Residents who want to help simulate a biohazard outbreak – and earn a free lunch doing so – may want to clear their schedules June 16.
On Friday, San Juan Basin Public Health will participate in a statewide effort to play out what would happen in the case of a dangerous outbreak.
“It’s a way for us to exercise and test our plans,” said Keri McCune, Southwest regional epidemiologist. “If a public health emergency were to affect the entire state, we’re testing how the state would coordinate with local health agencies to get out mass amounts of immunizations to the community.”
Last year, local health agencies conducted a similar exercise where a “participant” in a bike race that started in Montezuma County carried and transmitted the pneumonic plague throughout Southwest Colorado.
“As the race moved through our region, more people were exposed,” McCune said. “And then we coordinated in containing and stopping the spread, and at the same time, followed up with those exposed.”
This year, McCune said the exercise is less about creating a simulated scenario. Instead, state and local health agencies will fine-tune the practice of ordering and delivering medications should an outbreak occur.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the simulation could involve anything from the Category A biohazard list, which can include anthrax, plague, tularemia, novel influenza, swine and bird flu or pneumonic plague.
“The (Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment) will be receiving resources from the CDC, and they want all local health agencies to practice ordering what we’d need in that type of scenario, then dispensing out to local health agencies and the community,” McCune said.
The make-believe outbreak will start Thursday, when local health officials are tasked with ordering medication, resources and supplies, and coordinating that effort.
On Friday, supplies will be flown into Durango-La Plata County Airport and then trucked to staging grounds in Durango and Silverton, as well as locations in Archuleta and Montezuma counties.
Then, San Juan Basin Public Health is asking for volunteers to come to the La Plata County Fairgrounds to line up to receive the fake medication to simulate what it would be like to hand out medicine to a mass amount of people.
McCune said the first 150 volunteers will receive a free lunch from Schlotzsky’s and a first-aid kit. There also will be chances to win assorted emergency-preparedness kits.
The planned exercise will last from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Volunteers should expect to spend 20 to 30 minutes participating.
“It’s really significant and important because it brings together and strengthens the whole community,” McCune said. “It’s a great opportunity for local, state and regional partners to get together, look at plans they have, see what works, find gaps and improve.”
The exercise is limited to health organizations in Colorado, yet McCune said officials in Southwest Colorado are looking to partner with San Juan Regional Medical Center in Farmington in the future.
“I think each local health agency has its own challenges, and we really work hard to preplan and anticipate challenges we’d have down here,” McCune said. “And this gives us a chance to see how that planning is coming along, and where we need to focus next.”
jromeo@durangoherald.com
If you go
Public Health Emergency Dispensing Exercise: 11 a.m.-2 p.m. June 16, La Plata County Fairgrounds, 2500 Main Ave.
San Juan Basin Public Health will practice receiving and distributing medicine and other supplies in the case of a public health emergency. The first 150 volunteers will receive a free lunch and first-aid kit.
For more information or to volunteer, call Whitney Lukas at (970) 335-2017 or visit
www.sjbpublichealth.org
.
