Posted on 10/29/2002 8:43:14 AM PST by chance33_98
Operation Pale Horse: Simulated Smallpox Outbreak LAST UPDATE: 10/29/2002 10:11:14 AM Watch this story...
A recent smallpox training exercise at Fort Sam Houston has critics wondering if San Antonio is ready to handle a smallpox outbreak. News 4 WOAI Medical Expert Doctor Bill Lloyd uncovers the memo that drew attention to Operation Pale Horse – it’s a story you'll get only on WOAI.
Smallpox as a biological weapon - could San Antonio manage a crisis this huge? Operation Pale Horse combined military and civilian medical exercise to find out.
“The city, county, state, federal government, and the interagencies working together to solve a common problem,” is how Pale Horse Director, Col. Greg Griffin, described the exercise.
It was first use of the area's Medical Operations Center. Operation Pale Horse simulated a smallpox scenario to practice critical decision making.
Reports soon circulated that Pale Horse needed to be put down. A smallpox outbreak was unmanageable, and we need to vaccinate now while there's still time.
The source of the controversy? An internal memo from the Bexar County Medical Society: “Begin first responder immunizations.”
But did it trash Pale Horse?
News 4 WOAI got a copy of the memo. There was no mention of Operation Pale Horse. Its authors weren't even there. The Medical Society says Pale Horse set a new national standard for bioterror prevention.
Over at Fort Sam Houston, the director of Pale Horse says the success of the exercise extends far beyond San Antonio.
“The consensus from the national level was that is was a very valuable exercise, and they want to exercise it again in other parts of the county,” Col. Griffin told News 4 WOAI.
Consider it a smallpox false alarm. Instead of chaos, pale horse brought together many of the area's crisis managers for the very first time.
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