My county will be running a bioterrorism/infectious disease outbreak training excersize later this month:

Dear Montgomery County Partner:

Greetings from the UTMB Montgomery County Health Department! We would like to invite you to partner with in serving our community by promoting public health emergency preparedness.

The UTMB Montgomery County Health Department and Conroe Independent School District will host a Bioterrorism Exercise on Tuesday, July 31 at The Woodlands 9th Grade Campus, 10010 Branch Crossing Drive. The drill will last from 10:00 a.m. to Noon, and will simulate the process of distributing antibiotics to Public Health Volunteers, who will later distribute antibiotics to members of the public.

Exercise participants will act as “Volunteers” and report to the site to collect mock medication for themselves and family members, to register, and to receive badges and job assignments. Our pre-trained workers will dispense the medication as quickly and efficiently as possible, simulating the response time that would be required in an actual event.

Participating in the exercise provides great benefits to you, to us and to our community. You will get a first-hand look at how your Health Department plans to serve you during a bioterrorism attack or infectious disease outbreak. We will be able to test our county’s public health preparedness and response plans and increase their relevance. The result will be a community better educated and more prepared to respond to attacks or diseases that threaten our wellbeing.

The success of the exercise is dependent upon the number of people who participate. The more people that come on July 31, the better equipped we’ll be to respond to a real life emergency. Please invite friends, neighbors and co-workers to take part. A few minutes of your time will make a big difference in our ability to plan for and respond to public health emergencies in our communities.

Thanks so much for your time and for all that you are doing for Montgomery County.

It should be interesting.

-Blast