  |
|||||||||
 |
 |
||||||||
| Newsletter for March 2006 |
|
||||||||
|
EDEN is a consortium of Extension professionals from 49 states, Puerto Rico, and Guam who focus on disaster-related issues. In the event of a disaster, the full resources of the network are available to affected areas for publications, advice, and coordination. Click on the links above to begin accessing EDEN resources. Top stories from EDEN regions:
|
|||||||||
Western Region |
|||||||||
West Nile Virus Cases Continue to IncreaseFirst reported in the US in 1999, West Nile Virus (WNV) now occurs in virtually every state. Between 1999 and 2001, there were 149 confirmed cases of WNV reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2005 (through October), the number of cases has been 2653 with 86 deaths. Just under 1100 cases have been the more severe "neuroinvasive" variety, in which the virus causes encephalitis or meningitis. The ten states with the highest number of cases are:
One surprising breeding ground for the mosquitoes that carry WNV has been found by Montana State University scientists. MSU entomologist Greg Johnson says that industrial sites in northern Wyoming – coal bed methane ponds – already produce more mosquitoes than natural ponds or irrigated agricultural fields. Many months of field research have produced this among other early results. Johnson and his coworkers continue their efforts to determine how many of the mosquitoes are carrying WNV. Coal Bed Methane Extraction is a relatively new process. Coal beds are often associated with significant quantities of methane, the most clean burning fossil fuel. Extraction of the methane from the coal bed is relatively inexpensive because the beds are often close to the surface, making access and drilling easier. Usually, large amounts of water must be pumped out of the bed to allow the gas to escape, which creates ponds. Many states have coal bed methane fields. Currently, there are 3,000 producing coal bed methane wells in Wyoming, according to the Montana Environmental Information Center. Another 50,000 wells are predicted for Wyoming in the next ten years and 14,000 to 39,000 for Montana. |
|||||||||
Southern Region |
|||||||||
Kentucky County Plays Vital "StormReady" RoleIn November 2005, Breathitt County Extension became the first county Extension office in the country to be recognized as a StormReady Supporter. StormReady is a nationwide community preparedness program from the National Weather Service in which communities coordinate local resources and create local systems to respond to all kinds of severe weather. According to NWS, there are currently over 1000 StormReady sites in the United States. To become a StormReady Supporter, an organization must fulfill several criteria:
University of Kentucky Agricultural Meteorologist Tom Priddy developed the NWS criteria for Cooperative Extension offices to become StormReady Supporters. Priddy said the idea behind county offices becoming certified is to encourage employees to think about preparedness. “Maybe they will go home and prepare a disaster kit for their family,” Priddy said. “Maybe they will come up with their own personal communications plan and tell their neighbors. As we saw in Louisiana and other places struck by weather emergencies this year, sometimes it takes awhile for help to come, so we need to learn to help ourselves in the meantime.” “We want our professionals to improve their ability to be prepared for and respond to emergencies. If we learn to help ourselves first, we will be more ready to help our clients – the people who depend on us for information. Breathitt County is the first, but hopefully all Kentucky counties will want to follow suite.” |
|||||||||
North Central Region |
|||||||||
Univ. Minnesota "Public Health Institute" Enters Fifth YearThe University of Minnesota "Public Health Institute" recently held a series of short courses, including disaster preparedness and related issues, during January 2-7, 2006 in Gainesville, Florida, in collaboration with the University of Florida College of Public Health and Health Professions. Minnesota's Public Health Institute Program is in its fifth year. According to an institute announcement, the Winter Institute was the first joint effort between the two schools and was modeled on a highly successful format developed by the University of Minnesota. Topics offered in the Winter Public Health Institute were:
The Institute's next event will be the Summer Institute, to be held May 22-June 9, 2006 at the University of Minnesota. Who should attend? The Institute is recommended for "Professionals from public health and other health and human service organizations: city, county, state, and federal government agencies; private sector businesses and industries; and graduate students enrolled in public helath, veterinary medicine, nursing and agricultural, food and environmental sciences..." Watch for details of the 2006 Summer Public Health Institute. |
