Title
Communication from the Health Commissioner regarding a Recommended Spending Plan for the City's Bio-Terrorism Planning Grant.
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BIOTERRORISM GRANT EXPENDITURE PLAN
Last fall, the Administration and Finance Committee approved a grant contract between the State of Wisconsin and the West Allis Health Department in the amount of $23,297 for Bioterrorism planning. The contract was approved with the stipulation that grant expenditures be approved prior to being implemented. The following is a proposed expenditure plan for your review.
Before reviewing the actual plan, several key points need to be addressed:
1. The plan supports public health preparedness across the board, not just in the area of bioterrorism. It seems that anything related to public health these days has the label bioterrorism attached to it. The real need we hope to fill is better training and investigative methods for all communicable disease, not just those identified as bioterrorism agents. This science of disease investigation is called epidemiology. These skills are not only used to track down the cause of communicable diseases, but can also be applied to what we termed chronic diseases, such as heart disease, cancer, diabetes, etc.
2. The plan looks at emergency response as a whole city, not just one department. We know that a large scale, public health emergency may involve police, fire and other city departments. For this reason, I have consulted with our Police and Fire Chiefs and we are presenting a joint recommendation. You will see, for example, budgeting for a field exercise, a recommendation made by the Fire chief.
3. The grant awarded to West Allis was in the amount of $23,297. The State grouped West Allis and West Milwaukee together in determining the award, and the grant will be used to improve emergency response and planning over both communities.
4. This grant for local public health planning is a small part of a multi-year grant the State of Wisconsin has received for bioterrorism (or broader public health emergency) planning. The State has required that regional plans be developed and the health departments in Milwaukee and Waukesha counties have been grouped into one collaborative. Staff time spent working on a regional planning effort can be reimbursed through this grant.
5. The grant only provided for costs associated with planning and training, not equipment, software, communication gear, etc. that we do need.
The expenditure plan consists of four parts; (1) reimbursement of health department staff time to attend and participate in regional public health emergency preparedness, (2) training of health department staff in epidemiological methods and specialized software, (3) funding of emergency response training for Police and Fire and the costs associated with a field exercise, and (4) funding of emergency response training for the West Milwaukee Police Department.
1. Health Department Staff Time. Reimbursement for time spent by staff (e.g., Health Commissioner, Director of Nursing, etc.) to participate in the development of a regional emergency public health response plan.
Budgeted Amount: $3,000
2. Health Department Staff Training. Training of key staff in a statistical software package (SPSS), training in epidemiology and disease investigation techniques using class room training, distance learning modules, web training, and selected conference programs.
Budgeted Amount: $9,797
3. Fire and Police Training and Field Exercise. Fund the costs associated (overtime, materials, etc.) for the conduct of a field exercise to test the readiness of a coordinated City response to a public health threat. Also provide pre-exercise training to key police and fire department staff and any post-exercise training identified.
Budgeted Amount:
Exercise $5,500
Training $2,500
$8,000
4. West Milwaukee Police Training. Fund training for emergency response to possible biological agents for selected staff of the West Milwaukee Police Department.
Budgeted Amount: $2,500
These are the budgeted amounts worked out with discussions with Health Department staff, our Police and Fire Departments and the West Milwaukee Police Department. I can provide in-depth descriptions of the activities if you wish and I would be pleased to answer any questions you might have concerning this expenditure plan.