The issue of what North Battleford would do in the event of a pandemic was up for discussion at a Planning Committee meeting Tuesday.
At that meeting, administration officials said they planned to bring in a concrete policy on how the city would respond to a pandemic, if one happens.
The topic is a timely one, as the deadly coronavirus outbreak that originated in Wuhan, China, has raised concerns around the world.
Current, the city does have in place a background document called the “Pandemic Emergency Plan.”
That document covers such things as notifications, vaccine and antiviral protocols, preventative measures, personal protective equipment, the various service levels during a pandemic, time off work, and procedures for reporting to work, among others.
According to City Manager Randy Patrick, this plan was developed around the time of the SARS outbreak. That outbreak ended up hitting the city of Toronto around 2003.
What’s not known is whether this document was ever adopted by council at any point. In any event, Patrick is proposing bringing the document back to council and having it turned into a formal policy document for how the city would deal with a pandemic situation.
Patrick did point out the city would not be the primary agency should a pandemic hit the Battlefords.
“If there is any pandemic of any sort, we’re not the lead agency. That is a health issue,” said Patrick, referring to the province’s Ministry of Health ministry.
This plan would be about “how do we help people in Health, and how do we protect citizens in our own facilities … and our staff, so that we keep our own people healthy, how we keep the public healthy, where we control it directly.”
Fire Chief Lindsay Holm noted the plan was in place for a while, but not a lot of people knew about it.
“When the new coronavirus came around we thought it would be prudent to update it to include that virus as well,” said Holm. What he had done, he said, is incorporate the signs and symptoms of that virus into their plan, just in case an epidemic hits the city.
The plan would also give them some flexibility as well to ensure safety and to make sure spread of the virus is limited.
“It really helps strengthen out position on how to handle any type of epidemic that would come our way. Like the city manager said, realistically we would be in a support position with the health region and helping and assisting in any way we possibly could.”
Holm also said that to ensure they are prepared, some N95 masks have been ordered and put in place, to make sure that if they are having contact with people in their emergency services that they aren’t searching for them at that time. Hand sanitizers are also to be issued to each employee.
“Realistically, it’s about taking some good necessary steps in terms of being prepared,” Holm said. “And there’s a fine line about being over-prepared, too.”
In general, council welcomed the plan presented at the meeting. Mayor Ryan Bater noted the value of being ready just in case.
“This is a plan I hope we never have to use, but we have a responsibility to be prepared,” said Bater.
