City ready for smallpox

INDIANAPOLIS -- If the unthinkable happened in central Indiana, city and county officials say they would be prepared.\nIndianapolis Mayor Bart Peterson and Marion County Health Director Virginia Caine were joined by representatives from Indianapolis hospitals Monday in announcing a plan to deal with a bioterrorism attack and other emergencies, such as natural disasters.\n"When you plan for the worst, it can help you prepare for things that are less than the worst," Peterson said.\nCaine said the threat of bioterrorism was real and that possible scenarios included a smallpox or plague epidemic or an anthrax attack.\nSmallpox, she said, is the greatest possible threat.\nShould such a situation ever arise in the area, officials unveiled a three-step plan, developed by representatives from area hospitals and medical groups who have been meeting since January, that would help medical personnel deal with the mass emergency.\nThe plan includes developing 10 to 15 neighborhood health centers as primary points of entry into the medical system. At these centers, the severity of injuries and illnesses would be assessed and the people directed to proper treatment.\nEach hospital would also be equipped to increase its capacity. More beds would be made available by postponing elective surgeries and moving non-critical patients to other facilities.\nThird, acute care centers would open to serve as makeshift hospitals. These centers would be used if isolation or specialized care is needed.\n"This collaboration of hospitals is unprecedented," Peterson said. "Never before have all the hospitals in Indianapolis come together to design a unified plan and standardized response to a public health emergency or disaster."\nSt. Vincent Hospital's Joseph Francis, who was co-chairman of the task force of hospital administrators, said in the worst-case scenario, hospitals could be looking at treating thousands of victims.\nOn a typical day hospitals deal with a shortage of medical staff and other issues that strain the system, he said.\nMost hospitals run at between 80 and 85 percent capacity, though at certain times of the day, that can rise to as high as 110 percent, Francis said.\nThere have been times when hospitals must divert patients to other facilities because they can't care for them. In Indianapolis, however, those times are fewer than in a city like Boston, where hospitals divert patients as much as 25 percent of the time.\nFrancis said preparing for a worst-case scenario has helped facilities reassess ways they deal with the day-to-day operations.\nThough a major health emergency would put a strain on the health system, Francis said that with this plan in place, the system "will expand like a balloon without bursting"