Mr Treyfish goes to Washington

[Treyfish]

I am writing this for my flu site friends so they can get a glimpse of what I saw and the interworkings of the gov't on this pandemic..I did not speak nor ask a single question. This is not an expose' and no I am not bought and sold. Only what I saw and how I feel about this meeting and the pandemic at this time..

Wheres the **** hotel? What are they gonna talk about? Who is gonna be there? I rolled around so much, I wore a hole in the sheets..sleep was only a dream away. Finally my woman couldn't take it anymore and got up... leaving more room to roll around.
We knew we would be leaving early and already it was time for me to get up. She had the directions written down and away we went to get stuck in D.C. traffic. The first 2 hrs went smoothly, then we met the big slowdown. I arrved at 8:40am, 10 mins late, gave her a kiss and ran for the front door.

Inside I went past 3 bellhops and other hotel staff, the place was bustling wth activity as I hurried past. Down the steps to the ballroom there was a table for people to get their programs, name tags and get signed in. Another area with coffee and other drinks was further down. Just as I walked in Anthony Fauci was walkin by and we shook hand and exchanged greetings. I haven't been there for 1 minute and already I was shaking hands with one of the very smartest people in the vaccine world..not bad for a long haired carpenter.

I signed in, grabbed a well needed coffee and bam, ran right into Dem from the Wikie, another smart dude. We talked about the rapid loss of pregnant woman, and I told him I remembered that at the last meeting we were at, how he told me how we have to work with who we got and try to do what we can. He was right. None of us or them have ever lived through real pandemic as this and we knew we were in uncharted waters.

Sharon finds me a moment later and we start chattin it up as the main crowd started filing in.
she tells me where my seat is and we go into he big room. Tables are set in the middle in a u shape with a podium and big screen at one end. Other chairs and tables are on the outside of them in a second ring and more at the other end of the room. 50 people sat at the ring with micrphones. Almost every other chair was filled, I sat behind Sharon and beside a man from the EPA. No microphone for me..probably a good thing.

The big hall slowly filled with the stars of the vaccine and pandemic world stage and I saw many from the last meeting I went to 2 years ago. I didn't see any falling asleep at this one.

John O Brennan, Assistsant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism got the ball rolling. A big man, you could tell he wasn't for no stuff and spoke of the seriousness of the pandemic and being ready for the fall and any unknowns.

Next was Secretary Katheen Sebelius from HHS at the podium. She spoke of the many scientists and making sure the pubic gets realtime info and that all actions are directed by the best science we have. The healthcare system may be overwhelmed and that vaccines are our best option and all need the seasonal vaccine also. There may be some attempts to tie vaccine to normal deaths that occur naturally.

She is right on this also, as we already know that there will be plenty of natural and abnormal deaths going on all throughout this pandemic, that will add to the total number of deaths. Some will just not be able to be saved, due to severety of injuries or already overcrowded conditions. I don't envy the drs that will have hard work and decisions cut out for them. Sebelius also said she wants the public to be provided with complete information and the last exercise led them to revamp quarintine procedure at the CDC.

The next speaker was Anne Schuchat MD,Assistant Surgeon General, US Publc Health Service Director, National Center for Immunization and respiratory Diseases.
She gave us the current update which is also no different than you already know.
There is no mutation from the south as of yet.
The vaccine is a good match.
Young people are affected worse than others.
The vaccine is voluntary.
They are sill evaluating the vaccine.

To which I add is normal also and the vaccine and later effects and the whole vaccination program will be evaluated for years to come.

The virus jumped in spring, stayed steady all summer and is now having an uptick, mainly in the southeast due to school openings.

..Here I will add I don't think keeping schools open is a good idea, at least until all the kids can be vaccinated and get an ideas as to how this pandemic is gonna play out. I am a parent of a diasabled child and am in no hurry to send him straight into the firestorm...and don't think I will until he has been vaccinated. They will have a hard time convincing me all is good with this thing, now that his kind are at the top of the list for vaccination.
If kids can be at home for 3 month and didn't starve to death or become competely useless, I think the parents can stand them a few more months. If they are afraid the econmy will be worse off than it is now, because a parent may be at home more often to take care of the child, Imagine how bad it will get when they are in the street bitchin that their kid is dead and it's the gov't fault for keeping the schools open.
...Jus saying, other countries are delaying the start of school until that happens, and this country has the technology to teach them at home.

