MNeagle
23rd April 2012, 10:59 AM
May 6, 2012: Operation Medicine Delivery
Testing the use of postal teams to deliver emergency medicine.
http://www.health.state.mn.us/oep/postal.png
On May 6, U.S. Postal Service volunteers will make an unusual Sunday morning run through selected Twin Cities neighborhoods. Their mission: Leave a simulated supply of medicine – in the form of an empty pill bottle – at each mailing address.
This event will be part of a test called Operation Medicine Delivery. The purpose is to see how fast postal teams can deliver medicine to homes in an emergency.
The May 6 event is only a test! We have no reason to believe a real emergency will happen that day – or that one is imminent.
A plan for using the postal service to deliver emergency medicine in the Twin Cities has been in place since early 2010. The Postal Plan is a joint project of MDH, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, CDC, the U.S. Postal Service, and local public health, law enforcement and emergency management agencies.
This will be the first “real world” test of the Postal Plan in Minnesota. Here are a few facts about the Postal Plan – and the May exercise:
http://www.health.state.mn.us/oep/postal.jpgThe simulated emergency medicine will be delivered by teams of postal service volunteers and law enforcement officers in regular postal service vehicles.
The medicine bottles will be delivered to approximately 37,000 mailing addresses in four Twin Cities ZIP codes:
55101 (St. Paul – Downtown)
55102 (St. Paul – West 7th/Fort Road)
55411 (Minneapolis – North Side)
55422 (Portions of Robbinsdale, Golden Valley and Crystal)
The bottles will be delivered to residential mailing addresses only – not to post office boxes or business locations.
People who receive the bottles won’t need to do anything – just recycle the empty bottle.
The idea of using postal delivery teams to deliver emergency preventive medicine has already been tested, on a limited basis, in Boston, Philadelphia, and Seattle.
This is the first metro area in the country to recruit a full complement of postal volunteers for this program, and set up a fully developed postal delivery system.
Over 300 postal workers have been recruited and trained for the Postal Plan in the Twin Cities metro area.
The postal delivery plan is part of a larger public health preparedness program known as the Cities Readiness Initiative.
The Cities Readiness Initiative helps communities prepare for public health emergencies where it may be necessary to get medications and vaccines to people quickly.
For example, if there were a bioterrorist attack using anthrax, it would be necessary to get people started on antibiotics within 48 hours. The Cities Readiness Initiative is designed to help us do that.
What if we had a real emergency?
In a real emergency, it might be necessary to get medicine to as many as 3.2 million people in the metro area.
Most people would get their medicine by going to a special “medication center,” not through postal delivery.
Several of these centers would be set up around the metro area. Information on finding one would be available on the MDH website.
Postal delivery might be used in some densely populated parts of town, to take pressure off of the medication centers.
Regardless of how people got their medicine – medication center or postal delivery – they would only get enough at first to get them started taking it.
Sooner or later they would need to visit a medication center to get more.
No one would need to worry about having enough medicine to go around. Ample supplies of antibiotics and other medicines have been set aside or stockpiled for use during an emergency.
The medications would be provided to the public free of charge.
Translated Community Outreach Materials
The following materials have been developed for use by OMD partner agencies and organizations in connection with community outreach activities related to the exercise. These materials are available in English, Hmong, Somali and Spanish.
Operation Medicine Delivery Flyer (http://www.echominnesota.org/library/operation-medicine-delivery/translated-fliers)
Full-page flyer in PDF format.
Operation Medicine Delivery "Community Notice" Print Ads (http://echominnesota.org/library/operation-medicine-delivery/translated-ads)
5"x7" advertisement in PDF and JPG format.
Exercise Partners
More information is available from our exercise partners.
Saint Paul - Ramsey County Public Health (http://www.co.ramsey.mn.us/ph)
Operation Medicine Delivery - ECHO Minnesota (http://www.echominnesota.org/library/operation-medicine-delivery)
Videos
Watch a short video about the exercise.
Operation Medicine Delivery - English (Youtube, 3:32) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3DzdhGW0R4&feature=player_embedded)
Xa Tshuaj Tuaj - lus Hmoob - Hmong (Youtube, 3:42) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZWqHW6OV8I&feature=player_embedded)
OGEYSIISKA BULSHADA EE MUHIIMKA AH - Soomaali - Somali (Youtube, 4:21) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=V4trM0eK4P0)
Operación de Distribución de Medicina - Español - Spanish (Youtube, 4:11 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=7-pSN3HcwGI)
http://www.health.state.mn.us/oep/postal.html
Testing the use of postal teams to deliver emergency medicine.
http://www.health.state.mn.us/oep/postal.png
On May 6, U.S. Postal Service volunteers will make an unusual Sunday morning run through selected Twin Cities neighborhoods. Their mission: Leave a simulated supply of medicine – in the form of an empty pill bottle – at each mailing address.
