Kaden's Law is in the works for the state of Illinois! Please sign and share the petition!8/20/2012
0 Comments
"Effective emergency and risk communications is essential to supporting the public health response and to help build public trust, confidence and cooperation." This is an excerpt from the state of Illinois H1N1 Pandemic Flu Plan found at: http://www.idph.state.il.us/pandemic_flu/H1N1_Pandemic_Flu_Plan_091409.pdf This is what we want for epidemics, in each state, for each reportable communicable disease. If it has to be reported to them, they have to report it to us if it becomes an epidemic! Update about "REQUIRE DOH SEND NOTICE TO CITIZENS IN EPIDEMIC AREA (KALIAH'S BILL) We have reached the goal of sending legislators in every state emails and phone calls to support Kaliah's Law. We have legislators in our state of Washington working on legislation for the next session in January. Both Senator Paull Shin and Representative Mary Helen Roberts are working on legislation in this area. We initiated the Public Service announcement about the epidemic(10,000 airings) and the postcard warnings (300,000 sent) sent to our county. We have thousands of followers waiting to see what the legislators will do this January! We are working towards a January release of Kaliah's Law. Thanks for helping us get the support we needed! Require the DOH must send a warning notice to all citizens in an Epidemic area Greetings, I just signed the following petition addressed to: All National, State and Local Government. We need standards for what an epidemic is for all communicable diseases, and a standard warning system for when there is an epidemic in your community! Quote from email to me from DOH March 22, three months into the epidemic- " Responding to your specific questions to Secretary Selecky about disease reporting (email attached), yes, pertussis is a notifiable condition meaning reporting of the disease is required. There is not a law related to our work to inform the public." Article August 10th: "Two babies died in Washington last year from pertussis; there have been no deaths so far in 2012. “While there’s no national standard for when a disease outbreak becomes an epidemic, the state Department of Health decided the time was right.”" There is currently no law or even requirement, for the CDC or any Government Health Agency to tell the citizens there is an epidemic in their area. The current policy is to inform Health Care Providers and used "earned media" from deaths and clinics to share the CDC recommendations and Health Departments epidemic message. People are unknowingly walking around in the middle of an epidemic and they do not say anything on the Department of Health Website. The Washington DOH said, "if every county doesn't have an epidemic, we can't say anything." The Health Department said that they and the Department of Health didn't agree as to the definition of epidemic. The CDC said, "Unfortunately, these outbreaks help us do our job" The state wouldn't call the CDC because they would only come for a week to help. They all said there is no money for sending out an epidemic warning! There is nothing in place to monitor and react at a national level in the event of an epidemic! A master plan should be created as to the definition of an epidemic and an automatic notice sent out once that level is reached to any household or business in the area. It is a law that we have to tell them if we have a contagious disease, but they do not have to tell us anything! Please make them send each household in the epidemic area a public health notice, explaining the situation and recommended steps to follow. For more information visit http://kennethaskorner.weebly.com/ Or our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Stop-Whooping-Cough/155649037851216 Senator Paull Shin and Mary Helen Roberts are also working on legislation around this issue, we will keep you posted! Excerpt from email to CDC 8/9/12 from me: "I feel the CDC and the DOH were both negligent concerning this epidemic. Both agencies knew this was going to be a really bad year for Pertussis, yet both failed to warned the public about it. Neither would listen when we begged them to do more. See below article from January 2011 citing the lack of Tdap coverage in adolescents and adults, as well as the 2011 warning of the waning of Tdap. If the "team" would have gotten busy earlier, it may not have gotten this far out of control. Every finding in the articles the CDC has written since they came to Washington, was already known. They just hadn't bothered to tell us about it. So, can you tell me yet, who was supposed to share this information with everyone? Because no one seems to be responsible. Not the CDC, not the DOH. Both agencies claim to protect The CDC says “Health Protection…Health Equity”, and their pledge, "To place the benefits to society above the benefits to the institution". The DOH has "The Department of Health works to protect and improve the health of people in the state of Washington" I think both agencies have both forgotten about the protection part and left society out of this epidemic. I do not feel protected. Chelsey was not protected. Kaliah was not protected. Both agencies need to do much better in the future. I do not feel the nations tax dollars are being used to the best of either of their abilities if they don't even have a plan for warning citizens in the event of an epidemic in their area. This should be standard practice by now. Will the CDC be working with the DOH on a plan for warning citizens as soon as a disease such as this reaches the epidemic threshold? Or will the victims family members be responsible again? I see warning citizens of an impending communicable disease, as the number one role of the CDC and DOH." So here is what we need and want: Require the Department of Health to warn us if there is an epidemic in our community as soon as it reaches the epidemic threshold, by sending out an official "Public Health Warning notice" to every household, business and PO Box in the epidemic area. That way each household will have received the information at least once right away, and can decide themselves how best to protect their family. There needs to be a standard set for each communicable disease, and a standard warning notice for everyone in the nation. Sincerely, Only 4 more days until the anniversary of Kaliah's passing. Which means there are only 4 days left in 27 Days for Kaliah! Please help us get the 26 votes we need on the change.org petition and send or call you legislator to let them know you want Kaliah's Law in your state! Kaliah died here in August of 2011, well after the January release of a warning from the ACIP that Pertussis was out of control! Who is responsible for sharing this with the public, ask them and it's no one! We need standards for what an epidemic is for all communicable diseases, and a standard warning system for when there is an epidemic in your community! Please ask for Kaliah's Law! http://www.change.org/petitions/require-doh-send-notice-to-citizens-in-epidemic-area-kaliah-s-bill Quote from email to me from DOH March 22, three months into the epidemic- " Responding to your specific questions to Secretary Selecky about disease reporting (email attached), yes, pertussis is a notifiable condition meaning reporting of the disease is required. There is not a law related to our work to inform the public." Article August 10th: "Two babies died in Washington last year from pertussis; there have been no deaths so far in 2012. “While there’s no national standard for when a disease outbreak becomes an epidemic, the state Department of Health decided the time was right.”" Link to article: http://www.yakima-herald.com/stories/2012/08/10/yakima-county-providers-pushing-for-whooping-cough-vaccinations Hello, We are attempting to branch out to other states. As a part of that I have reached out to parents who have lost children in other states to see if they are interested in a law like Kaliah's Law in their own state. The idea is to name the law in the name of a child who was taken by Pertussis (Whooping Cough) in each state. We have spoken to two other families who are interested in participating. If you know of anyone else who may be interested, please let me know. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Stop-Whooping-Cough-Washington/155649037851216 |
Kennetha Scott
The Power of One. That is how this all started. An assignment at school to see if one person could make a difference. My Nieces baby Kaliah, had just passed away at 27 days old from Pertussis (August 2011) and I had so many questions. Archives
December 2012
Categories |