As pointed out before the list of people prioritized are:

HCW
Pregnant
Those that live with infants 6 month or younger
6m to 24 yrs
25 to 64 with medical conditions

Now I see that chldren with Neurological conditions should be first in line. This includes my son,which may mean my family of 4 should probably be included or what the hell give it to him for. If any of the others got sick before he had both shots, if 2 are still required, then he would get sick anyway, defeating the purpose and wasting the shot. I did not hear of any talk of this at the exercise.

Next was Bill Hall who told us from here on out we were off the record so everyone was free to speak. He ntroduced Forrest Sawyer as the moderator again as he was at the other meeting. Off the recrod, for the record, is a good idea but was unexpected I think by a lot of people, not just me. It is a way for the decision maker to realy go at it and be challenged not only by the mod, but by the tons of media peple there.

Not a compete list but from my scribbled notes..
Flutrackers
Flu Wikie
AFD
CIDRAP
Dept of Homeland Security
HHS "Health and human services"
CDC
NIAD
H1N1 Task Force
EPA
White House media
Dept of Education
Va dept of Health
Maryland dept of Health
CNN
NBC
ABC
CBS
Time MAG
REUTERS
NPR
USA Today
Newshour/with Jim Lehr
ABC Radio
There were also Drs, Data recroders, onlookers and a few other technical types and Photographers/cameramen.
The room was full.

There was quite a bit of robust discussion and it was started out by no other than DEM from Ct. He got the first question from Sawyer and the ball was rollin. The exercise had started and didn't let up for about 3 hrs, till we took a break around 11.
Since we weren't to talk aout who said what, I think in general terms I can try to give a picture of what the exercise was about.
The scenario's were more or less how certain things would be handled in the case of adverse events not in the gov'ts direct control. How would they handle a incident overeas and a whole myriad of other situations, many I had never invisioned.
I tell ya, these guys are thinking and really put or health officials to the test. To see how they handled them was a credit to strong training and quick thinking. Not everything went so smooth all the time and there were a few laughs from everyone at times and it broke the tension in the atmosphere. Serious bizz these pandemic exercises..

Breaktime..
went for a smoke and to find my lady.She was asleep in the car and payin High $$ to park. Without her taking care of me you wouldn't get very much news from me. She is as competely involved and knows as much as you do about Panflu 09.
Another kiss and not much time so I ran back downstairs and caught up with the gang and lisa frm Cidrap. She is cool as hell and we talked about the Egypt coinfection thing and she complemented FT for the work they did on translations and Sharon tell us of some news of what Egypt was doing with the pigs and then break was over..more coffee and we went back in for

round 2.

Forrest Sawyer goes back to the screen and we follow in the book. The next scenario is about who will get the vaccine and why and what order. These things are already known but they are tested by the media guys and the media is asked how they will report on certain problems that arise. Some media said they would ride the problem like a rented mule. During these times I said to myself...What?.. and take Michael Jackson off the t.v. screen! You mean you would talk about a pandemic for more than 20 seconds! If you could have seen my eyes roll when they said that!
I see the news and read the reports everyday and I know who reports what. If I saw actual realtime facts on tv...oh nevermind.
Lunchbreak and time for a smoke..

I had lunch at the table with Sharon, Mike, Maggie Fox and another guy not sure who he was and not sure if they knew who I was. Good lunch, ran for a smoke, Got a kiss and back we went for
round 3

The last part of the exercise was the wrap up and the part called a hotwash. A vaccine truck crashed and how were they gonna handle it. They really put these guys to the test and the media types were no slouches for the most part.
There were some that said very little and others that had the hard questions for the health guys and gals and Forrest Sawyer was relentless on them.
Of course none of the answers were writtin in stone, but most seemed **** good to me.
A lot of the answers to questions asked were already known to me and to you. Nothing added to any vaccines if not absolutely neccesary and all vacs are voluntary. This is an evolving situation and as much as we dont like it, or don't want to face it, we have no choice in the matter. Time to man up.

