U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) Secretary Tommy G. Thompson today announced that the Department has made available another $1.4 billion to the states, territories and three metropolitan areas to help strengthen their capacity to respond to terrorism and other public health emergencies. The money will allow states to continue planning and upgrading the public health system and hospitals/health care entities that will be called upon to respond.
"Continuing to improve our public health system and the capacity of our hospitals and major health providers is crucial at this time in our nation's history," Secretary Thompson said. "We must build on the outstanding progress made in the past year and continue working with our state and local partners to enhance our readiness and our ability to respond to public health emergencies. Our combined efforts will result in a stronger system to care for Americans in emergencies, whether it be a bioterror attack or an infectious disease outbreak like SARS or West Nile virus."
The funds will be used to upgrade infectious disease surveillance and investigation, enhance the readiness of hospitals and the health care system to deal with large numbers of casualties, expand public health laboratory and communications capacities and improve connectivity between hospitals, and city, local and state health departments to enhance disease reporting.
Governor Bob Taft said Ohio has received more than $46.3 million in federal dollars to help fund state and local government programs to deal with acts of bioterrorism and to combat infectious disease outbreaks and other public health emergencies.
"The goal is to be prepared for more than a deliberate act," said State Health Director Dr. J. Nick Baird in a statement. "The plans and efforts outlined is this grant will increase our ability to respond to naturally occurring diseases as well as bioterrorism. The recent outbreaks of SARS and monkeypox reinforced how important it is to be well-trained, well-equipped and well-prepared."
Portions of the funds will be used to: -- create a fully functional 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week system to receive disease reports -- provide technical assistance to local health departments of disease investigation and control -- provide smallpox vaccinations for nearly 2,000 public health and health care professionals -- train several hundred epidemiologists, registered nurses and sanitarians -- build capacity to respond to disease outbreaks and emerging diseases in Ohio -- install point-to-point high speed Internet connections for 110 local health departments covering the entire state, -- determine appropriate levels of supplies and equipment needed to respond to a bioterrorist event, specifically "hospital surge capacity"
For more information, see http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2003pres/20030902.html