Towns ready response to health crisis

BETHEL -- Bethel, Redding and Ridgefield public officials plan to join forces for an emergency drill to practice their response to an emergency: the release of anthrax into the air at a parade.

The goal of the drill, set for June 2 in Bethel, is to ensure people know what to do in such an emergency, Bethel Health Director Laura Vasile said.

"The point is communication, collaboration and cooperation. It's to get the community prepared for any public health scenario that could come our way," Vasile said.

"We want to set up a site that would be just like if we had a credible threat to respond to, so if we had an incident we would know what to do and residents would know, too."

The drill will take place at Hurgin Municipal Center on School Street.

Last summer, the American Red Cross held a regional sheltering drill at the center to see if the town could manage a shelter in an emergency.

The Bethel Office of Emergency Management was in charge of the drill.

Setup for the anthrax emergency is set for June 1. The mock clinic, where people will hand out antibiotics, is set for the following day from 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.

The Bethel Police Department will provide security, and James Stringer, lead pharmacist at Danbury Hospital, will be the pharmacist for the drill, Vasile said.

Other emergency drills are taking place in other parts of the state, Ridgefield Health Director Edward Briggs said. This one will allow our area to practice.

"We have to have trained volunteers, because health departments on their own couldn't do it," Briggs said. "We are recruiting volunteers and training volunteers from all three towns."

Drills are important for towns, said Scott Devico, spokesman for Connecticut's Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection.

"Effective emergency response to any disaster depends on unified and coordinated teamwork at all levels -- state, regional and federal," Devico said. "This is one step of it -- the local level."

The state will be conducting a much larger exercise this summer, he said.

"We will be coordinating, at Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's directive, a statewide emergency preparedness exercise July 28, 29, 30 and 31, which is in the planning stages."

eileenf@newstimes.com; 203-731-3333