Cleveland Crisis Expert on Front Lines of Swine Flu Preparation

Monday, August 24, 2009
Topics: Education, Politics, Health
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A Case Western Reserve University professor took part last week in a three-day conference on how to prepare for a possible swine flu outbreak. Manuel Quinones reports.

Dr. Stephen Sroka teaches at the university’s medical school and also is a health education consultant. He says getting the word out about dealing with an outbreak of the H1N1 Flu is essential - especially now that government officials expect delays in delivering vaccines. He urged school leaders at the conference to be more creative about reaching out to parents and kids.

SROKA - “Our most important, effective weapon is education. So we have to hit the education message really hard. We gotta kick it with a flavor, so the target population can know what’s going on.”

School leaders warned they may be forced to close schools because of staff shortages in the event of an outbreak. But they joined other government workers in discussing ways of keeping services running in case of an emergency. Participants at the conference didn’t leave with all the answers but said they have a better idea of what to work on.

For 90.3, I’m Manuel Quinones, Capitol News Connection in Washington.