Links For Solutions

Emergency Preparedness Fall 2008

Judy Crider — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 11:14:38 GMT

In the fall of 2005, avian influenza warnings began to appear in the pages of media giants as fears of a global pandemic were ramped up. A flu virus usually confined to birds had infected and killed individuals in Asia. When an article appeared in the Council on Foreign Relations publication, it was echoed in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and LA Times. The descriptions of the magnitude of a unchecked virus led to a response by the White House and legislation and funding from Congress followed to preempt if possible a global crisis and the potential of unimaginable death.

Three years later, no pandemic. As Michael T. Osterholm, PhD, MPH recently stated in his monthly briefing, "The concept of pandemic planning has been slipping into abstraction, a place where eyes glaze over and attention drifts." So should we shelf the Tamiflu, give our emergency food supplies to the local food bank, and return the duct tape?"

Au contraire. Dr. Osterholm continues to sound the pandemic warning bell as he continues to make the case for the devastation that would occur worldwide when as he puts it today's business model of a just-in-time economy collide with one of humankind's most formidable enemies: the influenza virus.

The focus on this potential disaster has provided us all with a wake-up call about the need to prepare for any disaster whether it be hurricane, tornado, tsunami, flood, fire, power outage, terrorism, etc. If you take a moment to trace the impact of natural disasters during the past few months, you can see clearly the impact of those who were prepared and those who were not.

As Dwight D. Eisenhower put it: "Neither a wise nor a brave man lies down on the tracks of history to wait for the train of the future to run over him."

125,000; 40,000

Judy Crider — Tue, 20 May 2008 11:35:31 GMT

What do these numbers have in common? No, they are not the difference in the median incomes between Los Angles and Little Rock. If you have been reading the news during the past few weeks you know that these are the number of people who lost their lives in two natural disasters in Myanmar and Chengdu, China. Picture this. In the instant media-linked world the horrific pictures and video poured in as waves washed over thousands in Myanmar and the earthquake toppled buildings in Chengdu like a child's Lego village.

What we witnessed, played out graphically on all channels, are the limitations of humans to withstand the forces of nature. In addition, we also are seeing the impact of inadequate disaster planning.

So what can we do? Common sense tells us that we will never be able to harness Mother Nature. We have seen tornadoes in our own country wreak havoc in community after community almost without warning. However, the distinct difference is that in the US preparedness is a community practice. Americans living in "tornado alleys" think about, plan, and prepare for these potential disasters. Most have storm cellars or shelters. As a result, most survive with property losses but not with loss of loved ones.

So here is another clarion call to prepare for emergencies. Think about the consequences of ignoring potential threats by dismissing them as something that only happens on the other side of the globe. Take one look at the frantic rescue workers attempting to remove debris of a collapsed 10-story building in hopes of finding a child, a grandmother, father, mother, or grandpa alive. A realistic plan is essential to community survival. Take the time to prepare before some natural or man-made disaster catches you off guard.

Lesson from 30 Years of Public Art

Judy Crider — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 12:26:51 GMT

Last evening hundreds of us gathered at the Chaparral Suites in Scottsdale, Arizona to celebrate Dr. Art DeCabooter's thirty year tenure as the President of Scottsdale Community College. As I listened to the testimonials and felt the genuine affection of those gathered to honor this man, it became apparent that what we all came to pay tribute to was not the usual but the extraordinary. Here's what we were really celebrating: a 30-year covert community development campaign orchestrated from the president's office. Through relationship after relationship, he "Artfully" crafted a new methodology of community engagement which actually produced long-term community partnerships and significant change in local public policy. One concrete example is the leadership he provided during the foundation of and the continued support for LINKS, the organizations that I am proud to lead as the current executive director. Our organization with Art's involvement and leadership created cross-system collaboration where none existed. That collaborative network continues to work together today to address issues that are greater than any one group or organization can resolve in isolation. So how did this one man make such a huge impact on this community?

Here are ten lessons that I have learned from my interactions with this dynamic community leader:

1.   Recognize everyone's contribution
2. Remember names
3.   Love what you do
4.   Be unashamedly faithful
5. Always tell a good story
6.   Give gifts, often
7.   Love your family
8.   Arrive early, leave late
9.   Laugh often
10. Mark a trail for other to follow

In Flew Enza 2008: Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the water

Judy Crider — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 11:08:40 GMT

Just look at the headlines of the last few weeks: Influenza Hits All Fifty States; Emergency Rooms Packed to Capacity; Staff Shortages Causing Concern for Critical City Services; More Companies Looking at Telecommuting. So we are in the midst of the yearly silent war on humanity from these invisible microbes, and yet those of us who have been harping on planning a response to a potential pandemic are still labeled as "crying wolf." Remember the moral of this childhood parable: no one in his community responded when the real wolf arrived, and, alas, the aforementioned crier met his untimely demise.