There will always be risks of problems in some cases of any vaccine use, but the benefits outweigh the risk. After all, this is a full blown pandemic and a vaccine is really all we are gonna have. At the end, everyone at the table had a chance to give a little summary on what they thought of the operation and what they liked and disliked about it, general statements and such.
EXERCISE OVER
Man was I glad..tired but glad to attend this meeting, as I think it will my last for a long time. I stand to strech out for a couple minutes and Mr. Fauci walks right by and we shake hand again real good and exchange a few words. I tell sharon good bye and thank you and that i will be home in 3 hrs and you know what I will be doing.
I head for the steps and reach for asmoke and when I get outside, I see Dr Schuchat. I shake her hand and tell her I have few ideas that may be helpful and she says great, email me and she gives me her email. She hops In a black gov't ride and I head for the Trooper and my ever faithful girl... we have a long ride home.

The pandemic is here now and I know for myself, that we won't go down without a fight.
These people are doing the very best they can under the circumstances. After Tamiflu wears it's usefulness out, what are you gonna have? You can't stay in your house and away from people forever. I can't drink cow urine. I dont have a cow.
You can kick and you can scream and say it's a lie, but scientist and vaccine makers have families too.They are not making something, they themselves don't believe, won't be helpful to mankind.
I won't apologize for any previous lack of preparedness messages and I do think they could do better in that dept. Hopefully they will start to.

[Sally Furniss]

Re: Mr Treyfish goes to Washington

Thanks Trey, I enjoyed your write up

Many thanks to Florida1, Treyfish, Fla_Medic and Dem for the time, trouble, effort and expense you took in going to this tabletop. It is an accomplishment of grass roots movements and of the internet media. Reaching out, being heard, being part of the solution.

[Sally Furniss]

Re: Mr Treyfish goes to Washington

Mike Costonś write up Thank you Mike

To D.C. & Back



# 3693


As I mentioned on Tuesday morning, I’ve been `out of pocket’ for the past couple of days while I attended an HHS/CDC media exercise in Washington D.C.

This was a much larger meeting than the last one I attended in March 2008, where we had 25 people participating in the exercise. This time, we had about 40 people directly involved.

Once again, the meeting was moderated by the always terrific Forrest Sawyer.

Among those from the media were correspondents from the 3 broadcast TV Networks, CNN, NPR, USA Today, AP, and Reuters . . . along with Lisa Schnirring of CIDRAP, Sharon Sanders of FluTrackers , Dr. Greg Dworkin of Flu Wiki, and myself.

Also participating were federal officials from the HHS, the CDC, FEMA , and the FDA along with local emergency operations and public health officials from D.C, Maryland, Virginia and some who flew in from as far away as California.

This was a `closed-door, off-the-record’ meeting in order to promote a frank and open exchange of ideas. While we used a fictitious `tabletop scenario’ to drive the discussion these meetings tend to take on a life of their own.

Since this was an `off-the-record’ meeting, I can’t go into any greater detail other than to say that this was a substantive, illuminating, and frank day-long discussion.

Just as important, I believe, is what happens during the breaks, and lunch, where those of us in the media had an opportunity to meet one-on-one with a number of well-known public health officials.

The level of access is, quite frankly, remarkable. It is a pity the time speeds along so rapidly.

It was great, of course, to revisit old friendships - like Sharon and from Flutrackers, and Lisa from CIDRAP. Fate once again had me seated next to the always delightful Maggie Fox of Reuters, and I was very happy to get a chance to see Stephanie Marshall (HHS) at the meeting.

And it was great to see Forrest Sawyer again. He really is the best at what he does. He and I shared the same high school growing up, albeit a few years apart, and so we have a bit of a common history.

I’m not going to name drop, but I did want to mention that I got to meet Andrew Wilson (@AndrewPWilson on Twitter) who is the HHS’s point guy on social media. We’ve tweeted, and messaged back and forth a number of times, but this was our first face-to-face meeting.

