County health department holds training exercise

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July 3, 2009

Frank Denzler The Rushville Republican Fri Jul 03, 2009, 12:02 PM EDT

Members of the Rush County Health Department recently held a “Point of Distribution Drill” that was monitored by state officials.

According to Marge Amos of the RCHD, the drill and training exercise provides a means for state officials to see how Rush County personnel could manage dispensing mass quantities of medicine in the event of a catastrophic emergency.

During the training exercise local health department employees were timed and rated on their effectiveness in gaining and obtaining necessary information from residents.

A number of individuals from the local senior center participated in the event.

“In the event of a serious emergency we would have to service and process a lot of people in a short amount of time as well as dispense a vaccine and this training helps us prepare for that locally,” Amos said.

Watching and monitoring the exercise were a number of individuals from the district and state health office. Rush County is a part of District 6, a district that includes 13 counties.

“By having this exercise today places us (Rush County) ahead of some of the other counties in our district and right in line with others. These are unfortunate times we live in and we have to be prepared just in case,” Dr. Davis Ellis said.

In the event that the county would be required to dispense mass amounts of a vaccine or serum or antibiotic to combat a medical emergency a “POD” (point of distribution) must be set up and run effectively to get as many people through as possible in the shortest amount of time.

“The county gets so much money from the state by fulfilling this requirement and others. It is my understanding that in Rush County’s case, Marge (Amos) uses the money and places it toward preparedness. Some counties, on the other hand, use the money they receive to provide a part-time position to take care of this program,” Debora Imel from the district office said.

The state funds are divided evenly and each county receives the same monetary amount provided they meet the necessary requirements, she said.

That part-time position was lost earlier this year as a result of budget constraints when they were unable to maintain the employee in the local health department.

“It is becoming increasingly difficult to find the necessary funding to fill the position. We had a quality individual with a college degree and simply were unable to provide enough financial stability for her to stay,” Ellis said.

Frank Denzler can be contacted at (765) 932-2222 ext. 106 or via e-mail at frank.denzler@rushvillerepublican.com. To add a comment to this story visit our Web site at www.rushvillerepublican.com.

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