By Cathy Logg
Herald Writer
EVERETT — Snohomish County’s emergency, medical and government leaders learned Friday that they need to improve communications before an emergency such as a bioterrorist attack occurs.
In a tabletop exercise, about 50 representatives of numerous agencies, cities, the county, the Navy, Red Cross and others waded through a scenario to see how the community would react — and how quickly.
Participants learned there are some holes to plug and some agency plans to be written or retooled.
"The medical side has a terrific organization," said Mike McCallister of the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management. "We need to keep talking to each other and maybe have some other exercises so we can learn each other’s capabilities."
County officials are planning two more exercises for next year and a full-scale exercise in 2003, all addressing chemical or biological terrorism.
Most states and counties are prepared to respond to natural disasters and disease outbreaks, but since Sept. 11 they’ve been scrambling to address terrorism as well.
The county exercise began with the scenario of health officials seeing an increase in people with gastrointestinal ailments at hospitals.
Participants grappled with treating the sick as the strain on local resources grew, while at the same time hunting for the source of the illness, determining at what point to notify other agencies such as the police and FBI, and what to tell the media.
On day three of the emergency drill, authorities determined that Shigella sonnei infection was the cause and that food, particularly fresh herbs, was the most likely source.
Many of those who became ill had eaten in 13 restaurants in the three make-believe counties.
An extremist group claimed credit for contaminating the food supply with a bacterial agent, and threatened to continue doing so if the government didn’t cancel an upcoming economic trade conference.
Then someone else claimed responsibility, but said they had used a different toxin.
Participants faced medicine shortages, decisions on whether to close some restaurants, how to deal with the contaminated food and whether to cancel the trade conference.
Department of Emergency Management director Roger Serra urged agencies and communities to improve their disaster plans.
"We need to at least be leaning forward in the foxhole," Serra said.
Meanwhile, in Seattle, a panel of experts told state legislators from around the country that much work lies ahead. The statements were made during Friday’s opening session of the National Conference of State Legislatures’ fifth annual conference on health policy, which ends Sunday.
That conference was separate from the county exercise.
Sometimes officials don’t have all the answers, said Seattle panel member Patrick Libbey, president of the National Association of County and City Health Officials.
"Early detection at the local level is the critical first step" for an attack involving biological agents, he said. "We can’t wait for the state-federal team."
The terrorist events of Sept. 11 "shattered our sense of security," and people are turning to the government as they have not done in years, asking, "How are you going to protect me?" said Mary Selecky, who heads the state Health Department.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
You can call Herald Writer Cathy Logg at 425-339-3437
or send e-mail to logg@heraldnet.com.
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