Hanan Obeidi, MPH, CHES, Bioterrorism Preparedness Program, City of long Beach Department of Health and Human Services, 2525 Grand Avenue, Long Beach, CA 90815, (562) 570-4382, Hanan_Obeidi@longbeach.gov, Phillip L. Moore, MPA, Bioterrorism Preparedness Program, Los Angeles County Department of Health Services, 241 N. Figueroa, Suite 210, Los Angeles, CA 90012, Larissa Mohamadi, MPH, Bioterrorism and Emergency Preparedness Program, City of Pasadena Public Health Department, 1845 N. Fair Oaks Avenue, Pasadena, CA 91103, Ronald R. Arias, MPA, Director, Long Beach Department of Health and Human Services, 2525 Grand Avenue, Long Beach, CA 90815, Jonathan Fielding, MD, MPH, Director of Public Health, Health Officer, County of Los Angeles, Department of Health Services, 313 North Figueroa Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012, and Wilma J. Allen, Public Health Department, Director, City of Pasadena Public Health Department, 1845 North Fair Oaks Avenue, Room 1131, Pasadena, CA 91103.

The risk of bioterrorism attacks pose new challenges for agencies that have the responsibility to respond to these threats. Not only is public health faced with the challenge of differentiating between traditional public health disease identification, but must also identify and control the spread of bioterrorism agents and naturally occurring diseases that have the same symptomology. For health jurisdictions, bioterrorism preparedness and response has multiple dimensions that encompass working with a broad spectrum of organizations, cultures and priorities. In order to achieve cooperative inter-agency management and accountability for disease prevention and emergency response, three independent health jurisdictions in one county must share best practices for preparing for potential large-scale high profile events. This presentation will discuss how these three independent health jurisdictions collaborate with each other and with public and private agencies to coordinate and implement shared priorities to prepare and respond to bioterrorism events. This multi-jurisdiction and organizational approach to emergency preparedness is a model, which requires organizational cross collaboration of activities for more effective response to bioterrorism events. A biological attack is not only a public health emergency, but also a criminal act. Therefore, the health jurisdictions and their respective law enforcement and emergency management agencies, as well as, hospitals and other agencies have developed plans that are interrelated and build upon each other and share the goal of effective emergency response for their communities. Successful inter-agency collaborations will also be discussed.

Learning Objectives: