Washington, B.C. preparing for health crises

OLYMPIA – With the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver just around the corner, Washington state is using its partnership with British Columbia to prepare for bioterrorist attacks and other public health emergencies.

That cross-country partnership, which has already led to sharing of information on severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, and a salmonella pet food problem, was noted in a new federal report on health emergency preparedness.

Wednesday’s report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention takes a national look at how states have improved their readiness for public health emergencies and the challenges those states still face.

It was the government’s first assessment of the payoff from its investment of more than $5 billion since the terrorist attacks of 2001 to make the country better prepared for a variety of public health emergencies.

State Secretary of Health Mary Selecky said that Washington and Canadian labs and epidemiologists on both sides of the border are in constant contact.

“We have really matured the relationship with British Columbia,” she said. “It’s that kind of work that prepares you for something you hope never happens, like a terrorism event, and the things that are planned, like the 2010 Olympics.”

Washington has received about $100 million in federal preparedness money between 2002 and 2007, more than half of which goes to local communities, Selecky said.

The state received fairly good marks in the report, which noted that Washington is prepared to receive and investigate reports of disease outbreak across state lines. It also conducts year-round surveillance for seasonal flu.

The state also has developed a public health response plan that has been reviewed by federal authorities and has coordinated with federal emergency management agencies and conducted public health laboratory training for police, firefighters and other first responders.

But the report said the state hasn’t conducted a CDC-approved drill on what to do in a bioterrorism event, or on how to communicate if both the power grid and land lines go down. Selecky noted that a bioterrorism drill was conducted in Spokane after the report’s timeframe.

“This report is a snapshot taken at a specific period of time,” she said.

And she noted that the devastating floods in southwestern Washington in December were more than a drill for the department, which was able to get people on the ground in the affected areas within 24 hours.

“We are more prepared for public threat emergencies than ever before,” Selecky said. But “there’s always more to do.”