PreparednessBuffalo – second best prepared city in U.S. for disasters

Buffalo, New York was recently declared the second best prepared city in the United States for a major terrorist attack or disaster in terms of public health.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) recently released “Cities Readiness Initiative” for 2010, Buffalo scored ninety-eight out of 100, putting it one point behind the nation’s leader Albany, New York.

The CDC’s evaluation was based on how well a community could respond to a large-scale anthrax attack. This worst-case scenario also tests a region’s ability to respond to lesser crises like a flu epidemic or a severe storm as the infrastructure and resources are similarly deployed.

“If you can plan for [an anthrax attack], you can plan for anything,” said Stephanie Dulin, the chief of the Program Preparedness Branch of the CDC’s Division of Strategic National Stockpile.

According to Dulin, Buffalo’s high score was primarily the result of a well-coordinated regional response strategy where local officials worked seamlessly with their counterparts in nearby counties.

“They absolutely do work together,” Dulin said. “It’s a real partnership and a sharing of plans.”

Representative Brian Higgins (D – New York), whose district includes Buffalo, said local authorities do not have a problem sharing information or cooperating.

“There’s a sense of common purpose,” Higgins explained. “You don’t have the turf battles you see in other parts of the country.”

Dr. Anthony J. Billittier IV, the health commissioner of Erie County, added, “In other communities, there was fighting between the emergency medical people and the fire chiefs.”

“This is silly,” he said.

To bolster public health capabilities, eight western counties in New York joined to form a non-profit, the Western New York Public Health Alliance, which helps coordinate disaster response efforts for the region.

“If there’s a public health crisis, it’s not going to stop at the county lines,” Billittier said.

Aside from cross-county coordination, CDC gave Niagara County itself, which includes Buffalo, high marks.

“We were very impressed with Niagara County and what the Niagara County Department of Health has been able to do to prepare for an emergency,” Dulin said. “And Erie County is equally as successful on building on its plans and making sure all the key players are involved.”

Following the 9/11 attacks, Buffalo began receiving millions of dollars in federal grants to help boost emergency preparedness and the region spent it wisely, focusing on training for public health responders and the creation of disaster plans.

All local health agencies underwent extensive training, participating in emergency drills designed to test the system’s ability to cope with a large public health crisis.

“Public health became the fourth responder,” said Billittie, following the police, fire, and emergency medical response departments.

In addition, the county has worked hard to train a small army of volunteers to assist their own communities in the event of a disaster.

“We have a well-trained cadre of volunteers ready to respond,” said Dana Estrada, executive director of the Niagara University training program. “We drill and practice and examine these things all the time.”

With the current fiscal climate and deep cuts made to the DHS budget, local officials are uncertain of the future of their emergency preparedness programs. Buffalo is no longer included in key DHS grant programs, and officials fear this may hurt preparedness.

“We’ve lost out on money that we feel is essential to maintaining the system we put in place,” said Gregory W. Skibitsky, Erie County’s emergency services commissioner.

Moving forward, Representative Higgins said maintaining the region’s high disaster scores will be a “challenge.”

“The goal is to sustain the distinctive programs that we’ve built,” he said.