So what can we learn from this year's minor league game? The yearly flu vaccine is a best guess and was wrong this year. No one practices social distancing. The virus spreads at the speed of air travel. No one knows what the symptoms are and as a result spread the disease by coming to work when the virus is at its peak of communicability. The loss of productivity does have an economic impact. Working moms do stay home to care for sick family members. People still attend large group gatherings bringing the hitchhiker viruses to a whole new group. The virus does weaken the immune system and ushers in pneumonia and other bacterial caused lung diseases. People do die from complications of influenza.

Oh yeah, avian influenza is still killing people worldwide.

Avian Influenza Revisited

Judy Crider — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 11:42:27 GMT

Why should 208 flu-caused deaths matter given that the world's population is topping 6 billion? While it is beyond belief to hear of a case mortality rate of 61.5% for any influenza, isn't the biggest obstacle to taking the threat of a worldwide flu pandemic seriously the small number of human victims?

If we consider the tens of millions of domestic poultry that have been culled from the Far East to the countryside of England, it becomes more of a potential threat. Just a few genetic morphs and, viola, we have not just 338 cases of human infections but upward to 1/5 of the world population or over a billion cases. Should the case mortality rate continue at the height it is today that would tease out to over 650 million dead. "Pandemic is going to happen. It's like earthquakes, hurricanes and tsunamis," says Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease and Research Policy at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. "It would only take a grain of sand to bring the gears down."

After following the trail of the H5N1 avian influenza virus for over two years, it is apparent that the scientists who continue to sound the clarion call of "A pandemic is coming" are looked at as purveyors of just one more false alarm.

Why should a potential pandemic matter to the citizens of Scottsdale? Because we need to be aware of potential disruptions to our way of life that such a worldwide catastrophic event would spawn. If you look at what is happening in parts of the United States the past few weeks, we see over a million homes in the Midwest without power, across the Northwest residents struggled with snow and mudslides, a very tangible look at what Mother Nature can do to disrupt daily life. Now, imagine an unseen wave of virus impacting 40% of the entire population.

Again LINKS is suggesting you consider creating an individual road map for personal and business emergency planning. We have listed resources on our website as well as LINKS publications to help you create your map. We will continue to remind you that it is up to you to plan, and be prepared to deal with, pandemic flu or any other widespread disaster.

What's Quality Got to Do With It?

Judy Crider — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 13:37:57 GMT

Think fast: what's the name of your third grade teacher? I'll bet if you can name the teacher, she was someone who left an indelible mark on your life. She may have taught you a fail-safe method of memorizing the states and their capitols or the magic of the number nine in multiplication. One special teacher I know, Mrs. Jolly, created a life-long thirst for reading in her young charges by "letting" students earn entry into the classroom lifelike rocket so they could read quietly in a special place.

In the debate on education all agree that more needs to be done to reshape the current system in order to provide an opportunity for all kids to acquire the skills they will need for future success. As all roads in the ancient world led to Rome, all research on what makes a good education leads directly to teacher quality.

In fact, study after study show that student performance does in fact hinge on capable teachers. Value-added assessment studies in Tennessee show that the difference in achievement between students who attended classes taught by high-quality versus those taught by low-quality teachers for three consecutive years in sizable: approximately 50 percentile points on standardized tests (Sanders & Rivers, 1996).

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 requires that every teacher working in a public school must be highly qualified. The difficulty is that no one is quite sure how to measure and designate someone as highly qualified. If is a certificate? Course work and degrees? Content area expertise? Extended student teaching? Likability?

While the experts debate the topic, I suggest an easier identification process: follow the parents' requests. Word travels quickly at the local school about high quality teachers. In fact, most schools now discourage parental requests as top teachers' classes often have students put on waiting lists for a chance to be a part of their class.

Teacher quality, although newly discovered, has always been the doorway for student success. As we look at making refinements in the way we educate our children, it may be that the answer is hidden in full view. As there would have been no Plato without Socrates, what we are lacking is the institution of a mentoring system that matches a master teacher with new graduates. This insurance package provides a way to transfer skills and steps to high performance.

So what's quality got to do with education? Everything!

How do we stop the slide into mediocrity?

