Most of the nation's county public health departments are not sufficiently prepared to respond to biological or chemical terrorist attacks, according to a survey released this week by the National Association of Counties.
\Many departments are so underfunded, understaffed and undertrained that they are not ready to effectively handle a major crisis,"" said Javier Gonzales, president of the NACo, in his speech at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., Monday.
So how does Dane County compare?
Dane County Executive, Kathleen Falk's Chief of Staff Topf Wells said the county's response plan has been used several times as a protocol and was the first in Wisconsin to be completed.
""We are one of the most prepared counties in the nation,"" he said.
According to Kathy M. Krusiec, director of the Dane County Department of Emergency Management, county government has been on top of the issue for quite some time.
""We've had a task force preparing for the threat of bioterrorism since 1997 and an integrated Emergency Management Plan for Terror was adopted in 1998,"" she said.
Krusiec noted that Madison is also a part of the Metropolitan Response System, which operates under the U.S. Public Health Service and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and allows for the acquisition of pharmaceuticals to combat biological and chemical agents.
""We have a local cache with enough antidotes to treat 1,000 chemical and 10,000 biological cases,"" she said.
Krusiec said she is proud of the progress Dane County has made.
""We have a plan, we've exercised our plan, we have pharmaceuticals and we've been training,"" she said.
According to Gonzales, terrorism preparedness is mainly an urban priority.
""The good news is that nearly 100 percent of all urban counties have plans to respond to terrorism,"" he said. ""But the bad news is that many rural counties have no plans and some of these rural counties surround federal installations.""
UW-Madison Medical School Professor Dennis Maki, who has also lectured on bioterrorism, said he is not too worried about threats to smaller counties because rural America is much less likely to be attacked.
""If anthrax is found in a small community hospital, doctors would be able to recognize it, make some calls and have response teams there within an hour,"" he said.
Wells said Dane County is planning emergency response training exercises for mid-May.
""If [there is] one thing that Sept. 11 has taught us, it's that it's impossible to conceive every possible attack,"" Wells said. ""But in terms of planning and preparation, we've done it and we're on task.\
