SENATOR HANNON ENCOURAGES THE COMMISSIONER TO COME BACK FOR A SECOND MEETING

Senator Kemp Hannon (6th Senatorial District) urges Governor Paterson, Health Commissioner Daines and Education Interim Commissioner Huxley to schedule another “H1N1 Preparedness Town Hall Meeting,” given the short notice of yesterday’s meeting and lack of communication.

“Certainly the Town Hall concept is useful, but needs to be planned, scheduled in advance and done at a time when the intended participants are available,” said Senator Hannon. “Today all key decision makers for each school district are either running their districts’ just commenced new school year or involved in planned administrative meetings for the new school year commencing within days.”

“It is crucial that the State employ a better method of communication, including a one-stop web site for all New Yorkers and for each county,” continued Hannon. “The comments made by Commissioner Daines during yesterday’s meeting were very valuable, but they need to be webcasted and made readily available to the public.”

In a letter Senator Hannon personally handed to Health Commissioner Richard F. Daines during yesterday’s meeting, Hannon outlined six crucial points of concern. The Senator strongly suggested that the State promptly address each of these points if it is going to effectively meet the current challenges posed by the H1N1 flu:

• The government (DOH, SED, County) needs to continually discuss H1N1 as part of an ongoing public health initiative. Important because H1N1 may well have a different public health profile within weeks or days.
• Communication Pathways. The current guidelines are hierarchal and non-interactive. What policy is advanced if the school districts report to the County and to the State, but have neither indication nor assurance they will get information back in a timely (and useful) fashion? Getting the information back is essential because that is who and where the decision making has to occur. [Apparently one site is used to report, but this is password protected, so its merits, or lack thereof, are closeted.]
• Rationalization of information. The information posted on web sites is difficult to find, organized in a confusing fashion and scattered over different governmental agencies and, within the agencies, over different web pages. There needs to be “one-stop” shopping for New York and for each county. Fourth, the State needs to provide more frequent information in its updates and its message. Messages concerning the value of vaccinations, the specific nature of the H1N1 shots (one shot, two shots, three shots?) and the likely prospect of the new vaccines availability.
• Fifth, rethink the local testing or reporting process. Certainly the laboratory resources are scarce, but sometimes random testing will help local school officials determine if the 1/3 of the absent students are not there due to parental caution or due to the fact they have the flu. This then can be a valuable tool to determine how to protect the remaining 2/3’s of the student in a given district.
• Sixth. Roundtable Summit on LI; Come back again, but on a collaborative basis; I would be willing to convene LI health leaders to establish a roundtable and a summit so the decision makers in the schools, universities, hospitals, public health organizations (and others) can have an expectation as to the decision making process, the information process and the communication process.

“A roundtable summit on Long Island addressing all of New Yorkers’ concerns regarding H1N1 must take place within the next 2 to 6 weeks,” said Senator Hannon. “But this time, let’s provide adequate notice to the intended participants.”