The latest version of "That Iowa Flu Game" will help Boy Scouts, civic groups and other organizations live up to the motto of "Be prepared" by helping them plan for a pandemic.

The UHL in April unveiled a community edition of the board game that the Laboratory created to help stimulate discussion about ways to prepare for a pandemic or other emergencies. This is the third version of the game.

"While all three versions address pandemic illness, the first two focus on issues and events that would have an impact on laboratories and public health agencies," says Jon DeMartino, UHL writer and creative consultant who developed the game. "This version targets the average citizen who is not in the medical profession and who knows little about pandemic illness."

Players begin the game by reading short scenarios, and then draw corresponding game cards. They attempt to answer questions and move around the board, which is a depiction of an avian influenza virus. The cards contain questions that are easily answered and questions that are intended to generate discussion.

"We tried to bring out situations that might confront families and individuals as a pandemic progresses," Jon says. "These include social distancing, medication distribution and family illness. We also included some of the terminology officials and medical personnel use when referring to pandemic illness."

The first two editions of the game have been sold across the state of Iowa and across the nation. An order form for the community version is available here.

"Most people know very little about the topic and will benefit from the information in our game," Jon adds. "Knowledge is a powerful weapon, both against events and fear of those events."

Rear Admiral Sam Shekar, M.D., M.P.H., shared his strategy to transform the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps during his visit last week at the UHL and as the featured speaker at the Spring Colloquium sponsored by the UI College of Public Health Institute for Public Health Practice.

Dr. Sam Shekar.

The mission of the Commissioned Corps is to protect, promote and advance the public health and safety of the nation. It is a uniformed service of professionals who serve in 11 health-related areas. The Corps includes active duty officers who are deployed in national health emergencies and medical corps members who are assigned to work in federal agencies and other organizations.

Dr. Shekar is an Assistant Surgeon General whose assignment is to expand the present Corps of 6,000 officers. They plan to add as many as 3,500 of the "best and brightest" Americans who are interested in advancing public health domestically and internationally.

"The Corps is the kind of opportunity that crosses all fields from research to policy to clinical and back again," Dr. Shekar told a gathering of UHL staff. "You have the flexibility to be able to do that."

Previously, Corps members regularly changed geographic locations as part of their duties. Through the transformation initiative, members can now stay in one location and be assigned to different tasks or specialties. The Corps also is expanding its partnerships to place health officers in public health agencies and in universities.

"The unique thing now is that we are creating MOUs (memorandums of understanding) with institutions at the state and local level, and even in private industries to create hosting assignments in those institutions," Dr. Shekar said.

More information about the Commissioned Corps is available online at www.usphs.gov.