Lessons learned from Katrina, 9/11, SARS, and other disasters
DEBOISBLANC: I think a lot of our emergency preparedness focuses on dropping back and entrenching. I've always thought that the best defense is a good offense and that in the case of Katrina, a stitch in time would have saved nine. It turns out that the cost of building levees was about one-tenth the cost of bailing out the city after the fact.
And as we look in retrospect at each one of these events, that there is something that could have been done to prevent them that would have been a lot less expensive, even in the case of avian flu, investing billions of dollars in finding preventions and treatment would be money well spent compared to the trillions of dollars that it will cost the globe if we do have a pandemic. We really, I think, need to refocus, because that entrenching philosophy is expensive and if it never happens because one is never aware of what one prevented, if it never happens, you really won't know whether your efforts were effective. So we really, I think, have to take a new focus here.
SHUTE: Secretary Leavitt was talking this morning about a pandemic flu could even be a crisis that will last a year. You're now almost eight months into the crisis in New Orleans with no end in sight. How are people handling it?
DEBOISBLANC: As I suggested in my opening remarks, this is the hard part. This is like watching grass grow. There were very few – amongst healthcare professionals – very few cases of post-traumatic stress disorder in the immediate aftermath, because I think it was a very – as I suggested – a very triumphant experience. But this part is really hard. Here, we not only are displaced as individuals, but our families are displaced. My children were in another state for six months while I was expected to try to rebuild the healthcare infrastructure in my own city. That wears on you after a time, and I think we also have to think about the morale issues amongst not just our first responders, but our second responders for events like this. And bird flu, an event that's likely to evolve over a year's period of time, is going to really test our resolve.
SHUTE: Thank you. Dr. Franz, you've looked at situations like this where people are displaced and the social fabric is tattered for years at a time. What would you say we need to start doing?
FRANZ: Right now, I would say certainly – and again, mirroring on some of Ben's comments – when I was in Iraq, I could focus on my mission because I knew someone was taking care of my family at home. Part of what I'm rehearsing in my mind since coming to this conference is what would I do if I had to go to work at Mayo and take care of people, but I'm worried about the health of my family. That's going to detract me possibly from my mission. It may change my viewpoint of going to work. I think the comments from Ms. Running were outstanding when she talked about you have to somehow generate an enthusiasm or a reason to come to work and to put your shoulder to the wheel.
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