KING COUNTY, WASHINGTON - Today, federal, state and local officials announced their participation in an exercise on Saturday, November 11th to test the capacity to deliver emergency medications directly to residents’ mailboxes in the event of a bioterrorist attack.
United States Postal Service letter carriers will be delivering a small, empty cardboard box with an informational flyer to approximately 38,000 northeast Seattle residences. The cardboard box represents emergency medications for the public that could be recommended by public health to prevent at-risk residents from becoming ill after a bioterrorist attack.
The exercise will begin at approximately 7:30 a.m. and end at 4:30 p.m. Residents do not need to do anything during the exercise and may recycle the box and flyer.
“As a partner in this important emergency preparedness exercise, we want to ensure that residents know that this is not a real emergency,” said Dorothy Teeter, Interim Director and Health Officer for Public Health – Seattle & King County. “In an actual emergency, we will provide the news media with instructions on how the public can stay safe or receive help.”
“The exercise is the first opportunity for federal, state, and local officials, and the United States Postal Service, to evaluate a way to quickly deliver medications to individuals at home during an emergency,” said Dr. William Raub, Senior Science Advisor to the Secretary for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. “The exercise represents another step forward for public health preparedness and we are grateful to the various Washington state and local agencies and Seattle residents for their cooperation.”
The delivery area includes the 98115 and 98125 ZIP codes. The boundaries for the exercise are approximately NE 145th Street to the north, NE 60th Street to the south, Lake Washington to the east, and 1st Ave NE to the west. A map of the area and more information on the exercise is available on the Public Health website at www.metrokc.gov/health/postaldelivery.
A total of 41 postal carriers will participate in the distribution, each accompanied by a Seattle Police officer. Only the postal carrier will approach residences, inserting the empty box and an informational flyer in the mailbox or delivery slot. In an emergency, having a police officer follow the delivery route would provide security for the postal carrier and the emergency medication supply, allowing the deliveries to take place as safely and quickly as possible.
“Our 225,000 city letter carriers are counted on everyday to accomplish delivery of America’s important communications,” said Pat Mendonca, Senior Director for Policy & Planning for the United States Postal Service. “We are honored to partner in this exercise as we test how our established delivery network may provide federal assistance should a city suffer a biological attack."
“Letter carriers are proud to be an active partner in this first-in-the-nation test program to determine the best means to quickly and efficiently distribute necessary medicine to the general public in the event of a bioterrorist attack,” said Jo Ann Pyle, president of Seattle Branch 79 of the National Association of Letter Carriers.
This exercise with postal carriers is part of the federal government’s Cities Readiness Initiative, which is an effort to increase the capacity of major metropolitan centers to rapidly deliver medications to help prevent illness in a population at-risk during large-scale biological emergencies. The postal carrier method is being examined as one potential means to distribute emergency medications to the public in a bioterrorist attack and would supplement other existing distribution methods used by states and localities.
Currently, Public Health - Seattle & King County is ready to provide emergency medications to the public during large-scale biological emergencies through other points of distribution within the community. People would be directed to these community locations to pick up medication for themselves and their families.
The sponsors of this exercise are the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the United States Postal Service. Additional participating agencies include Public Health – Seattle & King County, the City of Seattle, the Washington State Department of Health, and the National Association of Letter Carriers.
To learn more about the Cities Readiness Initiative visit: http://www.bt.cdc.gov/cri
To read about the Strategic National Stockpile visit http://www.bt.cdc.gov/stockpile
Note to editors: A Joint Information Center (JIC) will be activated on Saturday, November 11th to provide information over the course of the exercise; the JIC opening will be announced by media release Saturday morning.
Delivery teams will not be available to conduct interviews during the exercise, but arrangements can be made through the JIC to locate teams and take footage as they make deliveries. Representatives from the participating agencies will be available for morning and afternoon briefings, scheduled for 10 a.m. and 3 p.m., at the JIC, located at Seattle Fire Station #2, 2334 4th Avenue in Seattle (corner of 4th and Battery).
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Providing effective and innovative health and disease prevention services for over 1.8 million residents and visitors of King County, Public Health – Seattle & King County works for safer and healthier communities for everyone, every day.
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