The Virginian-Pilot © October 6, 2004
The Hampton Roads Planning District Commission received a $2 million boost toward a response plan to be used in the event of a terrorist attack or mass-casualty incident.
Hampton Roads gets emergency-response grant
The Virginian-Pilot
© October 6, 2004
The Hampton Roads Planning District Commission received a $2
million boost toward a response plan to be used in the event of a terrorist
attack or mass-casualty incident.
Part of the money will be used to set up a first-in-the-nation computer training module at Old Dominion University. It also will fund live training exercises.
Most of the $2 million will be used to sustain the region’s
Metropolitan Medical Response System, a plan developed for first responders,
including police, firefighters and paramedics. The commission plans to buy two
trailers, one in Norfolk and the other on the Peninsula, equipped with drugs,
decontamination tents, masks and other supplies. The equipment will supplement
what the 16 Hampton Roads jurisdictions already have or plan to buy .
The drugs are intended to treat victims of an explosion or a chemical, biological or radiological attack. Local cities and hospitals already have stockpiles of such drugs.
“This is almost like an auxiliary program. It’s extra resources for them to use,” said Nancy Collins, the commission’s deputy executive director for administration.
ODU’s attack simulation center will receive $330,000 to develop a computer training program for first responders that can be accessed over the Internet, she said. It is intended to be used nationwide.The Metropolitan Medical Response System plan was first developed in 1999 and has been continual ly updated. The plan took on added significance following the September 2001 terrorist attacks, and the commission has sought grant money to sustain the program.
Hampton Roads is one of 120 metropolitan areas receiving the grant from the Department of Homeland Security.
Reach Tim McGlone at 446-2343 or tim.mcglone@pilotonline.com.