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Mission & Activities Mission & Activities  Mission & Activities

Academic Health Centers: Documenting their potential roles in a public health emergency

"The events surrounding the anthrax scare in 2001 showed us how fragile even the best public health systems are, particularly when faced with significant public panic. In a large-scale event, all available resources will need to be rallied in a coordinated fashion. Developing relationships and exploring possibilities for collaboration well in advance of an actual emergency are essential to our ultimate success."
??????????????????????????????????????????????? Jill DeBoer, Associate Director, CIDRAP

Academic institutions represent a significant, and often untapped, collection of resources for public health emergency-response activities. The extent to which academic institutions are integrated with state and local response plans is dependent on the relationships and past shared experiences between university faculty and state and local health department staff.

In a large-scale bioterrorist event, local investigation and response activities will be directed by state health departments, in partnership with state emergency management, law enforcement agencies, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Local health departments' involvement will be crucial as well, because they play a fundamental role in all state health department plans. Academic institutions can help assure that the support provided to first-line responders is as effective as possible by working with state health department officials to identify and clearly articulate possible areas of assistance in advance of an event.

CIDRAP Associate Director Jill DeBoer is currently working with Dr. Frank Cerra, Senior Vice President for Health Sciences, Dr. Mark Becker, Dean of the School of Public Health, and CIDRAP Director Michael Osterholm to develop a framework for assessing and documenting the potential roles of the University of Minnesota Academic Health Center (AHC) in providing assistance to state and local health departments in the event of a bioterrorism or other public health emergency. The AHC includes the School of Public Health, School of Dentistry, College of Pharmacy, College of Veterinary Medicine, School of Nursing, and two medical schoolsthe University of Minnesota Medical School and the School of Medicine, Duluth. In conjunction with state health department officials and AHC faculty, Ms. DeBoer is documenting possible response roles and activation plans in the following categories:

  • Diagnostic capabilities and "surge capacity"
  • Mass dispensing, triage, and care
  • Emergency-event enhanced surveillance
  • Emergency hotline support
  • Just-in-time training
  • Expert consultation
  • Forum for consideration of unique therapies
  • Media resources

CIDRAP welcomes the opportunity to play a part in bringing the critical players in Minnesota together in the important planning ahead and to perhaps help make this model available for other states in the future.


 

Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy
Academic Health Center -- University of Minnesota
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