E-ternity Responds to Swine Flu Outbreak

E-ternity Develops Special Emergency Pandemic Assessment and Workshop to Assist Organizations in Their Preparation for the Global Swine Flu Threat

Mississauga, Ontario - April 30, 2009

E-ternity Business Continuity Consultants Inc. a Mississauga, Ontario based organization that provides services that guarantee business continuance to customers despite any threat, announced today that in response to the global Swine Flu outbreak, E-ternity will offer a special Swine Flu Pandemic Assessment and Workshop to help organizations better prepare for this pandemic threat.

The Swine Flu is an acute respiratory disease that causes sickness and sometimes death in those infected. The Swine Flu has made global headlines in recent days because of the severity of the illness and high risk of infection. Many experts are predicting that the Swine Flu will have a crippling impact on our social and economic climate. The World Health Organization recently increased the status of the Swine Flu to Phase 5 - Widespread Human Infection.

"All countries should immediately activate their pandemic preparedness plans," stated Margaret Chan, Director-General for the World Health Organization. "Countries should remain on high alert. . .this change to a higher phase of alert is a signal to governments, to ministries of health and other ministries, to the pharmaceutical industry and the business community that certain actions should now be undertaken with increased urgency, and at an accelerated pace. "

E-ternity has extensive experience developing Pandemic Plans, having responded to demand in recent years over concerns regarding the SARS outbreak in 2003 and the Avian Flu virus in 2006. The Swine Flu has already surpassed the threat severity of the Avian Flu and appears in these early stages to pose a similar or even greater threat than SARS.

Anthony Coxall, E-ternity's Manager of Business Continuity Management Services, commented on the looming pandemic. "Swine Flu is the real deal. Where Avian Flu never truly materialized in a meaningful way, Swine Flu has already claimed victims throughout North America," said Coxall. "Although businesses learned valuable lessons from SARS, our memories are short; all businesses should immediately review existing Pandemic Plans and/or develop new Pandemic Plans to minimize the negative economic impact to their organization when Swine Flu arrives. "

Similar to SARS in 2003, Swine Flu threatens to impact your business by significantly reducing your workforce attendance for indefinite periods due to employee illness and/or paranoia of socialization in larger groups. To successfully manage a business through this situation, companies need to have plans and procedures in place to enable cross-training of employees, work-from-home programs, proper safety and personal hygiene practices, relevant Human Resource policies, etc. Research indicates that most organizations have not properly prepared themselves in order to cope effectively.

The objective of pandemic planning is to enable your business to recognize and manage a pandemic in an attempt to reduce transmission of the virus strain, reduce hospitalizations, minimize human mortality, and reduce the social disruption and negative economic consequences caused by an influenza pandemic. Being prepared requires information and constant cycles of planning, training, and reviewing.

In response to this Swine Flu outbreak, E-ternity has introduced a Swine Flu Assessment and Workshop Professional Services offering. During this Swine Flu Assessment and Workshop, companies will receive:

• A report card detailing your organization's current ability to navigate through a pandemic situation
• Education of key staff on areas of risk and tips on personal hygiene and precautionary actions
• Strategy recommendations on how to mitigate the impact of this pandemic.

E-ternity has extensive experience in Pandemic Planning having successfully completed numerous pandemic planning projects over the past 4 years. For more information regarding Swine Flu and E-ternity's Pandemic Planning Services, please visit www.e-ternity.ca/solutions/swine-flu .

 About E-ternity

E-ternity Business Continuity Consultants Inc. is a Mississauga, Ontario based organization that provides services that guarantee business continuance without interruption despite any threat. The organization prides itself as a single-source provider that brings customers best of breed technologies and methodologies and deploys them in a cohesive, integrated fashion. E-ternity helps customers find the perfect intersection between their acceptable risk and their available budget. More information about E-ternity can be found at www.e-ternity.ca