Judy Crider — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 13:18:51 GMT

When institutions of higher learning have to provide remedial courses for their incoming freshman in order for them to begin taking "college-level" course, we have a problem. When you add into the mix the fact that the majority of incoming freshman were ranked in the top 25% of their graduating classes, we have an educational crisis brewing. When institutions of higher learning have to provide remedial courses for their incoming freshman in order for them to begin taking "college-level" course, we have a problem. When you add into the mix the fact that the majority of incoming freshman were ranked in the top 25% of their graduating classes, we have an educational crisis brewing. Unfortunately, the remediation concerns don't stop there. Employers have begun to invest critical training dollars in "finishing" their college graduates whom they employ. Many lack basic communication skills required for the workplace such as written communication, public speaking, and business math. What is even more disturbing, many of these new BA's and BS's graduated at the top of their college classes.

So whose doorway do we lay the blame for this downturn in literacy in our society? I would like to blame Bill Gates but I have come to rely on Microsoft spell check and grammar programs. So who then? Is it the politicians? The media? Drugs and rock'n'roll? Texting?

Rather, I think the problem is more basic. Public schools have become the key institution in society for inculcating required socialization strategies. This "new" curricula is deemed necessary for civil society by legislative bodies whether school boards, state legislatures, or Congress. So instead of spending time with Johnny on the basics, instructional time is parsed to make room for more and more non-academic programs such as personal safety, AIDS awareness, drug prevention, tolerance of differences, character education, etc.

So are teachers the problems? In a culture that rates success in the number of dollars traded for the service performed, teachers don't climb to the top of the pile. Many of those who would make the best teachers choose a place in the private sector that rewards their intellect and ability. So finding qualified teachers has become more difficult as regulations and requirements are increased and pay remains static. According to a report on teacher education written by Arthur Levine, former president of Teacher's College at Columbia University, "Aspiring teachers emerge from college woefully unprepared for their jobs...." In addition, the report lists a host of other problems: low admission standards (those who can't, teach), disengaged college faculty, insufficient classroom practice and poor oversight.

So where do we begin in addressing this problem? Let's look to models of success outside the field. Let's turn teacher's colleges into the equivalent of the Eller School of Business in prestige, and maybe, just maybe, remove the "socialization curriculum" from the halls of public institutions of learning.

How much does common sense cost? A case for rethinking school finance

Judy Crider — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 15:18:26 GMT

A March 2006 Morrison Institute Report, "Beat the Odds," surprise everyone by finding that the top factor in performing schools was not more money. In fact, the opposite seemed to be the dog that barked. Commissioned to discover the ingredients that contributed to the educational excellence in 12 Arizona schools with predominately poor Latino students, the team from Morrison found that in every case, the people made the difference. These schools had all of the risk factors that suggest a one-way ticket to declining student performance. According to the prognosticators, the 12 should have tanked. But they didn't. They beat the odds and excelled. What's more, they continue to do so each year by showing annual increases in student achievement as measured by state tests.

When you draw the curtain back at these campuses, you find people--the teachers, principals, mentors, tutors, and coaches. The commonality across these schools was marked by leaders who set achievement goals and wouldn't stop until all were accomplished. Those is the business of excelling education prove daily in the laboratory of action that what really matters are the intagibles: that an enacted vision, common sense and unleashing local talent within each school are the consistent magic bullets. To quote the report: "Following these practices in successful schools doesn't require major infusions of capital, new teachers or new structures....Rather the evidence suggests, exceptional performance is achievable by virtually any school with the discipline to analyze over and over and keep focusing on what works."

In Arizona a little over 1/5 of the state budget is dedicated to financing public education. That speaks loudly of the importance this issue is to the citizens of this state. Let's begin to look at ways that this incredible financial investment can be wedded to the outcome we all desire: quality education for all children so that they can be prepared to take their place in the economic marvel of the USA. By continuing to do the same thing and expecting a different outcome is I believe the definition of insanity.

As we begin to rethink our state and local financing plan, consider the words of our 34th president, "We succeed only as we identify in life, or in war, or in anything else, a single overriding objective, and make all other considerations bend to that one objective." Let's agree to identify our objective, regardless of philosophic viewpoints, as the opportunity for a quality education for all.

Hope for the Best but Plan for the Worst

Judy Crider — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 07:02:00 GMT

Since the beginning of June the Midwest has been hit hard by severe storms and floods. Not only has this spate of disasters taken life but it also has begun to impact the local economies in large swatches of Oklahoma and Texas. Currently the damage estimate is in the hundreds of millions of dollars in both personal and business losses. But with storms in the forecast, that number could easily reach the billion-dollar mark.