|||||||||
Northeast Region |
|||||||||
Emergency Preparedness Planning for West Virginia 4-H CampsThe West Virginia 4-H program is entrusted with the health, safety and well-being of thousands of youth who attend county and state-based residential camps each summer. Over the years West Virginia 4-H has established a reputation as the premier youth development program in the state. This includes a 4-H camping program that is widely viewed as a safe and secure summer learning experience. This reputation is placed at risk each summer with the possibility that a 4-H camp is impacted by a major disaster event resulting in the possible death and/or injury of campers. While 4-H camp officials can not be faulted by the occurrence of a disaster, they can and likely will be faulted if their preparedness for and response to the disaster is less than adequate. To help make sure that this never happens, a training exercise was developed for West Virginia Extension Agents involving a hypothetical case study of a major summer storm impacting the "Madison County" 4-H Camp resulting in the death of two youth and the injury of several others. Built into this scenario were several "shortcomings" in disaster preparedness and response capabilities. A copy of this exercise can be found on (TBD). After reading the case study, training participants were divided into small groups and asked to develop an Emergency Preparedness Plan for the Madison County 4-H Camp that addresses the concerns reflected in the case study. More specifically, they were asked to address the following question:
A representative of each team was asked to present a summary of their team's response to these questions, followed by a group discussion. This discussion allowed the exercise leader to cover the basic principles and practices of disaster and emergency management plus how this exercise also relates to emergency preparedness planning for the home, office, businesses, and farms. |
|||||||||
EDEN at Work |
|||||||||
EDEN Becomes eXtension Pioneering Community of PracticeIn October 2005, EDEN was selected as one of eight eXtension Pioneering Communities of Practice. eXtension (pronounced "ee-Extension") is the national effort of land-grant universities to develop a new way for clients to access Extension information through one Web site, referred to as a portal. The goal for the eXtension Web portal will be to provide access to the best of the best Extension educational resources while still maintaining local Extension identification. See http://intranet.extension.org/about to learn more about the eXtension initiative. To develop content for its Web site, eXtension called for proposals in June 2005 from Extension professionals working in many subject areas called Communities of Practice. These communities were not necessarily defined by university departments or scientific disciplines but by categories of information, more in the way clients might view Extension content. Over 180 authors responded to the call for proposals. After extensive review, eight of these proposals -- including one from EDEN -- were selected to become the first, or Pioneering, Communities of Practice. EDEN's initial eXtension work will focus on two areas: floods and agrosecurity. Resources will include fact sheets, FAQs (frequently asked questions), and an ask-the-expert system. The EDEN executive committee accepted Penn State's proposal to provide management of EDEN's eXtension work. Dave Filson and Shirley Gryczuk will provide that leadership. The flood and agrosecurity work team members will be announced soon. However, all EDEN delegates and other Extension faculty and staff from around the country -- and even other people with expertise in these topics -- will be invited to help create information on the Communities of Practice Wiki* Web site. *A wiki is a Web site that facilitates contributions by multiple authors. |
|||||||||
Cited Links |
|||||||||
|
West Nile Virus and Coal Bed Methane
StormReady Public Health Institute |
|||||||||
About EDENbriefs |
|||||||||
|
EDENbriefs is published three times a year in March, July and November as the newsletter of the Extension Disaster Education Network (EDEN). Our goal is to inform local Extension agents about the national network that is available to them in times of disaster, specific programs that may serve as models, and resources that may be useful in disaster planning or response. Each state which is a member of EDEN is represented by a state point-of-contact (POC) and one or more delegates. You can find your EDEN delegation by clicking on "State Pages" at the top of this newsletter. Past issues of the EDENbriefs newsletter are archived on the EDEN Web site. Editor: Ed Jones (NC), EDEN
chair
Newsletter prepared by: Charles Brown (FL) |
|||||||||