CDC: Kansas Better Prepared for Emergencies
By Karen Shideler, The Wichita Eagle, Kan.
Feb. 21–Kansas is better prepared to respond to public health emergencies ranging from weather disasters to anthrax scares than it was in 2002, according to a report released Wednesday by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
But, like every state, it still has challenges, the report said.
“Public Health Preparedness: Mobilizing State by State” is the first of what the CDC said would be annual reports on how ready states are to respond to health effects from ice storms, hurricanes or pandemic influenza, for example.
CDC Director Julie Gerberding said in a conference call that “there is no gold standard for preparedness… We’ve had to invent the airplane while we were flying it” to come up with a way to measure the states’ efforts.
The report looks at how effectively states have used the federal money they’ve received since 2002 to prepare for what the CDC calls “emerging health threats.” Kansas has received nearly $63 million.
The report said Kansas has done well in disease detection, noting it now can investigate urgent disease reports around the clock.
Its public health laboratories, to test for things such as E coli or listeria, are in pretty good shape, but the state does not yet comply with CDC information technology standards, the report said.
Spokesman Joe Blubaugh said the Kansas Department of Health and Environment launched its new electronic reporting system in December but hasn’t fully implemented it. Electronic lab reporting that will be added in late summer should meet CDC’s standards, he said.
The report also noted that, between September 2006 and February 2007, Kansas hadn’t activated its public health emergency operations center or had a drill or exercise to test communications.
Blubaugh said the operations center was activated in May for a drill and again for the Greensburg tornado, southeast Kansas flooding and December 2007 ice storms, so “we’ve had plenty of experience.” And though there were no communications drills during the six-month period, “we’ve done it three times since.”
Gerberding and Richard Besser, director of the CDC’s Office for Terrorism Preparedness and Emergency Response, said the report complements earlier reports on preparedness from the Trust for America’s Health. The most recent report from that group gave Kansas a score of 7 out of 10, but looked at different measures.
Reach Karen Shideler at 316-268-6674 or kshideler@wichitaeagle.com.
—–
To see more of The Wichita Eagle, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.kansas.com.
Copyright (c) 2008, The Wichita Eagle, Kan.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.