By Michael P. Rellahan
WEST CHESTER — The ability of Chester County health and emergency
officials to deal with a pandemic outbreak requiring mass medication has
been given the thumbs-up by federal preparedness authorities.
The county announced Wednesday that it had a perfect score of 100 on
the 2013 Technical Assistance Review, or TAR. The TAR is an annual
assessment by the 
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and the state Department of Health of the overall county stockpile program for medication.
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and the state Department of Health of the overall county stockpile program for medication.
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Walls said the goal of the county’s plan is to ensure that it can
deliver medication for a particular disease outbreak — including
bio-terrorism — to 500,000 people within 36 to 48 hours after
notification. She said that she considered such an outbreak a “not if,
but when” situation.
Residents “should feel very secure in knowing that if we have some
sort of disease brought in by bio-terrorists, the county can respond
effectively to protect them,” Walls said Wednesday.
The TAR evaluation took place on March 27. The review included
assessment of 12 strategic stockpile program elements, including command
and coordination, communication and public information, and the core
element of county-wide distribution and dispensing of medication in
response to a possible medical emergency affecting the whole county.
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