SOUTHWICK – On Saturday, December 2, town and local health officials came together at the Southwick Regional High School to discuss an EDS (Emergency Dispensing Site).
Southwick Board of Health Director Tom FitzGerald met with fellow town officials Charlie Dunlap, head of Emergency Management, and Jerry Azia who serves on the Board of Health. Both Stephanie Bozigian-Merrick, the Emergency Preparedness Planner for PVPC (Pioneer Valley Planning Commission) and Ed Mello, the head of the Westfield Medical Reserve Core were also present.
The EDS is centered on determining a distribution plan for medical counter measures in preparation for a future disaster. On December 13, 2016, FitzGerald told the Westfield News that a prime example has always been the Anthrax scare in 2005.
While the original dispensing site in town was going to be Powder Mill School, the group of officials confirmed at the meeting on December 2 that it will now be at the Southwick Regional High School.
Southwick Town Officials and local officials gathered on December 2 to discuss how to go about the Emergency Dispensing Site. (Photo courtesy of Tom FitzGerald)
FitzGerald discussed the main reason for the meeting.
“Our particular group was focused on getting the medication to the people at the site,” said FitzGerald.
As Bozigian-Merrick is an Emergency Preparedness Planner for PVPC, she is the planner for the entire Hampden County, as the Massachusetts Department of Public Health assigns a planner to each county throughout the commonwealth.
With Bozigian-Merrick specializing in infectious diseases, she was able to give extensive information at the meeting about what kinds of antibiotics and vaccines they would need on hand at the dispensing site.
“We hope to use all these opportunities to polish up and optimize our response plans,” said Bozigian-Merrick. “They’ll be as efficient and meaningful as possible.”
The officials also went over specific scenarios that could happen in order to prepare themselves, including a situation of a terrorist attack.
Bozigian-Merrick also noted that it’s a town or cities responsibility to have an emergency dispensing site for their residents as the idea is to have a site that has enough supplies to cover the population of that community. While smaller towns will generally have just one site, cities may have multiple sites.
Besides going over the details about preparing the EDS, Bozigian-Merrick also addressed the single-biggest issue that she has faced when working in the health field the last 15 years.
“We don’t have enough staff,” said Bozigian-Merrick.
For anyone who is the least bit interested, Bozigian-Merrick is urging individuals to become a member of the Medical Reserve Corps or the Community Emergency Response Team. No experience is necessary to become a part of those organizations, just a willingness to assist when there may be a time of desperation due to disaster.
“We’re always looking for staff,” said Bozigian-Merrick. “That is what is going to save us.”
