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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Health official to educate about bird flu in Asia

Spokane’s spokeswoman for public health has been chosen to spend at least three months in Southeast Asia helping to spread the word about potentially deadly bird flu.

Julie Graham, public information manager for the Spokane Regional Health District, will leave next week to join an international team convened by the World Health Organization to coordinate communications in areas at highest risk for avian influenza.

“I’m very excited; certainly I’m nervous,” said Graham, 42, who has worked for the health district since 2003. “I’m sure I’m going to be learning a whole new set of outreach strategies.”

Graham is expected to travel to several countries affected by the H5N1 virus that has infected 291 people and caused 172 deaths since 2003, according to the World Health Organization. Nine Asian countries have reported outbreaks of the disease, which has the potential to spread to humans, often with fatal results.

Graham will arrive May 11 in the Philippines and travel to Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Malaysia. Graham’s appointment was confirmed Tuesday by Peter Cordingley, a spokesman in the WHO’s office in Manila.

Health district officials have granted her an unpaid leave of absence in hopes that Graham’s experience will translate to useful tactics for Spokane.

“This gives her exposure and experience that she brings back to us,” said Torney Smith, health district administrator.

The selection reflects the high caliber of the staff working at the health district, said Mary Verner, chairwoman of the agency’s board of health. Graham will return with practical knowledge about using communication tactics to contain the spread of illness during an outbreak.

“She’ll come back with wonderful hands-on experience,” Verner said.

Graham will work as a risk communications officer. Her duties will include training field staff to find the best ways to relate vital health information to diverse groups of people.

That likely will include persuading poor villagers to take actions to prevent the spread of illness from family chickens, a common source of bird flu contamination.

“Here, we might send out a news release,” Graham said. “There, they’re sending out a traveling theater troupe.”

Graham has spent a dozen years as a public information specialist in Spokane and has had national-level training, including work in pandemic risk communication with the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Her selection will raise not only Graham’s profile, but also the profile of the region, said Dr. Kim Thorburn, former health officer for the district.

“It speaks to the growing recognition of the science of communication to the excellent practice of public health,” Thorburn said.

Graham’s previous international travel has been limited to a tourist trip to Mexico. She said she’s apprehensive about negotiating the language barriers – she’ll be the only American on the team – and about arriving in Southeast Asia during monsoon season.

But the opportunities for personal and professional development far outweigh her fears, Graham said.

“I’m looking at this as a lesson to my daughter,” said Graham, the mother of children ages 19 and 22. “Just because you’re scared, you don’t say ‘No.’ “