KMK Media Group, a full-service advertising agency, recently completed a custom-built web-application that will allow the Winnebago County Health Department (WCHD) to track influenza-related absences in local schools and daycare centers. With the recent focus on the H1N1 (Swine) flu, WCHD was looking for a way to protect the community from an outbreak, and tracking absences in which influenza may be the cause will be a huge help in their efforts.
“This tool will assist our epidemiology department in their efforts to track influenza in our area,” said Sue Fuller, WCHD Community Relations Manager. “This is a tremendous stride in terms of public health and we hope to utilize this tool to provide better medical and preventative care now and into the future.”
Schools and public daycare facilities will be sent notification of the system along with a username and password that will allow them to visit www.wchd.org, click on the Daily School Absenteeism button, log into the system, and report any absences where flu-like symptoms are a known factor. Once information is entered, the system will display what percentage of the staff and students are affected. An outbreak occurs when the percentage is greater than 10%, and this must be reported immediately, by phone, to the WCHD.
Information gathered through this mechanism will assist the WCHD’s epidemiologist in completing the influenza activity surveillance report for Winnebago County which is uploaded weekly to the website.
