some communities may face periods of quarantine. People may be asked to stay in their homes. Public health officials may discourage public gatherings like worship. Your members however will yearn for the solace and comfort that worship provides in times of fear and crisis. Therefore, you may need to identify and practice ways to provide people with an experience of communal worship that can be done remotely and electronically. All of the channels of communication created for the pandemic can be used to communicate an experience of worship.

Perhaps you could plan for people to attend the worship service over a conference call. Perhaps you can videotape a copy and provide it over your Web site. People can gather in live-time Internet chat rooms created for your congregation to provide each other support. Copies of worship bulletins can be e-mailed or downloaded from your Web site or Internet group so people can feel connected to the congregation. You can envision the channels of communication most suited to enable your congregation to have an experience of worship if they couldn’t gather publicly during a period of quarantine.

It will probably not be possible to gather everyone in a congregation in one single electronic format. By using all of the channels of communication available to you, you can reach as many people as possible with the sense of hope and comfort worship can bring.

The ELCA  and the LCMS World Relief and Human Care has prepared worship materials that will address the fears and anxieties people would experience in pandemic. These materials will be downloadable from the ELCA or LCMS home page in time of emergency.

Pastoral Care

Like worship, Pastoral Care provides us with a great sense of hope and comfort when facing a difficult time. A time of pandemic could unfortunately bring significant illness and death into our lives. People would need pastoral care more than ever during this time.

Obviously the best way to provide pastoral care is through quiet and comforting personal presence. However, it is possible to provide pastoral care through the same electronic channels of communication that you would need to use to provide worship. It may be necessary to provide pastoral care through these electronic communication channels both because of the need to stay in quarantine and also because of the greater numbers of people who will need the care at that time. It may be impractical or even impossible to attend to the pastoral care needs of the entire congregation in person.

The ELCA and the LCMS have prepared pastoral care guides that will assist pastoral care givers in caring for people under the specific circumstances of quarantine, mass illness, and death that pandemic could generate. 

Leadership

The potential of pandemic requires certain contingencies be considered in leadership issues. Congregations and Synods together should prepare succession plans for leadership on the congregational and synod levels in the event that leaders succumb to flu or are unavailable for lengthy periods of time. This may involve clarifying who is to function in certain roles if the people in those roles cannot do so. Some form of succession should be determined for every ordained or commissioned leader.

The shape of these succession plans can be different from place to place. They minimally detail:
• The conditions under which succession occurs, or not; e.g. incapacitation of a leader.
• The method of notification
• The level of authority assumed by successors

Succession plans should also be three deep, that is, they should detail not just one person who succeeds another, but someone to succeed that individual as well. On a congregational level, this may include which area pastors assume responsibility for which congregations if a pastor is incapacitated.

Basic decision should be made about which congregational services are essential and should be maintained throughout a time of emergency and which congregational services can be suspended until after the emergency has passed.

On the congregational level, lay leaders should be identified to assume responsibility over various functions in the event that professional staff was unavailable. Office, maintenance, computer, and communication functions should each have lay leaders designated to assume responsibility over them in an emergency setting.

Community Outreach

While pandemic may require that members of the congregation stay in their homes for a period of quarantine, the congregation and its facilities may also be of great benefit to the wider community. Hospitals, clinics, public health agencies, and disaster response organizations may be able to benefit by being able to use your facility to serve the community. Your congregation may be able to serve as an immunization site for your community. Your congregation may be able to serve as a spill over facility for a hospital. Your congregation may be able to serve as a disaster service center.

Prepare a description of your facilities, i.e. a list of rooms, offices, kitchens, bathrooms, and other details of your building. Communicate with local emergency management officials in your community and offer your facility to be of use in a time of emergency.