What many be missed in this story is how this has also impacted the techonology arm of small and mid-sized businesses. Those that failed to heed the call for continuity planning have found themselves inadequately insured, with no back-up data systems, and without the resources necessaary to bridge the gap between today and whenever the federal assistance will kick in. What they don't know (but should), is that many of the businesses that were wiped out by Katrina and Rita are still waiting for the federal dollar cavalry to arrive.

So here we are again sounding the alarm for business continuity planning for the local small business community. Remember you business does not exist in isollation. You are part of the larger web of commerce. From product production to delivery to point of sale and reorder, i.e., the supply chain, your company contributes to the hum of the American economy. So it is imperative that the best practices in preparing for emergencies adopted by large businesses also become the norm in the small business community.

A year ago LINKS began talking about the potential economic hit to your bottom line from a pandemic flu, and while the media has toned down the volume on that (even though people are still dying!) we live in a world where just two weeks ago terrorists in Glasgow and London attempted to blow up significant centers of commerce in the free world--an airport and business hub. So whether manmade or natural, it is more than prudent to make dissaster recovery a top priority for your business.

Tip of the week: establish a remote working policy for your employees. This is a hedge against business disruption from Nature, terror or disease. By providing employees with remote access to computer and communication systems, it not only gains in staff productivity but it also enables most businesses to continue to connect with their customers when a disaster strikes.

TB Flight 385

Judy Crider — Thu, 31 May 2007 15:15:14 GMT

Since I heard the story of "TB Andy" yesterday, I have been asking how could this virulent pathogen, a novel strain of TB-a form that is "extensively drug-resistant", get past three international ports of entry into the United States and Canada? What complicates this even more is that the human host was on the "no-fly" watch list.

According to the CDC, TB is a serious disease threat both in the US and abroad. Globally, more than one-third of the world's population is infected with the bacteria that cause TB, and each year approximately 9 million people become ill with the disease, and 2 million of those die (which by the way is a 22% case fatality rate!) The ability of the disease to develop resistance to treatments and to travel easily across borders makes worldwide TB control efforts critical. Even more alarming is the XDR TB is cause for concern because it renders patients virtually untreatable with available drugs. Importantly, the emergency of MDR TB fifteen years ago was a harbinger of a pandemic; this scenario must be prevented from happening with XDR TB.

While bird flu as the prime suspect for the next pandemic has been removed temporarily from the media spotlight, the way this country is managing this single case of XDR TB should make us all ask the question: Do we have the resources and systems in place to protect our population during a massive outbreak of a novel virus? Do we have the resources to intercept an infectious disease carrier whether human or animal from entering unimpeded into the US?

Please read the materials posted in our Commentary section, especially the newest op-ed from Dr. Skip Burkle as we continue to monitor avian influenza as a critical public policy issue.

Fat City

Judy Crider — Wed, 02 May 2007 14:20:00 GMT

After interviewing Dr. Moe Bell yesterday about his book, Wellness Prescriptions, Simple Steps to A Longer Healthier Life, I was reminded that we are in the midst of a looming health crisis. And that very health crisis is 99% preventable and controllable. If you're like me you probably thought that this was an announcement of a vaccine breakthrough that would end another childhood illness. Guess what? I was wrong. Dr. Bell pointed out that the preventable health crisis is obesity. During his twenty year medical practice he has seen firsthand a large increase in the number of people who have a BMI of 30 or higher. What troubles him is that the number of youngsters who are obese is close to one out of every three kids. LINKS is commited to a safe, healthy and productive community and we cannot overlook this issue. In the coming weeks we will post the interview with Dr. Bell and if you dare, his compelling powerpoint presentation on this issue.

Are you prepared?

Judy Crider — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 14:02:00 GMT

Are you prepared for the possibility of a pandemic or natural disaster? It's not something we usually take time to think about unless some event forces those kinds of thoughts into our current awareness. As I was driving to the office today I learned that there was a magnitude 6.4 earthquake in Mexico that was felt all the way to Mexico City. It gave me pause to consider what would the Valley of the Sun do if Mother Nature rocked and rolled our community? Would we know where to turn if the power goes out? What we would we do if the roadways were blocked? Additional questions like these cascaded through my mind and I was reminded of the quote I had just read: "Prepared...Not Something You Do. Something You Are." I urge all of you to think about the unthinkable. Read the material on the pandemic. Then plan on attending the LINKS Business Survivial Forum on April 27.