CDC Foundation Credit Cards Used to Control Disease Outbreak in Shelter
Patricia Drehobl, R.N, M.P.H., arrived in Houston with a team of about 15 CDC experts. “The atmosphere when we arrived was overwhelming” says Drehobl. “Strangely, if you didn’t know why you were there, you would just assume it was a major sporting event at the Astrodome because of the thousands of people walking around outside and the incredible traffic.”
But the CDC team was well aware of their mission. Local health officials from Harris County Public Health and Environmental Services had requested CDC’s assistance in detecting and containing potential disease outbreaks among evacuees in the Houston Astrodome and the Reliant Center Complex. When the CDC team arrived, there were more than 20,000 people in the shelter complex.
The health officials were especially worried about gastrointestinal or respiratory infections emerging and spreading rapidly in the crowded shelters. A few cases of norovirus (which sometimes sickens hundreds of vacationers on cruise ships) had been detected. Epidemiologists on the CDC team went to work collecting samples and recording data, looking for signs of a potential outbreak.
But, epidemiologists and the entire CDC team hit a roadblock. They didn’t have adequate Internet access to share their findings with their colleagues in Atlanta. Understandably, the officials in the Reliant Center Complex were too busy to quickly help connect the CDC team to local networks.
“Not having access to computers and the Internet is the ‘kiss of death’ to CDC folks,” says Drehobl. For the first two days, they relied on one laptop with Internet access. “People were standing in line to use it,” says Drehobl. “CDC leadership in the Emergency Operations Center wanted to send us information and we needed to send data back to them, but we were hampered communicating primarily by phone.”
When the team leader announced that a CDC Foundation credit card linked to the Emergency Preparedness and Response Fund was on the way, Drehobl knew they could fix the problem. When the card arrived, her team leader ordered two desktop computers, several printers and fax machines and network cables and wireless cards for CDC team members’ laptops. Drehobl was sent to the store to pick up the equipment. Once the team set up and connected it, communications with the Emergency Operations Center progressed smoothly and the team had access to important online public health resources. When the team left and returned to Atlanta, they donated the equipment to the local Harris County health department. “They were very appreciative of the equipment,” says Drehobl.
Soon after, Drehobl, whose responsibility with the team was health communications and education, used the CDC Foundation credit card to fill another gap. The CDC team and Harris County health officials decided that an important strategy to prevent the spread of infection was to educate shelter residents about the importance of washing or sanitizing their hands and of quickly reporting any symptoms of respiratory infections.
First, the CDC team and Harris County health officials worked together to create the messages they wanted to deliver. The group then printed the messages on signs and small posters at the Harris County health department five miles away and brought them to the Astrodome. “We could only print about 50 flyers or posters at a time,” says Drehobl. “And the small signs just didn’t stand out; the Astrodome was papered with flyers about missing loved ones and evacuee services.”
Drehobl offered to use the CDC Foundation credit card to order larger professionally printed materials from a local print shop. She ordered several large vinyl banners and hundreds of posters and flyers, all with the theme, “Help us keep you healthy.” Drehobl and her fellow health officials noticed immediate results. “We saw that the volunteers and security officers were beginning to carry hand sanitizer with them and were encouraging residents to use it,” says Drehobl. “The volunteers would even stand at the beginning of the line at meal times and encourage residents to use hand sanitizer right on the spot. From then on, volunteers and residents frequently approached CDC team members and asked for more hand sanitizer, which we quickly supplied.”
“I’m sure the printing expense was a drop in the bucket of what was available through the Emergency Preparedness and Response Fund, but it was incredibly valuable to us,” says Drehobl.
Because of the education campaign; the hard work of epidemiologists, clinicians and volunteers; and a little good fortune, no major disease outbreaks occurred at the Astrodome and surrounding shelters. After about two weeks, Drehobl returned to Atlanta.
“We were very fortunate to work with a county that welcomed us and allowed us to support their efforts in a meaningful way,” says Drehobl. “While working at the ground level of public health in Houston, I personally was reminded of how you can really make a difference with simple interventions to keep people and communities healthy.”