Links for Pandemic Preparedness Planning
 
www.cdc.gov/flu/pandemic
 
The above site contains up to date information on planning for many sectors including government, business, and home. Additionally the sites provides a planning information and checklists for faith-based organizations at: www.pandemicflu.gov/plan/faithcomchecklist.html

Executive Summary:

A pandemic is inevitable—

With historic recurrence rates of 30-50 years it is prudent to assume that a pandemic will occur at some point in the future. The severity of such events is highly variable; some estimates suggest the most severe to date, in 1918, killed up to 100m. Many pandemics affect the old and young; but some (including the 1918 event) can, perversely, affect the healthiest.

1918 may not be a worst case—

It is certainly true that the 1918 event was extreme relative to other pandemics in history. However many published “worst case” scenarios take 1918 as a base. There is a danger that we over optimize to this one scenario. There are other forms of pandemic than influenza, some have higher case mortality. Pandemic Preparedness should consider a range of scenarios to ensure plans are appropriately flexible.

Economic impacts may be significant—

A repeat of the 1918 event is expected to cause a global recession with estimated impacts ranging from 1% to 10% of global GDP. Most industries will be affected, some more than others. In particular, industries with significant face to face contact will be impacted significantly. Insurers investment assets may be affected depending on the mix held. Wider economic and social effects may lead to secondary forms of loss for insurers.

Many insurance losses are possible—

For some classes of business such as, life and health it is clear that the impact will be adverse. For other classes of business it is less clear but many forms of liability covers including general liability, D&O, Medical Malpractice as well as specific products offering business interruption and event cancellation could be triggered. Inner limits for Pandemic losses (vertical and sideways) may help to contain exposure.

Secondary impacts may occur—

Events causing significant global and societal turmoil can give rise to considerable secondary impacts. It is far from clear which of these, if any, would occur; but for resilience planning purposes it is worth considering them.

For example the lawlessness experienced in New Orleans after Katrina could be repeated if police services are affected. Traditional claims such as fire loss may be exacerbated if fire emergency services have depleted efficiency and if tradesmen are in short supply.

Pandemic Flu Community Response Protocol

April 28, 2009

[Compiled based on information adapted from and used by permission from the Center for Disease Control, Church World Service, and Lutheran Disaster Response]

FAITH-BASED & COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS PANDEMIC INFLUENZA PREPAREDNESS CHECKLIST

The collaboration of Faith-Based and Community Organizations with public health agencies will be essential in protecting the public’s health and safety if and when an influenza pandemic occurs.

This checklist provides guidance for religious organizations (churches, synagogues, mosques, temples, etc.), social service agencies that are faith-based, and community organizations in developing and improving influenza pandemic response and preparedness plans. Many of the points suggested here can improve your congregation or organization’s ability to protect your community during emergencies in general.

 1. Plan for the impact of a pandemic on your congregation or organization and its mission:

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·        Assign key staff with the authority to develop, maintain and act upon an influenza pandemic preparedness and response plan.

·        Determine the potential impact of a pandemic on your congregation or organization’s usual activities and services.

·        Plan for situations likely to require increasing, decreasing or altering the services your congregation or organization delivers.

·        Determine the potential impact of a pandemic on outside resources that your congregation or organization depends on to deliver its services (e.g., radio, television, food bank, transportation, etc.)

·        Outline what the organizational structure will be during an emergency and revise periodically. The outline should identify key contacts with multiple back-ups, role and responsibilities, and who is supposed to report to whom.

·        Identify and train essential staff (including full-time, part-time and unpaid or volunteer staff) needed to carry on your congregation or organization’s work during a pandemic.

·        Include back up plans, cross-train staff in other jobs so that if staff are sick, others are ready to come in to carry on the work.

·        Test your response and preparedness plan using an exercise or drill, and review and revise your plan as needed.

