Florida universities unite to develop state plan for response to bioterrorist attack

As news reports of terrorist threats against Americans escalate almost daily, Florida universities are moving to the front line to train health-care providers and the public how to respond to any event involving weapons of mass destruction.

Seven Florida universities, including the University of Florida, are appointing experts in areas related to weapons of mass destruction and biological defense to develop the training programs for implementation in all health-care settings in all regions of the state.

Representatives of the state-funded Area Health Education Centers and the Florida Emergency Medical Foundation also are engaged in the alliance, which aims to have a completed curriculum by Aug. 30, 2003, and to activate all facets of training statewide within three years.

Officials will first focus on training health-care providers likely to be first responders in the event of a bioterrorist attack (e.g., the spread of anthrax spores or smallpox virus) and supervisory health practitioners who train others.

Although Florida will be the first beneficiary of the federally supported effort, planners see the formation of a university alliance as an opportunity to lead the nation in weapons-of-mass-destruction preparedness training.

To fund the project, the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has allocated $6.5 million to the Florida Department of Health, which in turn is contracting with the state universities to design and implement the training curricula. The educational initiative is part of a larger CDC effort, backed by $40.5 million in federal funds, to address all key aspects of public defense against potential attacks.

“To see the state’s universities collaborate on an issue of urgent concern to the entire state is unprecedented,” said Jack Pittman, director of Florida’s Office of Public Health Preparedness.

“Ultimately, this project will provide unified and integrated training across the entire spectrum of health-care services and will provide a degree of training for all of Florida’s 14 million residents. Participating faculty will address the need for multilingual training and for training programs that account for different needs in larger cities and in rural areas.”

Formation of a university alliance is the brainchild of David Seaberg, M.D., associate chairman of emergency medicine at the University of Florida College of Medicine and president of the Florida College of Emergency Medicine. His concept gained ready acceptance in August and September at meetings of interested university faculty along with officials from the Florida Department of Health and the state’s Department of Law Enforcement. Before the September meeting ended, Seaberg found himself designated the project coordinator.

“It seemed obvious that working together could lead to something better for Florida,” Seaberg said. “We know a lot of bioterrorism preparedness training programs exist, but our goal is to select the best and tailor the courses to needs in Florida. The ultimate training program we develop must be practical enough for easy implementation by health practitioners and the public, and must be easy to perpetuate and keep up to date.”

Next steps will involve the awarding of state contracts for specific projects to be carried out by faculty members at Florida State University and Florida A&M University in Tallahassee; Florida International University in Miami; Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale; the University of South Florida at Tampa; the University of Miami and the University of Florida. Collectively, the universities will work to meet 14 educational objectives identified by the Department of Health.

Funds will be disbursed based on the needs for completing each task, and specific outcomes will be expected. An alliance council, composed of one senior member from each participating university and agency, will review contract proposals and budgets to ensure that all assignments will meet alliance goals.

UF College of Medicine physician-scientist James Crawford, M.D., Ph.D., will lead one of five selected categories of educational preparation: the development of specialty courses for all general, middle-level and advanced health-care providers.

Crawford, who chairs UF’s department of pathology, immunology and laboratory medicine, said, “I view this as more than an important assignment; it’s a responsibility, and I feel it is my turn to do something.

“The mission of our alliance is to ensure that people at all levels—hospital and clinic housekeepers, clerical and secretarial staff, technicians, and senior-level health-care providers and managers—are educated in how to deal with a bioterrorist attack,” Crawford added. “The overall educational effort also will include preparing mental and behavioral health specialists in how to counsel, console and give guidance to people stressed and traumatized by tragic events.”

Leaders of the Area Health Education Centers and faculty from NOVA Southeastern will determine how to disseminate basic bioterrorism-preparedness information to the public.

Three additional categories of the alliance project include:

First responder training to be led by UM and NOVA Southeastern;

Incident Command Systems training to be led by the Florida Emergency Medical Foundation; and Mental/behavioral health by UM.