By Jeff Massie
The Sun
MIDWEST, Okla. — It’s not yet known to what extent the H1N1 virus will strike, but it is believed by many that its extent could be widespread.
Entire schools have already been closed in some parts of the country due to the number of students contracting the flu.
One worst case scenario could be an entire public safety department being afflicted at the same time, such as a fire or police station. In an effort to minimize this risk, the Midwest City Fire Department is suspending its education programs in an effort to isolate and decrease the chances of an outbreak amongst firefighters.
The fire department will still respond to emergency calls and people in need of help.
Activities that will be suspended include CPR classes, child safety seat installation, smoke detector installation, school classroom visits, private sector training and public tours of the station houses.
“In an effort to be pro-active we have decided to substantially restrict non-emergency activities with the public,” Fire Chief Randy Olsen said in a statement. “Since our public education programs place us in such close proximity to many audiences during the day, we don’t want to potentially spread the virus to such a large population.”
Firefighters responding to medical emergencies will take extra precaution by using an approved face mask, eye protection and barrier gloves and will decontaminate themselves after each call.
Copyright 2009