State prepared in attack
Oklahoma tops list as most ready to deal with disaster, disease in national ranking.

By Jeff Raymond

Published: December 13, 2006

Oklahoma is best-equipped nationally to handle bioterrorism or a widespread disease outbreak, according to a report released Tuesday that measures states' public-health preparedness.

In the report "Ready or Not? Protecting the Public's Health from Diseases, Disasters, and Bioterrorism,” the Washington-based Trust for America's Health used 10 indicators to gauge states' bioterrorism preparedness and ability to battle catastrophic disease.

Half the states scored six or fewer points. Oklahoma was the only state to score in all 10 categories. Kansas scored in nine, the only state to do so well besides its neighbor.

This is the fourth year for the report. Data used were from 2002-06.

"The nation is nowhere near as prepared as we should be for bioterrorism, bird flu and other health disasters,” Jeff Levi, executive director of the trust, said in a news release. "We continue to make progress each year, but it is limited. As a whole, Americans face unnecessary and unacceptable levels of risk.”

Levi later said by telephone that the report was a push toward greater accountability among public health agencies and better disclosure of states' progress and plans. The Trust for America's Health is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that pushes to make disease prevention a priority through a strong public-health system.

"Everyone has a right to know how their particular community is prepared. ... Certainly we are not as prepared as we ought to be,” he said, adding that the nation is far from being able to mitigate the effects of a pandemic, or widespread disease.

In a prepared statement, Gov. Brad Henry praised the preparedness of the state's health care workers.

"Being prepared for catastrophic events, whether natural or manmade, requires the combined efforts of many people spanning a wealth of disciplines.

"Oklahomans are fortunate that we have so many honorable men and women dedicated to the cause of public health and public safety. We must remain vigilant, and the ranking from the Trust for America's Health indicates that we are being just that,” he said.

State Health Commissioner Dr. Mike Crutcher emphasized the report is a snapshot in time and that preparedness is ever-changing.

State Health Department officials have mentioned challenges to the state's public health emergency readiness, including an aging public health work force, decreased funding, hospitals' ability to handle a surge in patients and difficulty in sustaining long-term public interest in readiness issues.

The trust proposes "all-hazards preparedness,” whereby threats to public health are spotted and investigated quickly; hospitals have enough beds for the sick, especially "surge capacity” in case of mass illness or contamination; plans for containment and vaccination of the sick and exposed; and improved communication among the 3,000 independent agencies that constitute the nation's public-health system.

Working in Oklahoma's favor is having year-round flu testing; having a sufficient number of lab scientists to test for the plague or anthrax; and not having a nursing shortage. Other positives are its pneumonia vaccination rates for senior citizens and stockpile of vaccines.

Data used in the report came from publicly available sources, such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and surveys from the Association of Public Health Laboratories.

Jane Nelson, executive director of the Oklahoma Nurses Association, takes issue with the report's conclusion that the state has enough nurses. The report uses figures from the National Center for Health Workforce Analysis, which does not consider Oklahoma to have a nursing shortage.

Nelson said the state ranks 46th in the number of nurses per 100,000 people but has a high number of licensed practical nurses.

Nelson cited retiring baby boomers as a reason the state will lack nurses.

State Rep. Dr. Doug Cox, a Grove emergency room physician, complimented the state Health Department for implementing plans that will allow the state to respond effectively to a crisis.

In addition, he said, counties have been conducting bioterrorism and pandemic preparedness exercises, a shift from the car wreck and explosion responses practiced in past years.

The University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center is being recognized for its bioterrorism and pandemic preparedness research.

Recipient of a three-year, $2.4 million Defense Threat Reduction Agency grant last year, the College of Public Health boasts two Oklahoma City-based bioterrorism-related centers.

The Center for Biosecurity Research, recently received a $1.6 million grant from the Air Force.

The other is the Southwest Center for Public Health Preparedness.

Oklahoma Homeland Security Director Kerry Pettingill is not so surprised about Oklahoma's rank.

"I knew the Department of Health was working very diligently to enhance their scores,” he said.