The Sept. 11 attacks on the East Coast changed American life, and sparked a fundamental change in the way its citizens view the world.

Closer to home, Stanislaus County health and safety officials say they were involved in statewide planning for emergency preparedness long before the Twin Towers fell.

Preparedness is a continual process among all those who would respond to terrorist attacks.

“Even prior to Sept. 11, we had been involved in preparation for a bioterrorist attack,” explained Bonnie Holtzclaw, Emanuel Medical Center director of education and emergency preparedness.

Staff members at Emanuel have been meeting with hospital personnel from all over the state and have received a great deal of training from county, state and federal sources, she said.

“Our hospital has two disaster drills per year, and local police and fire participated with us last year,” she said.

Holtzclaw said she felt that the level of preparedness at the hospital was excellent, especially considering the large amount of information and training provided by both Sacramento and Washington, D.C.

Elsewhere in Stanislaus County, preparation was well under way as early as February of 2001, months before the attacks.

Stanislaus County Health Services was restructuring its approach to emergency management, focusing on a total level of preparedness as opposed to specific measures against terrorism or bioterrorism.

In fact, Stanislaus Health Services has been working with police departments, fire departments and hospitals for years.

“I think one of the reasons Stanislaus County is unique is that we have had this face-to-face communication for almost three years, where as many regions haven’t done that yet,” said Renee Cartier, manager of emergency preparedness for Stanislaus County Health Services.

“We’re way ahead of the game in a lot of respects,” she added.

Stanislaus County Health Services also provides a variety of educational programs to groups within the local communities on terror-related topics.

“We ran a class on weapons of mass destruction,” said Laura Long, the agency’s emergency preparedness health educator. “Those words were being thrown around and not many people understood exactly what that meant.”

The county health agency will also be launching a similar program in the next few months called “Standing Strong,” which is designed to assist community groups in preparing for disasters.

For more information on terrorism preparedness, visit the Stanislaus County Health Services Agency Web site at www.schsa.org or the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Department Web site at www.stanislaussheriff.com.

Reporter Michael Cipponeri can be reached at 634-9141 or mikec@turlockjournal.com.

Reprinted by permission of the Turlock Journal