Film examines bioterror preparedness

Americans had already heard a lot about the damage that would ensue if smallpox made a comeback when the truck driver showed up at Pioneer Valley Hospital with lesions covering his face in January 2004.

Was it smallpox? And was Utah ready to deal with such a potential disaster? Health, government, law enforcement and other officials sprang into action to see that the situation was contained while it was being assessed. The man did not have smallpox, but what happened when no one was sure is an instructive way to see how different entities plan to handle any real emergency that arises.

The public health response in Utah in the event of a natural or manmade disaster, whether terrorist attack or disease outbreak, is the basis of an hourlong documentary from the Utah Department of Health to air on KSL-TV Channel 5 this month.

The big question for most people is whether their communities are actually prepared in case a cataclysm occurs. Besides assuring Utahns that public health officials, emergency responders and their many partners have both a recovery plan and a system in place to carry it out, the documentary looks at what citizens themselves can do to protect themselves, their families and their community, said Cody Craynor, risk communication coordinator in the health department's Bioterrorism Preparedness Program.

"We see an informed public as a pretty important partner" in dealing with an outbreak or bioterrorism, said Craynor.

"Battling Back," which is hosted by CBS news correspondent Jane Clayson, also looks at a rare case of botulism that killed two elderly people in Cedar City.

And it walks viewers through what they need to do to come up with a personal or family disaster preparedness plan, from how family members who are separated will reconnect to what should go in a mobile disaster-preparedness kit that can be taken along should you have to leave your home.

"We provide the viewer with specific information about things he can do to create an emergency kit," said Craynor. "And we do a walk-through of a hospital to show the viewer what to expect if he shows up at a hospital with something that seems highly contagious."

In such a case, for instance, medical staff are apt to don extra personal protection equipment such as gloves and masks. Knowing what to expect should lessen the fear and uncertainty should something ever actually happen, Craynor said.