Emergency Volunteer Coordinator Debbie Lownsdale from Tennessee Department of Health (TDH) spoke at UTM at 6:30 p.m., Tuesday in Watkins Auditorium of the Boling University Center. Lownsdale informed students and community members what the TDH is doing and to recruit volunteers.

TDH is asking for volunteers for mass vaccination efforts in case of bioterrorism. First, Lownsdale showed some slides of bioterrorist attacks like the sarin chemical-gas attack on the Tokyo subway in 1995 and anthrax attacks in the United States after September 11. Lownsdale then demonstrated that we should be prepared for this kind of threat.

Lownsdale said if bioterrorist attacks or natural disasters should occur in Tennessee, TDH emergency response clinic plan, which was made to secure the public from illness, can be activated by the governor to treat large numbers of the population.

After that, Lownsdale explained the procedure of TDH emergency response clinic plan step by step. Along with that Lownsdale talked about the skills needed to be eligible to become staff members in each area. It looked like the plan was reliable but what is lacking is volunteers to make this plan work, Lownsdale said.

Now TDH is trying to recruit more than 25,000 volunteers who would be willing to work in a vaccination clinic in case of a bioterrorism threat. Basically TDH wants medical personnel such as physicians, nurses, emergency medical technicians and pharmacists. Along with that, Lownsdale also talked about the necessity of volunteers who are fluent in any language other than English to assist patients with language barriers. As an example, Lownsdale talked about the necessity of Spanish speaking interpreters, considering the high Hispanic population in Tennessee.

TDH plans to orient and train all volunteers for each specific task so that when things happen, Tennessee is prepared.

According to the materials Lownsdale distributed, one of the great things about volunteering is if disaster happens, volunteers, members of their households, and other first responders will be the first persons who will be treated.

At the end, Lownsdale briefly talked about the National Incident Management System (NIMS). She explained that NIMS was created after September 11 as a homeland security measure. Differently from TDH, NIMS appears nationwide.

Lownsdale distributed says the advantage of NIMS is that it incorporates incident management practices that were developed and proven by thousands of responders and authorities across the United States. That means NIMS makes it possible to take a very surpassing approach to various disasters.

Lownsdale said UTM is a staging area in the event of a biological attack or pandemic as a staging ground for health personnel and volunteers.