My thanks to Mary Carlson at the HHS for the invite, and to the HHS for putting on this remarkable exercise. I hope it was as good for them as it was for me.

[kiwibird]

Re: Mr Treyfish goes to Washington

Wonderful. Thanks for all the information. It doesn't sound like anyone was treading on eggshells.

[gsgs]

Re: Mr Treyfish goes to Washington

silly meetings. Shall they do email,telephone,webpages
electronical conferences instead.
No need to travel and you can follow your own schedule.

If secrecy is the problem, then encrypt the emails.

[prepdeb]

Re: Mr Treyfish goes to Washington

Thank you Treyfish for sharing the experience with us.

It's reassuring to hear that everyone involved in decision making is taking the situation seriously and not just playing lip service.

[Commonground]

Re: Mr Treyfish goes to Washington

In case you don't understand Treyfish's reference to Cow urine, I'm assuming he got it from an article like this:

Sept. 4 (Bloomberg) -- The rising death toll from swine flu in India
is driving some people to buy remedies made of cow- urine extract,
clarified butter and herbal potions to ward off the disease, as the
government restricts Tamiflu and other drugs.
-snip-
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.c...e87921d3?pli=1

[Amish Country]

Re: Mr Treyfish goes to Washington

http://www.news8.net/news/stories/0809/650995.html

As you can see the media is just crawling all over this topic. I think the "rented mule" is pulling up lame. Thank you to the attendies that gave up their time and made the effort to attend. I hope the networking helps to build contacts and relationships for the future.

[hawkeye]

Re: Mr Treyfish goes to Washington

Thanks Treyfish!

[Niko]

Re: Mr Treyfish goes to Washington

Thank you Treyfish for the "boots on the ground" insights and sharing what you could. I appreciate you representing all of us common folks who happen to be flutrackers. I hope you are keeping a complete account in a personal diary to be published at a later date? It should be a great read.

[lchilberg]

Re: Mr Treyfish goes to Washington

thanks for the feedback and the time and effort you took to attend. it's greatly appreciated.

[Readymom]

Re: Mr Treyfish goes to Washington

I, too appreciate the time you all took to go to this meeting. Having my own feet running at full speed on the ground with local communications I would have loved to be able to hear first hand what you all did.

Thank you for keeping options open and attending this meeting. -k

[Snicklefritz]

Re: Mr Treyfish goes to Washington

Thanks for going to Washington and for all the countless hours you have spent ferreting out the news for all of us.

Snick

[Ronan Kelly]

Re: Mr Treyfish goes to Washington

Yes, thank you for all your time and effort. I'm certain that both you and Florida1 strongly represented the ideas, insights and fears presented on FluTrackers.

[liam]

Re: Mr Treyfish goes to Washington

Thank you for your time effort and input Treyfish. I am sorry to hear about your job situation and admire your dedication to follow thru on this meeting in spite of your circumstances.

As I understand it, from Fla Medic #157 post ( Re: Discussion - FluTrackers Invited to Washington D.C. to Media Session )

80% - 90% of the conversation was between the Moderator - and the Invitees. In comparison, the Feds had very little input into the table top.

I find it very telling that the Feds had so little input. I cannot envision them taking input and not trying to dominate the discussion if it were going way off base.

It seems this exercise was one where the top people learned that folks other than their 'experts' had (1)a good grip on the evolving flu situation (2)an understanding of the cause and effect of actions taken and those omitted (3)a willingness to face facts and recommend actions that were appropriate.

Even if they learned nothing new the fact that they learned that so much could come from outside 'officialdom' was instructive to them. They learned that there were assets and abilities available to support the public well-being that was level headed and willing to contribute so that it did not rest entirely on their shoulders. They had the message driven home that their are people willing to take responsibility for themselves, find information, formulate a response and act on it apart from any Fed program (more in line with the new FEMA administrators view of citizens).

That TPTB turned outside themselves to look for, and accept, input is indicative of a more healthy approach than I might otherwise have given them credit for. I find that in itself to be encouraging!

As for secrets, I didn't expect any to be revealed and I honestly don't think there are many that haven't been ferreted out by this crowd anyhow!

Thanks for your efforts!
Liam