Missouri Receives High Marks on Emergency Preparedness

Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt announced today that a recent review from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revealed that Missouri is well prepared to provide drugs and medical supplies from a federal stockpile in the event of a public health emergency.

"This score is very gratifying with all of the work we have done over the last three years to improve emergency preparedness in Missouri," Blunt said. "Missouri's high marks reflect that Missouri continues to improve its ability to respond to public health emergencies such as a terrorist attack, pandemic influenza outbreak, or earthquake on the New Madrid Fault Line, which could quickly exhaust state and local medical supplies. We are keeping our commitment to help keep Missourians safe through emergency preparedness partnerships at the state, local and federal level."

Missouri scored 96 of 100 percent for its overall readiness to quickly distribute the necessary medicines and medical supplies received from the Strategic National Stockpile (SNS). These supplies would then be dispersed to local public health agencies, hospitals and other treatment sites for dispensing to Missourians. CDC's report card stated "the state of Missouri continues to demonstrate a well developed Strategic National Stockpile preparedness program with clear evidence of collaboration between state agencies; and should be highly commended for its significant work in improving preparedness through collaboration with all eight bordering states."

The ultimate goal of state-level Strategic National Stockpile planning is to receive the supplies and quickly distribute them to local communities in the most timely and efficient manner. The first shipments from the stockpile can be delivered to any state within 12 hours.

To further support emergency preparedness Gov. Blunt signed legislation to extend liability protection to doctors, nurses and other licensed health care professionals during declared disasters. This Good Samaritan Law also allows DHSS to recruit, train and accept the services of citizen volunteers to dispense medication in a public health emergency under the supervision of a licensed health care professional.

Local public health emergency response plans blend with the state-level plan, an achievement that requires a great deal of advance communication and collaboration with local partners. The state and local communities conduct exercises on an ongoing basis to identify gaps in the delivery and dispensing of supplies needed during emergencies, and then work on improvements to those plans.

"We are committed to public health emergency preparedness and will continue to work to make even more progress," said Jane Drummond, director of the Department of Health and Senior Services.

Some improvements noted from last year's score of 85 percent include increased recruitment and training of Strategic National Stockpile team members; advance preparation of public information messages; cooperative planning with bordering states; and increased emphasis on exercise training and evaluation. The most recent state exercise focused on the use of a Regional Distribution Site; an alternate care treatment site as well as the capability of receiving and staging large shipments of managed inventory.