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The North Carolina Institute for Public Health, a unit of Carolina's School of
Public Health, is providing technical assistance and other support for the
flood relief effort in eastern North Carolina.
Through the institute, school faculty members are providing technical
assistance in such areas as water testing, communicable and infectious
diseases, drinking water and sanitation, injury prevention, safe disposal of
human and animal remains, snake and insect bites, and manpower shortages in
health facilities -- topics covered in a Sept. 22 videoconference coordinated
by the institute and state officials.
"We are partners with the state, lending our help and expertise wherever we
can, and supporting those in the eastern part of the state who are working in
the most adverse conditions," said Rachel Stevens, deputy director of the
Institute for Public Health. "The devastation is so great and many of the
problems have not yet revealed themselves but will need attention as they
do."
The videoconference offered health providers from across eastern North
Carolina the chance to ask questions, plan strategies, and receive guidance and
updates on health-related issues they are confronting because of flooding from
Hurricane Floyd. Institute staff is distributing videotapes of the
videoconference and support materials to local health providers unable to
participate in the videoconference from one of 10 satellite sites.
Along with state health officials and specialists, School of Public Health
administrators and faculty members shared their expertise and observations.
More than a dozen School of Public Health faculty have been enlisted as
consultants to the local health departments, assisting the state in addressing
health-related challenges from the flooding.
Students in the school's Department of Health Behavior and Health Education
are taking the information featured in the videoconference and using it to
craft informational messages, public service announcements and other notices
for use in eastern North Carolina by officials trying to get health-related
safety messages out to the public as well as health providers.
Students in environmental sciences and engineering are assisting state and
local health agencies conduct water sampling and testing.
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