Churches seek to anticipate flu pandemic. - The Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk, VA)

Byline: Steven G. Vegh

Aug. 4--NORFOLK -- Pastors are accustomed to hospital visits and funerals, but at a conference Thursday at Central Baptist Church, a score of local clerics groped for how churches could respond to a flu pandemic.

'It's unimaginable,' said the Rev. Ken Barnes of Woodland Heights Baptist Church in Chesapeake. 'It's unexplored territory, and we're trying to create a chart.' The Norfolk Baptist Association, which represents about 75 Southern Baptist congregations in Norfolk and Virginia Beach, hosted the gathering, calling it a first step for discussion and planning. According to the state health department, a medium-level pandemic could sicken as many as 2.5 million Virginians and kill between 2,700 and 6,300. Dr. Valerie Stallings of the Norfolk health department said Thursday that a pandemic would last six to eight weeks and infect as much as 40 percent of the work force. She said the bird flu now afflicting Asia -- but not the United States -- had a death rate of 57 percent. 'We need to plan, we need to be ready, but it could be a day, or it could be years' before a flu pandemic strikes, she said. Baptist worries about influenza are shared by the Richmond-based Virginia Council of Churches, which has representatives from 18 different denominations. The council will discuss pandemic planning at its November annual meeting. 'What do you do if two-thirds of your congregation is sick for a time? What happens if your pastor is sick?' the Rev. Jonathan Barton, the council's general minister, asked earlier this week. 'What kinds of things can the congregation do to care for those ill in their midst?' Some of the answers are found on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Web site, www.PandemicFlu.gov, which gives a preparedness checklist for faith-based and community groups. The site states that collaboration between faith-based groups and public health agencies 'will be essential' in a pandemic. The checklist recommends that faith groups take part in public preparedness planning and let authorities know what help the group can offer.

In Virginia Beach, the city hopes to enlist churches' help in providing direct assistance to the house-bound ill, Erin Sutton, a public health emergency planner, said earlier this week. 'How are they going to get groceries, get their trash out, their bills paid?' she asked. 'We have to look locally at our faith-based community to help provide that type of service.' Sutton said churches could also keep authorities updated on how many congregants were sick. But faith communities' biggest role may lie in supplying more of what they already provide: spiritual comfort. 'You can't have this much sickness and death without the need for a greater force,' Stallings said. 'People need that spiritual care.' -- Reach Steven G. Vegh at (757) 446-2417 or steven.vegh@pilot online.com.

Copyright (c) 2006, The Virginian-Pilot, Norfolk, Va.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business

News.

For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.