2008 News

June 9, 2008

Bucks County Continues Public Health Preparedness Efforts
Health Department, Emergency Management Tests Anthrax Response

Underscoring its emphasis on emergency preparedness, Bucks County today tested its response procedures during an exercise conducted with the county Health Department and Emergency Management Agency (EMA). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) oversaw the exercise planning, which was conducted within US Department of Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program guidelines.

Set to an inhalation anthrax exposure scenario, the Health Department provided the appropriate antibiotics to 230 heads of households at the point of dispensing (POD) located at Maple Point Middle School in Langhorne. Different from the pandemic flu drill held last October where every member of the public would have to be vaccinated at the POD, under the head-of-household model, one person from each household would report to the POD to receive pill-form medication for their family. When implemented, this method distributes medications quickly and lessens the volume demand at each POD and reduces traffic.

Volunteers from the county’s Medical Reserve Corps, those who have assisted in past pandemic flu drills, and nursing students from LaSalle University role-played as heads of households for the exercise. They re-circulated through the line as different role-players with a variety of characteristics, such as age, allergy information and number of family members.

Friday, all first responders and other critical personnel and their family members notionally received their dosages, which would enable them to work at the POD without risk of exposure in a real situation. These essential personnel received the word via RSAN (Roam Secure Alert Network), the same system that provides alerts to county subscribers to ReadyNotifyPA (www.ReadyNotifyPA.org).

Commissioner Chairman Jim Cawley commented on the training. “One of our paramount duties is to plan for emergencies,” he noted, adding that exercises provide the opportunity for continued refinements to procedures. Along with the Health Department and EMA, the county’s Major Incident Response Team (MIRT), comprised of police officers from local departments, provided security as they would in an actual emergency. 

Exercise director and Health Department epidemiologist Meredith Allen points out that this exercise also afforded the opportunity to test push site procedures. “These are locations where reasonable estimates on quantity can be provided for, such as nursing homes.” She also points to the Bucks County Correctional Facility, who participated on Friday, as an example.

“We would like to extend our sincerest thanks to those volunteers who contributed to our public health preparedness in Bucks County,” Allen noted. At the exercise completion, she reported that 1,350 Cipro bottles, 300 amoxicillin bottles and 300 doxycycline bottles were distributed during the two-hour drill.

For more information on personal preparedness, please visit www.BucksCounty.org/ReadyBucks. To sign up for emergency alerts to a variety of electronic devices including cell phones and E-mail, visit www.ReadyNotifyPA.org.