MARC News

Cities Readiness Initiative efforts earn national honors

September 10, 2007

Whether by accident or as part of a terrorist attack, the release of a potentially deadly agent such as anthrax could put a significant number of people at risk.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) can deploy a large shipment of medications from the Strategic National Stockpile anywhere in the country on very short notice — within hours — but will local public health agencies be prepared to distribute the medicines quickly?

This issue is the focus of the Cities Readiness Initiative (CRI), a public health program funded by the CDC. Local public health agencies have plans in place for quickly setting up public dispensing sites, but they have also developed a unique public/private partnership that will allow many local businesses to distribute medicines to their employees on site.

Local public health agencies created a workbook that walks businesses through the process of becoming CLOSED dispensing sites. By planning ahead, companies that join this effort will be able to save their employees — and in some cases, their employees’ families — the time and stress that might be involved in waiting for medication in long lines at public dispensing sites.

The workbook, and the partnerships it has created as public health agencies use it to recruit businesses into the program, has received national recognition. In July, the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) gave local CRI planners a model practice award at the organization’s national conference.

In early October, a video team from the CDC will come to Kansas City to interview local officials about the project for a satellite broadcast to be aired on Dec. 6. The broadcast will focus on the importance of private-sector partnerships and how the workbook is being used by local public health departments in the region.

The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services and the Kansas Department of Health and Environment have provided funding to support the CRI program.

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