 2. Communicate with and educate your staff, members, and persons in the communities that you serve:

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• Find up-to-date, reliable pandemic information and other public health advisories from state and local health departments, emergency management agencies, and CDC. Make this information available to your congregation or organization and others.
• Distribute materials with basic information about pandemic influenza: signs and symptoms, how it is spread, ways to protect yourself and your family (e.g., respiratory hygiene and cough etiquette), family preparedness plans, and how to care for ill persons at home.
• When appropriate, include basic information about pandemic influenza in public meetings (e.g. sermons, classes, trainings, small group meetings and announcements).
• Share information about your pandemic preparedness and response plan with staff, members, and persons in the communities that you serve.
• Develop tools to communicate information about pandemic status and your congregation or organization’s actions. This might include websites, flyers, local newspaper announcements, pre-recorded widely distributed phone messages, etc.
• Consider your congregation or organization’s unique contribution to addressing rumors, misinformation, fear and anxiety.
• Advise staff, members, and persons in the communities you serve to follow information provided by public health authorities--state and local health departments, emergency management agencies, and CDC.
• Ensure that what you communicate is appropriate for the cultures, languages and reading levels of your staff, members, and persons in the communities that you serve.

 3. Plan for the impact of a pandemic on your staff, members, and the communities that you serve:

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• Prepare and plan for staff absences during a pandemic due to personal and/or family illnesses, quarantines, and school, business, and public transportation closures. Staff may include full-time, part-time and volunteer personnel.
• Work with local health authorities to encourage yearly influenza vaccination for staff, members, and persons in the communities that you serve.
• Evaluate access to mental health and social services during a pandemic for your staff, members, and persons in the communities that you serve; improve access to these services as needed.
• Identify persons with special needs (e.g. elderly, disabled, limited English speakers) and be sure to include their needs in your response and preparedness plan. Establish relationships with them in advance so they will expect and trust your presence during a crisis.

 4. Set up policies to follow during a pandemic:

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• Set up policies for non-penalized staff leave for personal illness or care for sick family members during a pandemic.
• Set up mandatory sick-leave policies for staff suspected to be ill, or who become ill at the worksite.
• Employees should remain at home until their symptoms resolve and they are physically ready to return to duty (Know how to check up-to-date CDC recommendations).
• Set up policies for flexible work hours and working from home.
• Evaluate your congregation or organization’s usual activities and services (including rites and religious practices if applicable) to identify those that may facilitate virus spread from person to person.
• Set up policies to modify these activities to prevent the spread of pandemic influenza (e.g. guidance for respiratory hygiene and cough etiquette, and instructions for persons with influenza symptoms to stay home rather than visit in person.)
• Follow CDC travel recommendations during an influenza pandemic. Recommendations may include restricting travel to affected domestic and international sites, recalling non-essential staff working in or near an affected site when an outbreak begins, and distributing health information to persons who are returning from affected areas.
• Set procedures for activating your congregation or organization’s response plan when an influenza pandemic is declared by public health authorities and altering your congregation or organization’s operations accordingly.

 5. Allocate resources to protect your staff, members, and persons in the communities that you serve during a pandemic:

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• Determine the amount of supplies needed to promote respiratory hygiene and cough etiquette and how they will be obtained.
• Consider focusing your congregation or organization’s efforts during a pandemic to providing services that are most needed during the emergency (e.g. mental/spiritual health or social services).

6. Coordinate with external organizations and help your community:

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• Understand the roles of federal, state, and local public health agencies and emergency responders and what to expect and what not to expect from each in the event of a pandemic.
• Work with local and/or state public health agencies, emergency responders, local healthcare facilities and insurers to understand their plans and what they can provide, share about your preparedness and response plan and what your congregation or organization is able to contribute, and take part in their planning.
• Assign a point of contact to maximize communication between your congregation or organization and your state and local public health systems.
• Coordinate with emergency responders and local healthcare facilities to improve availability of medical advice and timely/urgent healthcare services and treatment for your staff, members, and persons in the communities that you serve.
• Share what you’ve learned from developing your preparedness and response plan with other Faith-Based and Community Organizations to improve community response efforts.
• Work together with other Faith-Based and Community Organizations in your local area and through networks (e.g. denominations, associations, etc) to help your communities prepare for pandemic influenza.

 

You can find more information at www.pandemicflu.gov.