Burning valuable bandwidth thinking about a new flu  virus? It¹s easy to understand given the relentless coverage  from the national news media. Luckily in Coquille, professionals  get paid to worry so the rest of us don¹t have to.  The Coquille Valley Hospital regularly plans and practices  for all kinds of disasters. According to Colleen Todd,  project manager at the hospital ³since 9/11, we have really  addressed the issue of preparedness. This is especially true  of our communication links with other state agencies. Part  of that process is simulating catastrophes of all kinds and  then evaluating the hospitals performance.  Recently the hospital planned and practiced the aftermath  to an earthquake-tsunami event. This type of scenario  involves addressing the paradigm of multiple victims with  different types of injury needing help simultaneously.

A simile would be planning a wedding for 10 people and a  thousand guests suddenly show up and they all demand separate  menus.  In the medical realm, the hospital plans for the exceedingly  unlikely event that one day the town may come  knocking at its door. Charlotte Barrett, community relations  director for the hospital, said the initial results from  the earthquake practice show “it was an outstanding exercise”  demonstrating the hospital’s practice is paying off.  So the bottom line for Coquille residents is when should  you worry and when should you let others who are compensated  worry for you. According to the National Safety  Council, regarding risk, the statistical formula is that your  odds of dying of specific cause in any year are calculated  by dividing that year¹s population by the number of deaths  by that cause in that year.  Your lifetime odds of dying of a particular cause are calculated  by dividing the one-year odds by the life expectancy  of a person born in that year.

Thus for this latest episode of  media terror (SARS, bird flu, Ebola, hanta virus, all being  notable past events,) your one year odds of dying from  swine flu are approximately one in 150 million. Using this  type of data the one-year odds of dying in a car accident is  about one in 6500. But your lifetime odds (take 6500 and  divide by life expectance 78 years) come in at a realistic  one in 83. For an airplane crash your lifetime risk is one in  5000. Getting struck by lightning, a lifetime risk of one in  88,000.  There are no statistics on how much worry or fear, can  shorten a person’s life. Most medical experts agree, that  increased stress lowers immunity and increases the odds for  stroke and heart disease. The message is clear. Be prudent,  wash your hands to prevent illness in all its forms. Try not  to use your cell phone while driving or drive impaired. Stay  steady and smart. Don¹t worry and plan reasonably. Just  like the folks at Coquille Valley Hospital.