Hometown Hospitals: The Weakest Link? Bioterrorism Readiness in America's Rural Hospitals

• Main Author: Gursky, Elin A
• Format: Report
• Language: English
• Subjects: BIOTERRORISM; Chemical, Biological and Radiological Warfare; HOMELAND SECURITY; HOSPITALS; Medical Facilities, Equipment and Supplies; MEDICAL SERVICES; OPERATIONAL READINESS; RURAL AREAS

Over the past decade, acts of international and domestic terrorism have demonstrated to government officials and policy makers the urgency of preparing systems to support the detection of atypical health events and the provision of preventive and interventional medical services in mass-care events. The 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City resulted in 168 deaths and required the efforts of nearly 5,500 emergency responders dispatched to the scene over 17 days in chaotic and feverish attempts to rescue and facilitate subsequent medical and surgical interventions to save the lives of over 600 injured victims.1 The September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon resulted in over 3,000 deaths and nearly 2,400 injured.2 The lethality of the attacks averted strain on hospitals but, once again, required the coordinated efforts of emergency responders and medical providers. The anthrax attacks of 2001 resulted in relatively few victims. However, despite 22 illnesses, including five deaths,3 hospitals in the five anthrax epicenters were required to institute triage for a novel disease and to devise new protocols of health screening, prophylaxis, and treatment. Eventually both public health and medical care systems were required to dispense antibiotics to an estimated 32,000 individuals.4 On March 11, 2004, terrorist bombings on several trains in Madrid resulted in nearly 200 deaths and about 1,800 injured.5 Madrid's hospitals were swamped with casualties as the hospitals appealed urgently for blood donations.6