Latest news with #EffinghamCountyHealthDepartment
Yahoo
08-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Health official highlights emergency preparedness after bird flu found in county
EFFINGHAM — Five people were exposed when a hawk tested positive for the bird flu in Effingham County last month, but they showed no signs of the virus, according to the Effingham County Health Department. 'Everybody is doing great,' said the department's public health nursing director, Lyn Waller, during the Effingham County Health and Insurance Committee Tuesday. Waller said the policy for exposure is to monitor them for 10 days. The health department received notice Feb. 14 that a hawk collected in the county tested positive for avian influenza. The bird was collected Feb. 11 and submitted for testing at the University of Illinois Veterinary Diagnostic Lab. Waller said the department cannot divulge where the hawk was collected in the county per state policy. With the bird flu outbreak at the forefront nationwide, Amber Wille, emergency preparedness director for the Effingham County Health Department, took Tuesday to provide committee members a brief overview of the health department's Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Medical Reserve Corp programs. Wille noted public health response is always evolving, and it seems there's always something going on, from Ebola to COVID to now bird flu. She said public health is always behind the scenes, trying to build its capacity to respond to any type of emergency regardless of what it is. Since taking over the emergency preparedness program in June, Wille said one of the areas she noticed was a little lacking was internal support. 'I know when the previous coordinator was in place, she was in the role for a very long time. She did a lot of things on her own. It's hard to keep track of everything, so when you have a turnover from someone who's been there for so long, trying to make sure that the policies and procedures are in writing and clear and can be transferred among many people,' she said. Wille said the department has been working on building its incident command team to involve more health department employees and distribute it across as many people as possible in case someone is not available or there is a turnover. So, all are familiar with the plans and policies and what they should do. 'It takes so many people and everybody's individualized knowledge to be able to work together,' she said. 'We've started that, but we do have a lot of work to follow through to make sure we fill all those positions and start training together as health department staff.' Another program Wille is focused on is the department's Medical Reserve Corp, which consists of both medical and non-medical volunteers who support the health department and can be used for actual response like they were with the COVID and vaccination clinics. They can also be utilized for public health outreach initiatives in the community. The department currently has 18 volunteers. 'That's something we're trying to focus on, and build our volunteer base, and to utilize them a little bit more efficiently, and integrate them into different opportunities in the community,' she said. The program allows the department to have volunteers who have been vetted rather than spontaneous. 'It's great if you want to help out when we realize there's something occurring or an incident, but it's really hard to keep track of them and verify their credentials quickly or verify who they are, what they're able to do,' she explained. 'I think MRC has been a little underutilized in the past with what the group of volunteers is capable of doing, and a lot of MRCs are successful now in that they bring the volunteers on board and they tap into what their volunteers are passionate about, and then they can explore those passions and make a difference in the community through an organized group. 'So that's something we're definitely going to be working on the next several months to try to build that up a little bit more,' she said.
Yahoo
17-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Bird tests positive for Avian Flu in Effingham Co.
EFFINGHAM, Ill. (WCIA) — The Effingham County Health Department is warning the public that a bird in their community recently tested positive for Avian Influenza. On Feb. 11, a hawk was collected in Effingham County and submitted for testing at the University of Illinois Veterinary Diagnostic Testing Lab. On Feb. 14, the health department was informed that the bird had tested positive for Avian Influenza. Flu deaths may surpass COVID deaths in Illinois The health department assured the community that the public health risk is low, but they are monitoring the situation carefully. And, they are working with local and state partners at this time, to assess the risk between people and the affected bird. At this time, the health department asks that people avoid direct contact with wild birds. And they remind the public not to handle or capture waterfowl or other wild birds that are sick. For more information about Bird Flu, visit the CDC's website. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
