About
It was in 2005 when I began my research into Pandemic Influenza and looked at how my experience and expertise in the eLearning field could assist and help make a difference. I initially came from more of a concerned individual attitude to the problem and quickly realised the need and demand for online education around the topic. I was initially encouraged by the positive feedback from talking to risk and business continuity managers and them telling me that there was a need for everyday workers to be educated in pandemic influenza not only from a occupational health and safety aspect, but also from a corporate citizen and business mitigation argument as well. They also went on to emphasise that online training would be a key factor as classroom training would be very unlikely should a pandemic situation occur.
After numerous conferences and work with specialists and experts in the field we began development on the Pandemic Ready Course. It took over 12 months to develop and used up an enormous amount of time and resources. (I must say that I would hesitate to take on such a project again without initial funding!) In the end we developed a product that we are proud of which now supports thousands of employees from Schools, Offices and Utilities.
Since first launching in late 2006 the course has been upgraded to include instructional videos on how to use PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) and also includes a very interesting interview from a New Zealand survivor of the 1918 Spanish Influenza. Just last month we updated the details to include information on H1N1 (Swine Flu) and were able to support our existing clients with timely and accurate updates on information.
It has been a very interesting project that we have taken over the last few years and I hope that the situation that we saw in 1918 never occurs again. I do however have confidence in our course and along with the number of companies, schools and individuals that have gone through it will now be more prepared should the situation get worse.
You can contact me on lee.stewart@2and2.com.au