By
Deborah Taylor Tate
On
September 18, 2008, I was very proud to provide opening remarks at the first
Summit on Pandemic Preparedness. It wasn’t held at the CDC, it was held at the
FCC with a huge cross-section of first responders, communications entities, and
healthcare professionals. I was so proud to have had a part in focusing on the
importance of the communications/media sector in discussing and planning for
the potential of a “pandemic” – something most Americans had not yet focused
on. In my remarks, I stated:
“As
compared to hurricanes, pandemics pose unique communications challenges. Instead
of fleeing from a city with severely damaged communications capabilities, in a
pandemic our citizens may be sheltering at home, trying to stay in touch with
their friends and family and even working – with the possibility that half the
workforce will be working remotely – this will place significant demands on an
undamaged but nonetheless over-burdened communications network. How we plan for and respond to such an
emergency requires creative thinking by government and industry health and
network engineers, which is why I’m pleased to see so many experts here from
such a cross-section of genres.”
Thus,
today, from my perch as Citizen Tate, I am extremely concerned about the
leadership in our present Ebola crisis. This is just the sort of pandemic that
I, along with many others, was concerned about in 2008 – over six years ago.
And, it’s precisely why the FCC hosted such a discussion so that we would
indeed involve all the stakeholders, across a broad spectrum of health,
education, communications, media, and public safety participants. And, to plan
ahead for a potential future crisis – knowing that we would probably be facing
one – rather than in the midst of one.
I
hope both the FCC and our ICT partners are dusting off those crisis plans so
that if there are strains on our communications system, we will be able to
insure prompt, correct, and helpful information is conveyed and that workers
will be able to continue to propel this economic engine even during a pandemic
whether it hits a locality or region or – God forbid – our entire nation.
And,
our broadcasters – and all media – can play an integral role; not in
hyper-emotionalizing the issue but in providing basic, simple habits for
cleanliness and health safety for the public and even using age appropriate
content. In addition, they can be extremely helpful in providing links to
healthcare assistance, FAQs on their websites, and even reassuring mental
health messages rather than the sensationalism of a very present danger. But
one that can be controlled and hopefully resolved.
I
am proud of the FCC for recognizing, raising, and planning for the possibility of
a pandemic and am hopeful that other federal health officials will follow that
lead soon. Especially important is the recognition that these integral
providers of communications services must be part of any solution.
Last
week Senator Lamar Alexander, Ranking Member of the Health, Education, Labor
and Pensions Committee, met with infectious disease experts at Vanderbilt
Medical Center to hear directly from healthcare experts on the Ebola issue. He stated
that Ebola should be considered “as serious a threat as ISIL.” And, it should.
Whether
the common flu or our present Ebola outbreak, our leaders certainly needed to
follow the Boy Scouts motto much earlier so that we – as a nation – would indeed
“Be Prepared.”
My
last sentence in that 2008 speech was almost clairvoyant:
“I
pray we will never need to deploy in response to another U.S. tragedy, but
being prepared is our first and best defense.”
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