While at this point it does not appear that swine flu will have a major impact on the health of more than a handful of Kentuckians, the University of Louisville has received a $2.3 million federal grant to help the state be better prepared for the next pandemic outbreak.
The grant from the Homeland Security Department will help research teams focus on detection, preparedness, protection, response and recovery from any massive outbreak.
While the worst fears about the swine flu have yet to be realized, Paul McKinney, associate dean of U of L’s School of Public Health and Information Sciences, said concerns about a swine flu pandemic provided a “window of opportunity” to better prepare the state for more severe disease outbreaks in the future.
“This is preparation for us, sort of a dress rehearsal if you will, for what could be a major pandemic with a lot more severe impact in the future,” said McKinney, a co-leader of the research team. The work will enhance preparations in town halls, schools, health clinics and hospitals, he said.
The goal is to lessen any future pandemic’s severity by preventing and containing infectious disease and ensuring community services continue amid an outbreak, McKinney said. Preparedness guides will be crafted for small and mid-sized communities, now often overlooked since much of the national attention has gone to metropolitan areas in preparing for pandemics.
One hopes the type of pandemic that leads to illnesses and deaths throughout the state will never occur, and the skills community’s will learn through the grant will never be needed. But the motto of the Boy Scouts of America says it best: Be prepared. Thanks to the grant, if a pandemic does strike the state, Kentucky will be better able to handle it than it is today.
Editorials
Be prepared — 06/02/09
Grant will help communities plan for a pandemic outbreak
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Earmarks again?
Immediately, following the midterm elections of 2010 which saw Republicans regain control of the House of Representatives and capture seats in the U.S. Senate, Republican leaders in Congress announced they had heard the voice of the voters and vowed to cease using “earmarks,” the name given to appropriations slipped into bills by influential legislators without a vote.
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Best in the nation
It may surprise many readers that Newsweek’s “best high school in America” is located right here in Kentucky and is open to selected students throughout the state, but then the Carol Martin Gatton Academy of Mathematics and Science at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green is hardly your typical high school. In fact, it would be impossible for even the best public high schools to emulate the amazing success of students at the Gatton Academy.
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After the vote
We offer today a few reflections on the messages voters sent in Tuesday’s primary election in Kentucky.
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A mild winter
As we approach the Memorial Day weekend, long hailed as the unofficial start of the summer vacation season, we pause to reflect upon the winter that wasn’t.
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Devices banned
Emergency breathing devices that tests have proven unreliable are being phased out under a directive issued by the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration. However, MSHA has given mine operators more than 18 months to remove all the air packs from underground mines.
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A free weekend
In an effort to promote increased recreational use of the two lakes in the Daniel Boone National Forest, the U.S. Forest Service will offer free fishing and boating during the first weekend in June.
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Ho-hum election
Psst! Want to know a secret? There’s a primary election Tuesday. And it’s right here in Kentucky! However, there has been so little interest in this election, that Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes, the state’s top election official, is predicting that only betwixen 10 and 12 percent of the state’s eligible voters will take the time to go to the polls tomorrow.
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A real rush job
By giving first reading approval to two identical ordinances creating the Northeast Regional Jail Authority, elected leaders in Boyd and Carter counties are reviving a 30-year-old political issue — only this time with different results.
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KCTC leads way
The ability of Kentucky to compete with other states and the rest of the world for the good jobs of tomorrow keeps improving by degrees.
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Slow decline?
Louisville’s Churchill Downs is seeing its shortest spring meets since 1975, and some owners, trainers and breeders fear they could get even shorter. That is unless the Kentucky General Assembly has a change of heart and gives the home of the Kentucky Derby the option of increasing its nonracing revenue by offering new forms of gambling.
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Earmarks again?




