In State-wide Drill, Health and Safety Officials Practice Bio-Terrorism Response
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Novenber 3, 2023
Contact
Diana Yates, Communications Coordinator
217-531-4275
In State-wide Drill, Health and Safety Officials Practice Bio-Terrorism Response
Event Will Test State and Local Authorities’ Ability to Get Federally Stockpiled Medicines to Those Affected by an Attack
State and local emergency officials will rehearse their response to a mock bio- terrorist event on November 10. The drill will involve state health, police, emergency management and transportation agencies, as well as Champaign- Urbana and Champaign County Public Health, Carle Foundation Hospital, Provena Covenant Medical Center, the Champaign County Emergency Management Agency and the University of Illinois.
The event will test how quickly and efficiently emergency responders can deliver drugs and medical supplies currently stored in the Strategic National Stockpile to those affected by a natural or man-made disease outbreak or bio-terrorism event.
In the drill, state authorities will deliver large quantities of medicines and medical supplies to Champaign County hospitals and to Public Health. The hospitals will then test their ability to utilize the materials in a mock response. (Public Health tested its ability to distribute medicines to large numbers of people in a drill at Parkland College on September 22.)
This exercise is part of an ongoing statewide effort to prepare for any natural or man-made disaster that endangers public health.
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