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UB part of academic health center consortium
Centers aim to prepare upstate for mass-casualty events
By SUE WUETCHER
Reporter Editor
The School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences is collaborating with three other upstate academic health centers in an effort to prepare upstate New York for mass-casualty events resulting from terrorism or natural disasters.
Although members of the Academic Health Center Consortium for Mass Casualty Management (AHCC)—composed of the University of Rochester Medical Center, Upstate Medical University in Syracuse and Albany Medical College, in addition to the UB medical school—have been working together for some time, the initiative was launched officially on Oct. 26 with the announcement of $750,000 in state funding secured by state Sen. Joseph Robach, R-Greece.
The consortium is headquartered at the University of Rochester Medical Center; Glenn Currier, associate professor of psychiatry and emergency medicine at the University of Rochester Medical Center, will serve as director.
The AHCC will provide an umbrella framework for the coordination of research, education and patient-care efforts related to mass-casualty planning and response among the four institutions.
In addition, member institutions will conduct research in diagnosis and treatment of terrorism-related illness and injury, with an emphasis on using technology to streamline and triage care for hundreds of patients who could be simultaneously injured during mass-casualty events.
Bruce Holm, senior vice provost and executive director of UB's New York State Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences, noted that government agencies have been working with the medical community to develop an infrastructure that will make sure medical professionals are prepared to deal with mass casualty events ranging from pandemic infectious disease outbreaks to actual terrorist attacks.
"However, to date the government funding programs have left out an integration paradigm that will ensure that a response can and will be developed at the local and cross-state levels, where the adverse effects of a mass casualty event would be experienced," Holm said. "Academic health centers are the nation's primary resources for education in the health professions, biomedical and health services research, and advanced patient care.
"We are uniquely positioned to serve as regional 'focal points' that can work with other stakeholders to develop this integrated response."
The state funding, Holm said, will allow the consortium "to develop diagnostic tools, bioinformatics and clinical response infrastructures, surge-capacity programs and educational training programs."
Among the projects to be conducted are development of a quick diagnostic tool to determine if a CAT scan is necessary for victims who appear to have a head injury, and development of a comprehensive burn-care protocol to speed up triage and care when multiple burn victims arrive at a hospital, Holm explained.
Currier noted that consortium members have been meeting for two years to outline the scope of the organization's goals and activities.
"From SARS to dirty bomb threats, there are constant reminders that mass casualty events can hit upstate New York at any time," he said. "Consortium members are working together to promote research that will help health and hospital systems better detect and respond to public health emergencies."
The consortium, Holm added, "brings together some of the world's leading expertise in this area to develop optimum systems to respond to public health emergencies that could occur at any time in New York State or elsewhere in the United States."