Epidemiology & Disease Prevention - Cerro Gordo County Department of Public Health

Disease Prevention

Pandemic Flu Awareness Plan

It is difficult to predict when the next influenza pandemic will occur or how severe it will be. However, national experts on the subject say it will happen. It’s just a matter of when it will happen and how severe it will be.

Because this threat exists, officials at the Cerro Gordo County Department of Public Health, Mason City, Iowa are taking steps to prepare our community:

A Pandemic Influenza Plan has been created for the many partners that will be working with the health department.
Also, a Pandemic Flu Public Awareness Campaign has bee developed and was unveiled to the public Sept. 1, 2006 in Cerro Gordo County.

The public awareness campaign includes the following measures:

A press conference was held Sept. 1, 2006 at the Cerro Gordo County Department of Public Health to kick off the campaign. Several media interviews were conducted to educate residents about the plan.
The health department formed a partnership with seven local grocery stores in Cerro Gordo County:

Both Hy Vee stores in Mason City
Fareway Grocery, Mason City

Fareway Grocery, Clear Lake
Walmart, Mason City
EconoFoods, Clear Lake
Dugan’s Supermarket, Rockwell

All grocery store managers or owners have agreed to help distribute educational flyers about pandemic flu.

This part of the campaign is an extensive outreach to members of the community. The health department has prepared four, 2-sided flyers. Each week for four weeks, a new flyer with pandemic flu information will be handed to grocery store customers as they get their receipt at the cash register. Each week’s flyer will be printed on a different colored paper to signify that each has new material.

As the flyers become available in the grocery stores, you can also view them here. These files require Adobe Acrobat Reader. If you do not have Acrobat, you can download it for free on the Adobe Acrobat web site.

Flyer 1 will be distributed beginning Friday, Sept. 8

Flyer 2 will be distributed beginning Friday, Sept. 15

Flyer 3 will be distributed beginning Friday, Sept.22

Flyer 4 will be distributed beginning Friday, Sept. 29

The Pandemic Flu Awareness Campaign also includes:

Radio messages
Newspaper messages
Internet: The Cerro Gordo County Department of Public Health web site will continue to be updated with pandemic flu information and details about this campaign. Visit our main pandemic flu page.
Display: a traveling display will be created and taken to various places in the county for display. This community outreach effort will include display at all county public libraries, school registration or “back to school” night events at all possible county schools; area businesses, community events, senior centers, local cafes, etc.
Protect Iowa Health: The Cerro Gordo County Department of Public Health will also distribute the Iowa Department of Public Health’s preparedness booklet Protect Iowa Health at all possible avenues during this campaign.

Every person in the community will be responsible, to some extent, for their own health. Public Health will provide recommendations and guidelines in the case of a pandemic flu outbreak. Our expectations of the public will be that everyone takes these guidelines seriously and recommendations are followed.

The Cerro Gordo County Department of Public Health’s approach on pandemic influenza planning is to prepare for the worst, but hope for the best. We do not have the luxury of being unprepared.

If a pandemic strikes, it will affect the country as a whole. The health department’s plan is based on handling the needs of our community at the local level. We are not expecting assistance from outside sources.