PHD to test emergency ability
April 22, 2013
From April 29 to May 1, Panhandle Health District (PHD) will test its plans and ability to order and dispense medication in a crisis to the people living in the five northern counties.

The statewide exercise will present the state’s seven health districts and the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare with a fictitious emergency scenario, such as an anthrax attack.

PHD and other public health providers will assess the situation, simulate an order of medication from the federal Strategic National Stockpile, open a mass medication center at the Kootenai County Fairgrounds and dispense candy medication to about 300 community volunteers.

In a real emergency, PHD will operate mass medication centers in all five counties.

For this exercise, PHD will operate a fraction of one center in Coeur d’Alene.

About 50 people from PHD will practice triage, registration, checking forms, moving people through the center, working with people with disabilities and limited language skills, medical evaluation, dispensing medication—M&Ms and Sweet Tarts—and managing the medication center.

Community volunteers are still needed to act as patients at the fairgrounds from 11:45 a.m. to 2 p.m. on May 1. Volunteers will receive a free lunch.

To volunteer, call (208) 415-5180.

PHD will operate from a mobile command center—Emergency Response Vehicle (ERV) at the fairgrounds on May 1. Other agencies participating in the exercise are the Coeur d’Alene Interagency Fire Cache, North Idaho Medical Reserve Corp, Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office and Office of Emergency Management, Idaho State Police, Coeur d’Alene Police Department, Kootenai Fire and Rescue, Kootenai EMS, Hauser Lake Fire, Spokane Regional Health District, Idaho Bureau of Homeland Security and more.