The Polish Fire Service is preparing for a pandemic emergency in the near future with special funding being allocated to set up Rescue Notification Centers to deal with medical emergencies, according to Polish government documents.

 

The establishment of these pandemic emergency centers is being rushed through with the help of IT and logistics experts from outside the Fire Department.

 

Polish firefighters are also to get special decontamination equipment as well as special training.

 

The funding for the special centers appears to be lavish and is in stark contrast with the restricted cash pools usually available the Polish fire fighting services.

 

This a summary in English of the documents below by Krzysztof Tarnawski.

 

Main document dated 24 Aug 2009 - summary:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2346872/ah1n1wytyczne.pdf 

GUIDELINES OF THE CHIEF SANITARY INSPECTOR, MINISTRY OF THE INTERIOR AND ADMINISTRATION OF JUNE 16 2009 CONCERNING HEALTH PROTECTION IN CASE OF INFLUENZA OR OTHER AIR-BORNE DISEASES EPIDEMIC 

The guidelines are based on recent legal acts and mostly define medical procedures.

They are divided into 3 sections: prophylactic, diagnosis and treatment.

It reads prophylactic measures are important, as an effective vaccine against pandemic virus is yet to be developed.  

The document states, there is a serious concern the A H1N1 virus will genetically modify, what can lead to much higher morbidness and more severe course of the illness.

The first symptoms of the novel AH1N1 influenza develop 2-3 days after contraction and the sick person can infect others for 7 days.

So far we have single cases, which when confirmed can be treated in infectious diseases wards of hospitals.

The situation will change drastically in case of an easy transmission of the virus among people. The assumption is 30% of the population get sick (50% of the children) what limits access to medical facilities. New problems as well as threats to the security emerge, what brings new tasks for prosecution, law enforcement and security agencies. Certainly, efforts of many forces will be necessary to protect medical facilities “stormed” by huge number of people. Estimates are, the sick absence might affect as much as 25% of the employed, and the wave of disease may last even 12-16 weeks. New procedures will have to be implemented to prevent increasement in the high job absence.

Sick individuals must be instantly isolated via home quarantine, in dedicated barrack rooms or in case of detainees in cells. Because of public health safety reasons, no sick officer is allowed to travel home.

The document also briefly outlines sanitary measures and protective barriers.

Because of large number of sick, the diagnostics in most cases will be limited to history and physical examination.

Tight cooperation is planned with Chief Sanitary Inspectorate. 
 

Other related documents are: 

Decontamination procedures, scans of probably older text, faxed on 23 Oct 2009:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2346872/Zalacznik%20zalozenia%20do%20organizacji%20dekontamianacji.pdf

Establishing of Emergency Notification Centers:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2346872/Centra%20Powiadamiania%20Ratunkowego1_1.ppt

Building of teleinformatic network system for Emergency Notification Centers:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2346872/teleinformatyka_23092009.ppt

Pricing of the Emergency Notification Centers network equipment:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2346872/wycena%20CPR_1.pdf

Form with pricing to buy vaccines for units of one of the regional fire service, 2009:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2346872/Koszty%20szczepionki.xls

Budget correction in that regional fire service, dated 06 Nov 2009: 
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2346872/Szczepionki%20-%20wniosek.doc 
 

Original Source - http://www.theflucase.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1831%3Apolish-fire-fighters-get-special-funding-to-prepare-for-qpandemicq&catid=41%3Ahighlighted-news&Itemid=105&lang=en