Bio-war exercise tested emergency response. (Security Beat).A recent regional exercise served as a national test bed for bio-terrorism response for states and counties. The McAlester Army Ammunition Plant, about 90 miles south of Tulsa, Okla., was a participant in a community-wide exercise that simulated a plague attack, followed immediately by the appropriate response, said the plant's commander, Army Col. Jyuji Hewitt. The McAlester plant, a Tier I depot, is the prime producer of bombs for the Navy and the Air Force. The exercise began with a small airplane airplane, aeroplane, or aircraft, heavier-than-air vehicle, mechanically driven and fitted with fixed wings that support it in flight through the dynamic action of the air. spraying a liquid, simulating a toxin toxin, poison produced by living organisms. Toxins are classified as either exotoxins or endotoxins. Exotoxins are a diverse group of soluble proteins released into the surrounding tissue by living bacterial cells. that would cause plague, over an area that encompassed three counties. Then, first responders first responder First response personnel Emergency medicine A person employed in the public sector–EMT, fire fighter, police, volunteer EMS–whose duties include provision of immediate medical care in the event of an emergency; FRs have basic emergency worked together to call upon a national stockpile stock·pile n. A supply stored for future use, usually carefully accrued and maintained. tr.v. stock·piled, stock·pil·ing, stock·piles To accumulate and maintain a supply of for future use. of medications to treat themselves and the rest of the community. More than 13,000 participants, private citizens, lined up to receive the cocktail of antibiotics, which, for the purpose of the exercise, was a small bag of jellybeans. Hewitt said he wanted his Army civilian employees involved in this exercise, because "It is a readiness issue. We need to know how to go out and distribute antibiotics to our first responders and our work force. ... Most of the employees at the plant are Army civilians, who live in those counties," where the toxin was sprayed, he said. The exercise included participants and observers from the governor's office, White House Office of Homeland Security Noun 1. Homeland Security - the federal department that administers all matters relating to homeland security Department of Homeland Security executive department - a federal department in the executive branch of the government of the United States , FBI, Department of Health and Human Services Noun 1. Department of Health and Human Services - the United States federal department that administers all federal programs dealing with health and welfare; created in 1979 Health and Human Services, HHS , Joint Civil Support Team, Department of Justice and Center for Disease Control. "What this did for us was to help in developing the relationships that we need to have with local agencies. Local agency coordination is very important in a bio-terrorism response, and with that, we are the better for it, should anything happen in the future," he said. |
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