Swine Flu, Mexico DF, 30 April 2009. Members of the Mexican Red Cross prepare the distribution of 2 million panphlets and 200 thousand posters that starts today all over Mexico, to inform the population about the sympthoms of the swine flue and the ways t
Marco Jimenez in Mexico-City
The Prehospital Care and Operations Unit (PCOU) is the active section of the National Relief Coordination of the Mexican Red Cross (CRM). It is responsible for stabilizing patients,and transporting and delivering them to where they can receive specialist health care. This is the unit which will be called on to play a key role in transporting patients if swine flu spreads uncontrollably among the population.
Its activity is governed by the principle: “time is gold”, i.e. the crucial time available to administering first aid to someone whose life is in danger. ‘This is practically impossible in the biggest city in the world. To overcome the logistical limitations, we must continually train our volunteers - more than 12,000 - as a basic priority’ assures Roberto Chávez Manjarrez, head of PCOU.
In spite of the crisis caused by the outbreak of swine flu, the situation is still manageable which is allowing the MRC to prepare for the potential emergency situation.
The PCOU has three guidelines for carrying out work related to swine flu: - Keep statistical records detailing reasons for mobilizing the PCOU, profiles of the patients and their symptoms, and the response given to each suspected case of infection. The objective of this being to keep track of infected people and gain a better understanding of the public’s reaction to the infection; - Protect its staff and the public by using protection equipment and respecting sanitation rules - including sterilizing the ambulances - to avoid possible infection; - Identification of the most densely populated areas in relation to the presence of hospitals and medical care centres in the immediate vicinity.
‘Faced with an exponential spreading of swine flu cases, these measures will allow us to rule out false alarms and reduce travel times for patients’, says Manjarrez. ‘The greatest challenge of this first phase is the huge increase in unnecessary calls, and calls giving insufficient details which mobilize the MRC needlessly.’
The improved efficiency of the PCOU and its volunteers as well as the development of response strategies prior to the crisis will be crucial if there is a massive increase in the number of swine flu cases. ‘The earthquake in Mexico in 1985 taught us how badly prepared we were. When humanitarian assistance arrived, we were overwhelmed by the enormity of the responsibility and we didn’t know how to optimise our available resources. The need to make our staff more professional was evident then. This is why we must be ready for a crisis which may explode at any time’ admits Chávez.
’The possibility of finding ourselves in a situation similar to the Spanish flu which killed 50 million people, or the Hong Kong flu which caused 1 million deaths, means that we can spare no effort in preparing for this response’ says this veteran of 40 years in the Mexican Red Cross.