H1N1 Flu & Homeless Services
 
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Welcome. The purpose of this website is to gather materials to help homeless service providers plan for and respond to H1N1 (swine) flu.

Homeless persons may bear particular risk of contracting influenza because of crowded and unsanitary living conditions, stressed immune systems, and close contact with highly transient persons.  This is also the case for other communicable diseases, but the rapidly developing swine flu epidemic calls for increased precautions and vigilance. John Lozier, National Health Care for the Homeless Council

Here are some key resources:
  1. CDC Interim Guidance for Homeless Shelters
  2. CDC triage algorithm for adults--a good flow chart for determining when adults with flu-like illness need medical care.
  3. CDC triage algorithm for children (<18)--flow chart to determine care for those under 18 years of age.
  4. Interim Guidance for Temporary Emergency Shelters, from the California Department of Public Health, covers many of the bases. It is intended to mitigate spread of flu, and thus doesn't cover treatment (see below for that). Note that this wasn't written for homeless service providers per se, but since temporary emergency shelters are functionally very similar to homeless shelters, it serves very well.
  5. Swine Flu in the News:  What Shelters and Other Homeless Programs Need to Know is a quick, practical and easily implemented guide on what to do
  6. The Pandemic Response Planning Checklist for Homeless & Housing Service Providers is the briefest comprehensive overview of things to consider and do.
  7. The Pandemic Influenza Q&A for Homeless Population/Shelters is very short and suggests that homeless people not be encouraged to come to shelters during a pandemic but rather be supported by outreach.
  8. An Influenza Planning Guide for Homeless and Housing Service Providers is the most comprehensive resource I've found so far.
  9. Seattle-King County H1N1 FAQs for Homeless Persons
  10. Seattle-King County H1N1 FAQs for Shelter Providers
A version of some pdfs linked above also is available below in the Attachments section. These may not be the latest version, so use the links if they are working.

The National Health Care for the Homeless Prevention Council also provides information on communicable diseases.

There is potentially a lot to assimilate and to do, and it could feel overwhelming.  It seems to me that the easiest thing to do is to just work with the third resource listed above (Swine Flu in the News...).  If you have more time, you could read all of the materials above and then to use the response checklist to begin implementing a plan.

Hand sanitizing and limiting the effect of sneezing and coughing are very important ways to limit the spread of flu. Here are downloadable and printable posters for these concerns.

It may well be necessary to take care of moderately ill individuals in shelter environments. Here is guidance on how to do this.

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) provide authoritative and up to date information. Here is the CDC swine flu page. Effect Measure is a blog run by senior public health scientists and practitioners, and provides an interesting behind the scenes perspective. Here is a regularly updated map of where swine flu is being found. The resources mentioned in this paragraph are not specific to homelessness.

If you'd like to participate in a Google group (Google account required) intended to facilitate sharing of information among those interested in this subject, here is a link:
Google Groups
Pandemic Flu & Homeless Services
Visit this group

Thanks for your interest.

John Records
Executive Director
Committee on the Shelterless (COTS)

If you would like to help build this resource and be given authorization to edit this page, please contact me.




Attachments (7)

  • H1N1FluFAQforHomelessPersons050509.pdf - on May 11, 2009 2:51 PM by John Records (version 1)
    43k View Download
  • H1N1FluFAQforShelterproviders050509.pdf - on May 11, 2009 2:51 PM by John Records (version 1)
    57k View Download
  • InterimGuidanceforTemporaryEmergencySheltersSwineFlu.pdf - on May 11, 2009 5:54 PM by John Records (version 1)
    108k Download
  • flu tips.PDF - on May 1, 2009 6:53 AM by John Records (version 1)
    47k View Download
  • pandemic checklist.PDF - on Apr 28, 2009 6:49 AM by John Records (version 1)
    63k View Download
  • pandemic q&a.PDF - on Apr 28, 2009 6:49 AM by John Records (version 1)
    107k View Download
  • panflu_guidelines_homeless.pdf - on Apr 28, 2009 6:49 AM by John Records (version 1)
    295k View Download