Oct
21
Originally published in The Palm Beach Post on Sunday, Oct. 21, 2007.
By KATHLEEN CHAPMAN
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Palm Beach County emergency managers hope they have found a new group of foot soldiers in the war against bioterrorism: country clubs and condo board presidents.
Faced with a mandate to plan for the distribution of antibiotics to the county’s 1.3 million people in 48 hours, health officials here have hit on a quintessentially South Florida solution: If terrorists drop anthrax or another biological weapon over Palm Beach County, residents of neighborhoods that agree to partner with the Palm Beach County Health Department would be able to offer a private supply of antibiotics at their local clubhouses.
Everyone else would be told to remain calm and head for one of the shopping malls in the county, where shuttles would carry people to public centers distributing antibiotics.
The plan was born out of necessity. Palm Beach County is one of 72 metro areas nationwide that gets federal money to plan for a biological attack. The program, called the Cities Readiness Initiative, began in 2004 and requires cities to have a plan to distribute antibiotics quickly from a federal hoard called the Strategic National Stockpile. The county was added to the list in 2005, and the county health department received $267,000 this year for planning.
Some big cities, including Seattle, Boston and Philadelphia, have developed plans to distribute antibiotics by mail, with an armed guard or police officer escorting every postal worker from door to door. Broward County plans to organize through its towns and cities. Orlando is setting up a system of drive-through distribution, where people could pick up antibiotics through their car windows.
Philip Levenstein, who heads the effort for the Palm Beach County Health Department, didn’t think drive-through drug distribution would be a good idea in this county.
“I don’t have to tell you about the kind of drivers we have in South Florida. People from all 50 states, each coming in with a different perspective on what the driving requirements are,” Levenstein said. “I would be very concerned about doing anything mobilized. It could be very riotous.”
Though the county may lack courteous motorists, it has no shortage of shopping malls and gated communities. And when Levenstein had a hard time registering volunteers to work at the public distribution points, he turned to the homeowners associations.
At least 30 neighborhoods have expressed an interest in distributing a private supply of antibiotics to their residents, he said. But before they sign formal agreements, attorneys at the state need to address associations’ concerns that they could be held legally responsible if something went wrong, he said.
State and federal emergency managers say Palm Beach County’s plan to enlist homeowners associations is probably the only one of its kind nationwide.
“This is an exciting new idea, and we have really only been working on it for a few months,” said Ken Sturrock, a regional emergency response manager for the state Department of Health. “As far as we know, they are pioneers.”
Sturrock said he believes the count’s plan will work, even if it isn’t a traditional role for homeowners associations.
“We are planning for doomsday,” he said. “Most communities are more interested in the neighbor’s pink house with the broken-down boat in front. They are much less interested in Armageddon.”
But the anthrax attack in 2001, which killed tabloid photo editor Robert Stevens at the American Media Inc. offices in Boca Raton, got the attention of people in Palm Beach County and around the county, Sturrock said.
The emergency plan was developed for anthrax, which can be sprayed over a large area but is not spread person-to-person and can be stopped with antibiotics if caught in time.
The plans would have to be changed in the case of a contagious disease such as pandemic flu, when people would need to be separated.
Homeowners associations that agree to participate in case of a disaster would not have to give drugs to anyone outside their communities. Levenstein said he won’t publicize the names of communities that sign up because of the fear that, in a public health panic, people would storm their gates looking for antibiotics. People who do not live in a participating neighborhood would be bused from mall parking lots to distribution points around the county, where they would be asked about their symptoms and allowed to pick up medication for up to 15 friends and family members. The clinic locations also will remain a secret, Levenstein said.
Sturrock said he knows the plan to set up private antibiotic distribution in gated neighborhoods sounds “a little elitist,” but it will help elderly people who have difficulty traveling. And in any kind of contagious epidemic, the neighborhood organizations could help keep people from mingling with others who could make them sick, Sturrock said.
Without the private neighborhood supplies, the county would need about 45 public distribution points, Levenstein said. The health department would need up to 5,400 people for the effort, but it has fewer than 1,000 employees, he said.
To help make up the difference, he is advertising that those selected as volunteers for public distribution points will get first priority medication for themselves and their families. But attendance at his seminars has so far been light.
Another presentation for people interested in helping at public distribution points is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. Oct. 30 at the Mounts Botanical Garden auditorium at 531 North Military Trail in West Palm Beach.
Ultimately, Levenstein also hopes to register large employers that could offer to distribute medication to employees. Any big neighborhoods that pitch in also will reduce the strain on volunteers at public distribution sites, he said.
Bob Schulbaum, president of the Alliance of Delray Residential Associations, said homeowners associations are organized and capable.
When flu shot shortages forced seniors to wait in long lines several years ago, the associations took the initiative and now distribute up to 11,000 shots a year themselves.
Some residents of Delray Beach’s retirement communities remember the devastating flu epidemic after World War I, Schulbaum said, and most lived through World War II.
“There is nothing wrong with being prepared,” he said. “You can’t say it’s never going to happen here. We had the 9/11 terrorists living right over here on Atlantic Avenue. … We are not pooh-poohing this thing.”
But Schulbaum said he can’t recommend that his neighborhoods participate until the state addresses liability concerns.
“We heartily want to join in the effort,” Schulbaum said. “If they remove the obstacle, we will ask our communities to participate.”
Stephanie Dulin, who oversees the Strategic National Stockpile for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said she believes Palm Beach County is the only one of 72 participants in the federal program that is turning to homeowners associations. She commends the local health department for its creativity.
“A lot of us are really trying to think of novel ideas, and obviously Palm Beach has come up with what would work in their local community,” Dulin said.
Anyone interested in becoming a volunteer for the bioterror plan can contact the Palm Beach County Health Department at (561) 355-3150.
Copyright 2007 The Palm Beach Newspapers, Inc.
Palm Beach Post (Florida)
October 21, 2007 Sunday
FINAL EDITION
SECTION: A SECTION; Pg. 1A
LENGTH: 1,219 words