Wayne State University experts join panel

Three members of Wayne State University’s Pandemic Preparedness Task Force will serve as panelists during a Webcast titled “Pandemic Planning Webinar for MI Colleges & Universities,” to be held on Friday, Nov. 30, 9 a.m.-12 p.m. The Webcast will provide pandemic planning for higher institutions of learning in Michigan and two-way interactions in real time with the panelists.

Sponsored by the Michigan Department of Community Health, in collaboration with its planning partners at Michigan colleges and universities, the Webcast will include three panels exploring such topics as campus shutdown, suspension and resumption of classes, pay and benefits of employees, tuition issues, security, international students and financial modeling.

Specific objectives include understanding the nature of pandemic influenza and why it poses a threat to the continuing operation of academic communities; to learn the principle components of a good pandemic plan; and to understand the role that colleges and universities have in community emergency and public health response.

Wayne State’s panelists are: Merlin Ekstrom, director, Division of Laboratory Animal Resources; Matthew Seeger, chair and professor, Department of Communication; and Sean Fitzgerald, associate vice president and associate general counsel.

Ekstrom will discuss the planning for pandemic flu\'s impacts upon academic research; consideration of plans for laboratory animals and their upkeep; and issues around faculty and graduate-level research and education during pandemic influenza.

Seeger will examine issues regarding campus security, communications and risk communication for pandemic influenza; disposition of international student issues as they relate to plans for pandemic flu operations; and issues involving operations of special groups and communications.

Fitzgerald will look at organized labor issues that may be faced by institutions of higher learning in a pandemic; and issues in a unionized environment, collective bargaining issues, policies & procedures and flexibility in these policies.

The Webinar will allow Michigan colleges and universities to establish contact with each other, share best practices and lessons learned, and further their pandemic planning efforts, in order to best prepare Michigan for an influenza pandemic.
Other panelists include experts from Bronson Methodist Hospital, Grand Valley State University, Michigan State University and the University of Michigan.

For more information about Wayne State University’s influenza preparedness and its Pandemic Preparedness Task Force, visit: http://fluinfo.wayne.edu/index.php  

Wayne State University is a premier institution of higher education offering more than 350 academic programs through 11 schools and colleges to more than 33,000 students.