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Last Updated: Jul 2nd, 2008 - 21:15:22 |
(NewsUSA) - As the U.S. health system has been challenged by various disasters, tension builds about whether the federal government would be ready to respond to a public health crisis. Public health officials and health care professionals must act as first responders, investigators, strategists and medical care providers during emergencies such as natural disasters, disease outbreaks and bioterrorism - and that requires effective communication and emergency response planning.
A recent report from the Trust for America's Health, which was funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Bauman Foundation and the Beldon fund, examines the nation's ability to respond to public health emergencies.
The conclusion is grim: Five years after the September 11 attacks, public health preparedness falls far short of expectations, putting Americans at risk. the Trust for America's Health calls for accelerated bioterrorism and public health preparedness efforts and suggests the public take an active role in emergency planning and that risk communication be modernized.
Prospects may be scary, but there is hope in modernized communication systems, says John Rodkey of TechRadium, a company in Sugar Land, Texas that provides a patented immediate response information system known as IRIS. "State-of-the-art technology allows us to broadcast messages to large numbers of people in a very short time."
IRIS sends messages through multiple communications devices including landline phones, cell phones, e-mail, pagers, faxes, PDAs, satellite devices, LED signs and virtually any communications device that is connected to the Internet or telephone network. Using IRIS would provide a rapid response time to a public health crisis, Rodkey says.
Here's a scenario: Let's say there are 25,000 people on a contact list. If each has three phone numbers, 75,000 calls would be needed. IRIS proceeds through each calling sequence at digital speed. It covers all primary numbers from A to Z before calling secondary numbers. By reaching across the entire alphabet at once, everyone contacted receives the information at the same time.
IRIS may be used by anyone, not just the government. It is useful to parents, schools or anyone who wants to stay connected with fast, efficient messaging capabilities.
For more information about IRIS, visit www.useiris.com.
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