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February 24, 2015
Terrebonne Parish is partnering with the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to be a part of the Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) of medical supplies and vaccines.
The SNS is a $1.3 billion stockpile of medical supplies, vaccines, antibodies and antitoxins strategically placed throughout the United States to be deployed anywhere in the country in the event that a bioterrorist attack or other public health emergency depletes the resources at local hospitals.
In 1999, the SNS was originally established as the National Pharmaceutical Stockpile as a response mechanism for potential bioterrorism events related to Y2K, according to a CDC review of the stockpile. It was tested during 9/11 and the anthrax attacks that followed. Since then, the scope of the supplies has widened to all public health emergencies.
These caches of medical supplies are each held at undisclosed locations so that they can be deployed anywhere in the country within 48 hours, but in as little as 12 hours, said Dr. Takeisha Davis, Region 1 medical director for the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals.
The stockpile can be deployed within the two range people who are exposed to anthrax have to receive lifesaving medication to survive, Davis said.
Anthrax is easier to weaponize than other bacteria because it can enter a spore stage that is extremely resistant to heat and cold and is easily inhaled, said Dr. Owen Grossmen, medical director at Terrebonne General Medical Center’s emergency department.
Davis said training and exercises in the deployment of the stockpile are intense and that Louisiana has “done well” in them, delivering to Points of Dispensing Sites, or PODS.
“So it takes a lot of coordination with partners to do that,” Davis said. “Public, private, business, medical community, National Guard, etcetera, have been involved with the program for some time now.”
The SNS occasionally holds real-world exercises, Davis said. During the H1N1 pandemic, PODS were implemented to give flu shots.
The stockpile in Louisiana was deployed during Hurricane Katrina, Davis said. Medical supplies like oxygen tanks and IVs were dispensed.
The deployment of the stockpile during the storm went smoothly, said Kayla Guerrero, whom has served as public health emergency response coordinator for Region 3 of the LDHH.
Region 3 contains both Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes.
Davis said the public should expect to be notified through traditional media outlets like television and radio and also social media.
“In Region 3, we do have an alternate means of dispensing, which is our door-to-door plan. In this plan, the fire departments and law enforcement personnel would actually drop off a bottle of medication at each household in the parish prior to points of dispensing being opened. This is a way to quickly get the medication to people,” Guerrero said.
“So the public would be notified through redundant systems to be able get them to where they need to be to get their life-saving medications,” Davis said.
The SNS has nine regions in Louisiana whose coordinators would be in contact with trained designees at area hospitals, first responders, nursing homes and even private businesses to coordinate a mass response of the system, Davis said.
Each hospital in Louisiana is required to have a FEMA-certified staffer in order to be reimbursed for damages during a disaster, he said.
Many of the medicines in the stockpile have a shelf life, and must be rotated out and replaced with fresh replacements, Davis said.
A cache of Strategic National Stockpile medicines and equipment at an undisclosed location, in a photo supplied by the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals.
