National Perspective

	NATIONAL PERSPECTIVE Moving Towards Public Health Preparedness by Mindy S. Lubber, JD, MBA; Ann M. Zaia MHA, RN, CHE, COHN-S

Bioterrorism Preparedness Join the Collaborative More Information Bioterrorism Preparedness A review of the events of September 11th has created more questions than answers regarding bioterrorism preparedness in the United States. According to Mindy S. Lubber, JD, "September 11 awakened us to a stark reality - the nation’s public health infrastructure is underdeveloped to deal with such a catastrophic occurrence." The sense of urgency has provided an opportunity to create new and open approaches to problem solving that can be brought to bear against serious public health system vulnerabilities. In response to this need, a group of leading academics, healthcare providers, lawyers, scientists, and business experts has come together to form The New England Collaborative for Public Health Preparedness. The not-for-profit organization counts among its members leaders of New England’s academic, public health, government, media, law enforcement, and business communities. Drawing from their rich and diverse expertise, the Collaborative has set out to solve problems never thought possible in this country. Core program initiatives for the Collaborative are listed below. Problem-solving: devising immediate, innovative, practical solutions to answer key public health questions. Education and training: imparting knowledge to senior managers, planners, researchers, healthcare workers, and first responders to enhance technical and management skills essential to public health readiness. Information dissemination: offering immediate access to findings on issues of national public health preparedness via a clearinghouse Internet network. Leading academic experts like Dr. David Ozonoff, Chairman of the Department of Environmental Health at the Boston University School of Public Health, are working together with healthcare professionals such as Dr. Tom Winters, Chief Medical Officer of the CareGroup Occupational Health Network, and law enforcement officials like Dan Moore, Captain of the Middlesex Sheriff’s Office Crime Prevention Unit, to tackle problems related to surge capacity, incident command, and supply readiness. All this is being accomplished using the Collaborative’s unique "edge-to-edge principle" approach. Like the Internet, edge-to-edge architecture relies on a network to provide access to information from smart user to smart user. It becomes an essential tool of innovation by providing a marketplace of ideas that is readily accessible. Using this approach, the Collaborative can function as a problem-solving device of considerable power, where disparate but pertinent areas of knowledge are brought together to form new and useful relationships. Some of the questions currently under investigation by the Collaborative include: What is needed to have real-time surveillance systems that are easily accessed by first responders, healthcare, and environmental professionals? What are alternative communication systems for first responders to communicate with one another, off-site personnel, and the public in the event of a disaster? What vaccination methods might be employed on an immediate basis to combat an identified biological threat? What are our alternatives for surge capacity to create hospital beds if the healthcare system should become overwhelmed? Join the Collaborative Finally, imagine a network of scientists, scholars, citizens, business leaders, and agency personnel, each a source of ideas, working independently on solutions to bioterrorism preparedness. Now imagine the potential of a network that brings them together, enables their collaboration, and disseminates real-time solutions to pressing public health issues surrounding this problem. This is the essence of the Collaborative. Currently, the Collaborative is inviting experts from all fields to join their open network approach in addressing questions of readiness in response to bioterrorism. More Information Interested individuals may find out more about the Collaborative by sending e-mail to: PHCollaborative@aol.com. [top] [Return to Autumn 2002 main page]

About the authors: MINDY S. LUBBER, JD, MBA, is the Executive Director of The New England Collaborative for Public Health Preparedness. She also heads a successful consulting practice known as The LUBBER Group, which specializes in environmental law, environmental policy, and state and federal environmental regulatory challenges. Ms. Lubber lectures extensively at universities, business conferences, and environmental and government seminars across New England. She serves on the Board of Directors of the Environmental League of Massachusetts and Second Nature. Ms. Lubber is a former regional administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. ANN MORRIS ZAIA, MHA, RN, CHE, COHN-S is Director of Network Consulting for Operations for the CareGroup Occupational Health Network. She is double board-certified as a Healthcare Executive (CHE) and an Occupational Health Nurse-Specialist (COHN-S). Her areas of expertise include practice management, strategic planning and development, police and firefighter wellness, and healthcare information systems. She is currently enrolled in a Masters program at Simmons College and Harvard University and will begin a Doctoral Program at Harvard University this fall. She is presently working on a research initiative with the Greater Boston Association of Occupational Health Nurses to assess bioterrorism preparedness. Ms. Zaia may be reached via e-mail: azaia@caregroup.harvard.edu.