This event will be part of a test called Operation Medicine Delivery. The purpose is to see how fast postal teams can deliver medicine to homes in an emergency.
The May 6 event is only a test! We have no reason to believe a real emergency will happen that day – or that one is imminent.
A plan for using the postal service to deliver emergency medicine in the Twin Cities has been in place since early 2010. The Postal Plan is a joint project of MDH, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, CDC, the U.S. Postal Service, and local public health, law enforcement and emergency management agencies.
This will be the first “real world” test of the Postal Plan in Minnesota. Here are a few facts about the Postal Plan – and the May exercise:
http://www.health.state.mn.us/oep/postal.jpgThe simulated emergency medicine will be delivered by teams of postal service volunteers and law enforcement officers in regular postal service vehicles.
The medicine bottles will be delivered to approximately 37,000 mailing addresses in four Twin Cities ZIP codes:
55101 (St. Paul – Downtown)
55102 (St. Paul – West 7th/Fort Road)
55411 (Minneapolis – North Side)
55422 (Portions of Robbinsdale, Golden Valley and Crystal)
The bottles will be delivered to residential mailing addresses only – not to post office boxes or business locations.
People who receive the bottles won’t need to do anything – just recycle the empty bottle.
The idea of using postal delivery teams to deliver emergency preventive medicine has already been tested, on a limited basis, in Boston, Philadelphia, and Seattle.
This is the first metro area in the country to recruit a full complement of postal volunteers for this program, and set up a fully developed postal delivery system.
Over 300 postal workers have been recruited and trained for the Postal Plan in the Twin Cities metro area.
The postal delivery plan is part of a larger public health preparedness program known as the Cities Readiness Initiative.
The Cities Readiness Initiative helps communities prepare for public health emergencies where it may be necessary to get medications and vaccines to people quickly.
For example, if there were a bioterrorist attack using anthrax, it would be necessary to get people started on antibiotics within 48 hours. The Cities Readiness Initiative is designed to help us do that.
What if we had a real emergency?
In a real emergency, it might be necessary to get medicine to as many as 3.2 million people in the metro area.
Most people would get their medicine by going to a special “medication center,” not through postal delivery.
Several of these centers would be set up around the metro area. Information on finding one would be available on the MDH website.
Postal delivery might be used in some densely populated parts of town, to take pressure off of the medication centers.
Regardless of how people got their medicine – medication center or postal delivery – they would only get enough at first to get them started taking it.
Sooner or later they would need to visit a medication center to get more.
No one would need to worry about having enough medicine to go around. Ample supplies of antibiotics and other medicines have been set aside or stockpiled for use during an emergency.
The medications would be provided to the public free of charge.
Translated Community Outreach Materials
The following materials have been developed for use by OMD partner agencies and organizations in connection with community outreach activities related to the exercise. These materials are available in English, Hmong, Somali and Spanish.
Operation Medicine Delivery Flyer (http://www.echominnesota.org/library/operation-medicine-delivery/translated-fliers)
Full-page flyer in PDF format.
Operation Medicine Delivery "Community Notice" Print Ads (http://echominnesota.org/library/operation-medicine-delivery/translated-ads)
5"x7" advertisement in PDF and JPG format.
Exercise Partners
More information is available from our exercise partners.
Saint Paul - Ramsey County Public Health (http://www.co.ramsey.mn.us/ph)
Operation Medicine Delivery - ECHO Minnesota (http://www.echominnesota.org/library/operation-medicine-delivery)
Videos
Watch a short video about the exercise.
Operation Medicine Delivery - English (Youtube, 3:32) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3DzdhGW0R4&feature=player_embedded)
Xa Tshuaj Tuaj - lus Hmoob - Hmong (Youtube, 3:42) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZWqHW6OV8I&feature=player_embedded)
OGEYSIISKA BULSHADA EE MUHIIMKA AH - Soomaali - Somali (Youtube, 4:21) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=V4trM0eK4P0)
Operación de Distribución de Medicina - Español - Spanish (Youtube, 4:11 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=7-pSN3HcwGI)
http://www.health.state.mn.us/oep/postal.html