Like the zebra that escaped an Atlanta circus on Thursday, a few lucky attendees of the 2010 Public Health Preparedness Summit escaped the Marriott Marquis for a field trip to the CDC Emergency Operations Center (EOC).
Tasked as NACCHO’s bus monitor for the Friday morning tour, I led a group of 20 health professionals to our sleek black mini bus. The bus meandered through neighborhoods with stately homes, including a huge mansion that is home to FOX News. Upon arrival at the CDC, we went through security and received our badges. After walking through a maze of hallways and going up elevators, our group finally arrived at the CDC EOC—a 24,000 square foot, secure facility that is staffed 24/7, 365 days a year.
Officially called the “Marcus Emergency Operations Center,” it was established on April 1, 2003. It was named after benefactor Bernard Marcus, Home Depot Co-Founder and the CDC Board Chair from 2000 to 2002, who also recruited corporate and philanthropic leaders (e.g., Dell Corporation) to provide state-of-the-art technology for the operations center.
Our tour was split into two groups. First, my group visited the SNS (Strategic National Stockpile) Section, which our tour guide called an “EOC within the EOC.” Laid out according to the Incident Command System structure, desks were marked as operations, planning, logistics, and finance/administration. SNS staff recently sent a 250-bed unit to Haiti for acute medical care patients who had no home to return to upon discharge.
Next, we visited the Logistics Section, which our tour guide described as the “toy store” of the EOC. Here, staff can obtain any supplies they need for deployment, such as personal protective equipment, cell phones, laptops, Blackberrys, tents, sleeping bags, portable water purification kits, backpacks, flashlights, mosquito nets/repellant, and sunblock. In addition, the Logistics Section assigns aircraft that can be launched within two hours of notification for domestic response and six hours for international response.
Along a hallway, we viewed a display of photographs and markers listing domestic and international incidents that have activated a CDC response. The first marker commemorated the first response after the CDC EOC was created—the Feb. 2003 Columbia Space Shuttle disaster. Other signs showcased the CDC’s response to SARS outbreaks, E-coli outbreaks, hurricanes, wildfires, presidential inaugurations in 2005 and 2009, and other small and large-scale events. We learned the CDC discovered a fatal neurological syndrome affecting middle-aged Panamanians in 2006, was traced to cough syrup from China that contained an industrial chemical. In the same hallway, a poster-sized incident management chart showed CDC staff members responsible for H1N1 response.
After the walk down CDC EOC’s memory lane, our tour group entered what looked like a smaller scale version of NASA’s mission control. The Operations Section is housed in a large room with computer stations marked with Haitian flags and/or pictures of the H1N1 virus, as a visual clue of what topic area each staff member is currently addressing. This section handles requests for deployment and recently sent 20 CDC staff to Haiti. Several large screens at the front of the room detail pressing issues, such as surveillance for cholera, measles, and polio outbreaks in Haiti. Watch officers on duty 24/7, are the central point of contact for state health agencies reporting potential public health threats to the CDC, which mostly pertain to malaria.
Our last stop on the CDC EOC tour was the Situational Awareness room where staff members prioritize actions in public health emergencies. Prior to the Haiti earthquake, all open areas in the island country were mapped using Google Earth. As an example, a CDC staffer showed us a golf course in an urban area of Haiti. By layering images of the golf course at different time intervals just prior to and right after the earthquake, it was easy to see the green space that was densely filled up by displaced Haitians. The progression of maps showed that the golf course was soon filled with approximately 10,000 people. This information was sent to the Pan American Health Organization, U.S. Southern Command, and other pertinent organizations to use for planning activities, such as water and food distribution and monitoring for malaria, dengue fever, and other outbreaks.
On our way back to our bus, we passed the Global Health Odyssey Museum, which features a variety of displays about public health topics and the history of the CDC. From the smallpox eradication campaign to the outbreaks of Ebola virus in African villages, the museum explains how CDC scientists were involved in many medical mysteries and public health challenges. A recently opened, temporary exhibit showcased the social and cultural history of sexually transmitted diseases in the U.S. I spied a poster about the 1976 swine flu that was directed at parents—“If you’re sick, who’ll take care of the kids? Get a shot of protection. The Swine Flu Shot.”
Unfortunately, we had little time to spare since our bus was waiting. After quickly looking around the museum, we departed back to the Marriott Marquis, arriving just in time for the closing address by the CDC Director, Dr. Thomas Frieden.
No conference attendees lost at the CDC—check.
Faith in our nation’s capacity to coordinate emergency responses to public health threats—check.
