Two officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will be in Nebraska today and Wednesday at the invitation of Gov. Mike Johanns to learn about the state’s bioterrorism preparedness efforts and the strengthening of the state’s public health system.
Dr. Ed Thompson, CDC deputy director for Public Health Programs and Services, and Joe Henderson, associate director of the Office of Terrorism Preparedness and Response, will be in Lincoln today (Aug. 26) and in Omaha on Wednesday (Aug. 27).
“This is the first time such high-ranking CDC officials have visited Nebraska,” said Dr. Richard Raymond, chief medical officer for the Health and Human Services System. “We are extremely pleased to host them.” Gov. Johanns had initially invited Dr. Julie Gerberding, director of the CDC, whose schedule did not allow her to visit.
The two will meet with state officials in Lincoln today and will speak to local health department directors and bioterrorism coordinators from across the state in the evening.
On Wednesday, they will tour the Nebraska Public Health Laboratory and the automated hospital laboratory at UNMC and hear an overview of the University of Nebraska’s bioterrorism preparedness efforts. In addition, they will visit the Peter Kiewit Institute at the University of Nebraska-Omaha.
“We’re honored that these key government leaders in the fight against bioterrorism are coming to Nebraska,” said Steve Hinrichs, M.D., director of the University of Nebraska Center for Biosecurity. “We believe Nebraska has much to offer, and we’re pleased that they will be getting the opportunity to see what we have close up. We obviously feel that Nebraska and UNMC could be an attractive site in the Midwest for a bioterrorism preparedness lab.”
The Nebraska Health and Human Services System has received $8.7 in federal bioterrorism grant funding in the current year and has been identified as a leader in preparedness planning.
“We have worked closely with others across the state to help Nebraska prepare and the federal government has noticed,” Dr. Raymond said. “We are a ‘can-do’ state where we work together to get things done.”
Nearly 25 percent of the bioterrorism grant funding has gone to local health departments and about 35 percent to UNMC. Funding to build the state’s preparedness infrastructure also has gone to Community Health Centers, the Nebraska Regional Poison Center and the Medical Response Systems in Omaha and Lincoln.