Dane County Secures Grant to Plan for Biological and Other Mass Casualty Emergencies

June 28, 2004
Sharyn Wisniewski, (608) 267-8823
County Executive

Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk announced today that Dane County is receiving a $53,500 grant to develop and practice responses to bio-terrorism and other mass casualty occurrences. The State of Wisconsin grant consists of federal Homeland Security dollars. “Our goal is to have first responders, public health and safety workers, hospitals and others receive the training that is so important to working well together if a disaster occurs,” said Falk. According to Falk, "These dollars will prepare our fire departments to decontaminate victims of chemical terrorism. They will prepare our hospitals to treat victims of biological terrorism. They will improve how public health and human service workers, volunteer organizations, utility representatives, elected officials and many others work together when cooperation is most needed.” The exercise program kicks off with a biological agent tabletop exercise on June 30 to be held at the local chapter of the American Red Cross, and will run through late April 2005, when a full-scale exercise will be held at the Dane County Regional Airport. The exercise program, developed jointly by staff from Dane County Emergency Management, Dane County Regional Airport, all County hospitals, the Badger Chapter of the American Red Cross, regional public health and hospital consortia and Wisconsin Emergency Management, addresses issues such as mass casualty management, large-scale immunization and a bio-hazards pharmaceutical plan. # # #