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Source: http://www.projo.com/news/content/bi...7.35d48fd.html
Volunteers needed for health emergency drill today
01:00 AM EDT on Saturday, March 21, 2009
By Amanda MilkovitsJournal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE ?? Rhode Island?s ability to handle a major public health emergency is being tested today in a statewide exercise involving 10 communities and 11 hospitals and treatment centers.
The scenario is an anthrax outbreak, and local and state health officials and emergency managers want to see how well they can organize their resources, receive and distribute information from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and distribute medications to the public. The state agencies coordinating the response include the Department of Health, the Emergency Management Agency, the Department of Mental Health, Retardation and Hospitals, the state police and the governor?s office.
?By engaging in real-time exercise, we improve our preparedness to protect our citizens should we ever be faced with a real public health emergency,? Governor Carcieri said in a statement.
The two-day exercise began yesterday, and continues today. If the scenario were real, people would need to receive medication within 48 hours, and every municipality would have to distribute the medication to all of its residents, said Annemarie Beardsworth, spokeswoman for the Health Department.
That?s where you come in. The organizers say they need volunteers to play ?victims? in today?s portion of the drill when their communities will set up sites to distribute the ?anthrax medication? quickly, to crowds of people, Beardsworth said.
Anyone interested in participating should arrive at any of the local distribution sites between noon and 1 p.m. and be willing to do a little acting. Participation should take no more than 20 minutes.
The volunteers will be given a briefing on the side effects of anthrax, the medical instructions, and receive their ?medication.? A few will also be instructed to ?play act? symptoms or the panic and stress that would test emergency workers during an actual outbreak.
The point of distribution sites are: Burrillville High School, the Charlestown Senior Community Center, Cranston?s Park View Middle School, Cumberland High School, East Providence High School, Lincoln High School, North Smithfield Junior-Senior High School, Pawtucket?s Nathanael Greene Elementary School, Sister Dominica Manor, in Providence, and Wakefield Hills Elementary School, in West Warwick.
The money for municipalities to develop and revise their plans and conduct the exercises is provided by the Health Department with federal funding from the Centers for Disease Control. More information on the exercise is at www.health.ri.gov.
amilkovi@projo.com
Volunteers needed for health emergency drill today
01:00 AM EDT on Saturday, March 21, 2009
By Amanda MilkovitsJournal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE ?? Rhode Island?s ability to handle a major public health emergency is being tested today in a statewide exercise involving 10 communities and 11 hospitals and treatment centers.
The scenario is an anthrax outbreak, and local and state health officials and emergency managers want to see how well they can organize their resources, receive and distribute information from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and distribute medications to the public. The state agencies coordinating the response include the Department of Health, the Emergency Management Agency, the Department of Mental Health, Retardation and Hospitals, the state police and the governor?s office.
?By engaging in real-time exercise, we improve our preparedness to protect our citizens should we ever be faced with a real public health emergency,? Governor Carcieri said in a statement.
The two-day exercise began yesterday, and continues today. If the scenario were real, people would need to receive medication within 48 hours, and every municipality would have to distribute the medication to all of its residents, said Annemarie Beardsworth, spokeswoman for the Health Department.
That?s where you come in. The organizers say they need volunteers to play ?victims? in today?s portion of the drill when their communities will set up sites to distribute the ?anthrax medication? quickly, to crowds of people, Beardsworth said.
Anyone interested in participating should arrive at any of the local distribution sites between noon and 1 p.m. and be willing to do a little acting. Participation should take no more than 20 minutes.
The volunteers will be given a briefing on the side effects of anthrax, the medical instructions, and receive their ?medication.? A few will also be instructed to ?play act? symptoms or the panic and stress that would test emergency workers during an actual outbreak.
The point of distribution sites are: Burrillville High School, the Charlestown Senior Community Center, Cranston?s Park View Middle School, Cumberland High School, East Providence High School, Lincoln High School, North Smithfield Junior-Senior High School, Pawtucket?s Nathanael Greene Elementary School, Sister Dominica Manor, in Providence, and Wakefield Hills Elementary School, in West Warwick.
The money for municipalities to develop and revise their plans and conduct the exercises is provided by the Health Department with federal funding from the Centers for Disease Control. More information on the exercise is at www.health.ri.gov.
amilkovi@projo.com