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National Pandemic Awareness Month
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The InfraGard National Members Alliance (INMA) declared January National Pandemic Awareness Month. The action was spurred by work already done by the Atlanta, GA, Birmingham, AL, and New Haven, CT InfraGard chapters, as well as that planned by the Los Angeles, CA and New York City Metro alliances.
“Their hard work and dedication is contributing to the awareness and preparation in the event of a pandemic,” said INMA President Rob Schmidt.
This is a multi-level opportunity to help local, state and federal agencies understand the threat, as well as economic, health and security repercussions of an illness, such as the avian flu, reaching pandemic proportions. “This will heighten the recognition of the need for local and national collaboration and preparedness,” says Joseph Concannon, NYC Metro Alliance president. “It also will provide InfraGard with an invaluable opportunity to showcase our organization, positioning it and our 85 alliance chapters and more than 16,000 members as leaders in our communities.”
A pandemic is defined as a fast moving virus to which there is little immunity in the general population. Leaders, such as former Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson, who spoke at the 2006 InfraGard National Conference, warn that a pandemic could devastate the economic and social infrastructure of the United States and the world. It could be analogous to the impact of a Hurricane Katrina in every state, reoccurring in four to five waves during a 12 month period, killing millions of people, costing billions of dollars, and disrupting every aspect of our lives.
During InfraGard's National Pandemic Preparedness Month, programs planned by local chapters, as well as public relations efforts by INMA, will focus public awareness on the threat, as well as on resources available to combat and contain it. Not incidentally they will highlight InfraGard at the local, state and national levels, position it as a “go-to” organization for Subject Matter Experts (SME) and introduce the public and private sectors to a cross discipline group of SMEs.
For more information contact Joe Concannon at jconcannon@nym-infragard.us.
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