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Exercise
Tests Bioterrorism
Laboratory Response Across Wisconsin
 Just
in Case, Just in Time -- While it might sound like the
latest slogan for a national transportation company, this phrase
is the two-tiered communication philosophy of the Wisconsin Laboratory
Response Network (WLRN), created and coordinated by the Wisconsin
State Laboratory of Hygiene.
As the lead terrorism and emergency response laboratory in the state,
the WSLH’s emergency response staff have spent the past several
years strengthening relationships with the 125 sentinel clinical
laboratories around Wisconsin.
These sentinel labs are associated with hospitals, clinics and local
public health departments and serve as the laboratory front line
in emergency response.
The role of sentinel laboratory staff is to “rule out”
whether a patient specimen contains a bioterrorism agent. If they
can’t rule it out, they send the specimen to the WSLH for
further testing. The WSLH can access its two partner reference laboratories
in the state – Marshfield Clinical Research Foundation and
City of Milwaukee Health Department – in a large-scale emergency.
The WSLH, the sentinel and reference laboratories comprise the Wisconsin
Laboratory Response Network.
The “Just in Case, Just in Time” philosophy developed
out of conversations between WSLH and sentinel laboratory staff.
“Just in Case” refers to WSLH efforts to prepare sentinel
labs for their emergency response role by providing monthly training
audio conferences, making in-lab visits and distributing educational
materials, including the Integrated Laboratory Response Plan (ILRP).
The ILRP combines material from the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention with Wisconsin-specific information on how sentinel
laboratories should respond in an emergency.
“Just in Time” is a promise made by the WSLH that when
a terrorism threat/event or public health emergency occurs, we will
provide the sentinel laboratories and our reference lab partners
with the specific information they need to respond.
In July 2004, 21 sentinel laboratories around the state practiced
their response plans as part of a WSLH-sponsored pilot exercise.
Each laboratory received a simulated bacteria culture of a bioterrorism
agent with accompanying scenario to trigger the notification and
referral process described in the ILRP. The response entailed: (1)
emergency notification to the WSLH of a “suspect isolate”;
(2) a return call from WSLH staff directing the sentinel lab staff
to package and ship the “specimen”; (3) “specimen”
shipping; and (4) receipt of the “specimen” at the WSLH.
This unique exercise focused on Wisconsin’s laboratory response
plan, not laboratory testing. Participants were very enthusiastic
about the exercise, saying it was very useful for their laboratories
and showed them what it might be like in an actual emergency event.
The WSLH plans to provide additional exercises like this one to
assess and enhance emergency laboratory response
in Wisconsin.
Written By:
Jan Klawitter, WSLH Public
Affairs Manager
Date:
WSLH
2004 Annual Report
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