Businesses brace for threat of swine flu

September 20, 2009

By ROWENA VERGARA and Cindy Cain rvergara@scn.com; ccain@scn1.com
A widespread swine flu outbreak this winter could seriously cripple the ability of many businesses to operate, according to a Harvard School of Public Health study released recently.

Two-thirds of the more than 1,000 businesses questioned in the study said they could not continue to operate with 50 percent of workers out sick for two weeks. Even fewer, 22 percent, said they could continue to operate for a month if half of their workers were stricken by the flu.weeks or more.

But only a minority of businesses has begun to prepare an emergency plan for a possible widespread outbreak of the swine, or H1N1, flu, health experts warn.

"Businesses need to start planning how to adjust their operations to account for greater absenteeism and to slow the spread of H1N1 in the workplace," said Robert Blendon, professor of Health Policy and Political Analysis at Harvard.

Businesses may have to consider having more flexible leave policies, not requiring notes from doctors and staggering shifts to handle a widespread outbreak, the Harvard study advised.

Workers at Caterpillar's Oswego Township plant are preparing and practicing now for a potential outbreak situation. The company has been conducting mock employee screenings for the flu at entrance gates, said spokeswoman Bridget Young.

Medical workers would be involved in taking temperatures and going through a questionnaire with employees who may need more attention -- only after Caterpillar's team of corporate medical workers have been advised by the World Health Organization, Centers for Disease Control and local health departments to conduct the screenings.

"If the time comes to enact that plan, we're ready to react," Young said.

Another major employer, Fermilab, has always had a comprehensive plan for how to handle pandemics or outbreaks. To keep operations running smoothly, Fermilab has a process in place that determines the chain of command in the event managers and supervisors fall ill.

The company offers free flu shots to employees, which will be available soon.

Among the local hospitals, Rush-Copley Medical Center has a team of workers meeting weekly to discuss the event of an swine flu outbreak. The team closely monitors the number of seasonal flu cases and works with hospitals in the region to assess the situation.

Provena Mercy Medical Center is not requiring health care workers to receive either vaccine, but the hospital is telling all of its employees that if they get sick, prepare to stay at home for seven days.

The seasonal flu vaccine, as well as the swine flu vaccine, will become available to employees at both Rush-Copley and Provena for free.

The hospitals are not following the lead from Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, which recently instituted a mandatory seasonal flu vaccine for all of its health care workers.

At Provena Mercy Medical Center, employees who are healthy could be asked to work extra hours if too many workers are sick.

Also, health care workers with nursing capabilities could be asked to assist with bedside functions like temperature and blood pressure checks, as well as bathing and changing. Extra help could be needed in Provena's emergency room as well, Quirin of Provena Mercy said.

Provena is also prepared to set up areas for health care workers to sleep at the hospital "if they can't leave easily," Quirin said.

Within a week of the news that Illinois was seeing swine flu cases last flu season, Provena's emergency room visits soared and staff was increased.

If a business has not considered its emergency preparedness plan, the Kendall County Health Department suggests taking the precautions you would take to prevent the flu. But also, employers should be realistic about this year's flu season: know that employees will be out of work and production and operations could be slow, Donna Sperlakis of the Kendall health department said.

"Companies should consider just relaxing their policies and not punishing people for calling in sick," she said. "Give them the flexibility to be sick if they really are sick, like working from home, if they have sick kids at home."

More information also is available for the business community at www.flu.gov.