Pandemic Preparedness: Planning for Business Continuity, Productivity and Resilience

Does your organization have a pandemic response plan? If so, has it been updated recently with specific plans around the H1N1 flu virus? Does it consider how to address not only the threat to employees’ physical health, but also the expected challenges to emotional health?

As your behavioral health and workplace services partner, ValueOptions® wants to share information and insight into what your organization can expect from the upcoming flu season and how to protect your business and workforce.

Specifically, our industry experts will discuss:

how the H1N1 flu will make this flu season different from other flu seasons
specific steps your business can take to ensure business continuity and minimize disruptions to productivity
potential psychological factors that may impact employees(increased anxiety, grief, etc.)
the importance of business resiliency

Attendees will have an opportunity to share their questions, challenges and strategies.

Speakers:

Rick Allen, Ph.D. is a licensed psychologist with extensive experience in organizing, managing and providing mental health services at disasters and traumatic incidents. Dr. Allen has worked with survivors of disasters, mass shootings, crimes, wars, a terrorist attack and economic downturns. Dr. Allen has conducted research on traumatic stress reactions, has written scholarly articles and edited the Handbook of Post Disaster Interventions and is a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Traumatology.

Dr. Allen is the Co-Chair of the California Psychological Association Disaster Response Network, the American Psychological Association Co Representative to the California Psychological Association Disaster Response Network and the Past Chair of the California Disaster Mental Health Coalition. He was the lead in organizing and running the Core Competencies Workshop for the state of California which defined the essential skills needed by disaster mental health workers. Dr. Allen is the co-founder of Management Continuity Planning Associates www.ManagementContinuity.com

Peter Wald, MD, MPH is Vice President, Enterprise Medical Director at USAA . Dr. Wald joined USAA as Assistant Vice President, Wellness, in December 2002. He is a physician executive with 22 years experience in population health care management, medical data infrastructure, occupational and preventive medicine, and medical toxicology. Dr. Wald is the lead author of "Physical and Biological Hazards of the Workplace", currently in its second edition, and has published numerous peer reviewed articles in occupational medicine and toxicology.

Prior to joining USAA, Dr. Allen was employed by WorkCare, where he served as Principal Medical Director responsible for the design and implementation of outsourced occupational health strategies and services for large and medium sized employers. Prior to that, Dr. Allen served as Corporate Medical Director for ARCO, responsible for managing worldwide medical operations and Mobil Oil, where he served as Western Region Medical Director.