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By
Jill
Holder
UK
and U of L faculty will join other pharmacists from
around the nation to discuss counter-terrorism responses
to potential threats at the 2002 National Association
of Boards of Pharmacy and the American Association
of College of Pharmacy District III Annual Meeting
Aug. 4-6 in Louisville.
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Aug.
2, 2002 (Lexington, Ky.) --
University of Kentucky College
of Pharmacy faculty members, along with University
of Louisville Hospital and other Kentucky hospitals,
are joining the fight against terrorism.
UK and
U of L faculty will join other pharmacists from around
the nation to discuss counter-terrorism responses
to potential threats at the 2002 National
Association of Boards of Pharmacy and the American
Association of College of Pharmacy District III Annual
Meeting Aug. 4-6 in Louisville. UK College of Pharmacy
and the Kentucky
Board of Pharmacy will sponsor the three-day program.
“We will
bring issues to the board and discuss command units
and what pharmacists would do in certain scenarios,”
John Armitstead, director of pharmacy services at
UK
Hospital and assistant dean for Medical Center
pharmacy services at the College of Pharmacy.
The events
of Sept. 11, 2001, and anthrax exposures have prompted
the health care community to evaluate emergency procedu
res.
“In the
event of mass exposures or injuries, pharmacists would
have to distribute large quantities of vaccines, antidotes
and other medication, as well as care for casualties,”
Armitstead said.
Additionally,
a large number of people may not be able to travel
to a hospital or other health care facility. Pharmacists
would be active in the mass distribution of medicine.
The nation’s pharmacists would have to make sure they
had the equipment necessary to offset the effects
of nerve agents, biological pathogens and chemical
agents.
Pharmacists
would work with the Center
for Disease Control and Prevention National Pharmaceutical
Stockpile Program to secure large quantities of
medicinal supplies and quickly distribute them to
the public.
“We are
involved in implementing plausible counter-terrorism
plans for incidence and response,” Armitstead said.
Armitstead will discuss emergency pharmacy response
plan development at the meeting.
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