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Lee Response System
October 22, 2007
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In a post 9-11 America, the threat of terrorism is very real. But many Southwest
Florida medical professionals are making sure they’re prepared.
What would happen if Southwest Florida was the next target of a bioterrorism attack?
Dr. Timothy Dougherty is the Medical Director of Disaster Preparedness at Cape Coral
Hospital.
He explains a possible scenario.
“Cape Coral is the region six center for mass casualty bioterrorism chemical receiving
hospital. There are six locations and
should an event occur from Sarasota all the
way down to Naples, EMS would bring those patients here, mainly because of the physicians
and nurses that are here.”
It’s that heavy responsibility that has doctors and nurses working hard to make
preparedness a priority. Dr. Dougherty says, “ We’ve been working on this for the
last four years and it was actually started right before the anthrax scares that
started in Florida.”
Debbie Bowles is an Emergency Services Project Coordinator for Lee Memorial Health
System. She says many local preparedness programs are unique.
“You usually hear
about hazmat training with the fire department so it’s really been new with the
hospital system.”
State homeland security grants have helped the team at Cape Coral Hospital purchase
hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of disaster related equipment.
“I take the contracts from the state, work with buying the equipment. Great job,
because I get money from the state and I get to spend it on equipment that we wouldn’t
otherwise receive,” says Bowles. After dozens of hours of training drills and equipment
tests, this team is confident they’re on the right track.
Dr. Dougherty says, “Each time we do a drill, each time we have an event we learn
more and more. Every year there is more people getting trained. Each year we get
more equipment, so we’re at a better place today then we were four years ago when
we started the program.”
Bowles says it’s great to see a program like this come full circle. “This is their
tax dollars coming back to their city and to their hospital so that we can be better
prepared.”
Cape Coral Hospital has
two board certified toxicologists which is one reason why
they facility was chosen to focus on disaster preparedness and bioterrorism.
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