Lowndes County Emergency Planning Committee

Minutes from Meeting on September 22, 2004:

The meeting was held at the Baptist Memorial Hospital and called to order by Ken Dyer, Chairman of LEPC.

Members Present: Ken Dyer Weyerhaeuser – CPPC Cindy Lawrence EMA Mahlon Geer Baptist Memorial Hospital – Golden Triangle Bill McCord District 3 VFD Rick Graves Columbus Fire Department Mike Gibson Columbus Fire Department Amber Ashy Columbus AFB Susie Andrews Weyerhaeuser - CPPC Sue Lynn Mills Commercial Dispatch Tammy Chamblee MS State Dept of Health Curtis Jernigan MS State Dept of Health Ann Stokes Baptist Memorial Hospital – Golden Triangle Carole Summerall Columbus Fire Department

6/10 areas represented and noted as quorum for meeting.

Meeting Program:

Mahlon Geer facilitated the host program for the meeting. He introduced Bill Lancaster who gave an update on the Baptist Memorial Hospital building project. Occupation of the new 6 story facility will begin in April 2005. The $34.3 MM project is only a portion of $100 MM BMH has invested in the facility since 1993. The new facility will include 5 stories of patient rooms and a Birthing Center (10 labor/delivery rooms, 22 postpartum care rooms, and state of the art nursery/neonatal unit).

Mr. Geer then gave a summary of recent improvements made at BMH-GT. These included Diagnostic and Therapeutic CAS, a new medical oncologist and two new internal medicine physicians to begin November 1st.

Later in the meeting, Mr. Geer reported on the WMD status of BMH which included having received a grant for 25 kits of PPE and monies for prophylactic medications. BMH has additional isolation capacity with two new HEPA isolation filtration units. Communication enhancements include a satellite fixed base radio station with MS Dept of Health linkage. New training equipment in the form of a laptop and LCD projector has been purchased. Even though the fixed decon room is out of service, BMH has loaner decon unit. Unit has capability of handling two (2) ambulatory/walking lines and one (1) non-ambulatory/non-walking line. Arrangements and basic training for use of this unit were provided by the Regional Response Team and CAFB. BMH-GT is better prepared than ever before. Reviewed minutes from last meeting held on May 19, 2004. The minutes were accepted with a correction to reflect Mr. Joe Johnson as a Police Department Member, otherwise, correct as written with copies available at the meeting.

Welcomed Sue Lynn Mills from the Commercial Dispatch. Sue Lynn is replacing Rebecca Ennis who attended LEPC meetings and reported.

Noted that Dr. Ann Stokes needs to be added to the LEPC mailing list.

Congratulated Cindy Lawrence - new director of Columbus/Lowndes EMA!

Reviewed old business with reports on progress:

 Shelter-in-place Information Committee Report - Brochures in both English and Spanish were handouts at the National Preparedness Day event held on 9/11/04. - SIP brochures and other safety information will be handed out by Fire Department personnel at the Leigh Mall Trick-or-Treating to be held on Saturday, October 30th. - Have applied for a grant from MEMA to move forward with the mailout of SIP brochures.  Drills/Exercises Report - Rescheduled tabletop exercise to Nov/Dec 2004 (new fiscal year). - Response to hurricane Ivan will be used for 2004 exercise critique and documentation. - NE Regional Functional Exercise was completed in July 2004 with the after-action report pending. Mahlon Geer will share with the LEPC when the report is received.  CERT Teams - Received $1000 grant. - To be a CERT team member must take a 16-hour class. This class includes disaster response, light search and rescue, first aid, and organizational education. - Ken Dyer discussed the need for including/considering these teams in the Incident Command structure.  Homeland Security Update - Received a 40-foot trailer for response - Trailer is being equipped, applying for another grant to add more equipment needed - Truck and trailer is staged in Columbus - Expecting trailer for Starkville and West Point

New Business covered in the meeting: None.

Next Meeting: Wednesday, November 17th, 3 PM at the Fire Training Center located at 1629 Main Street (in old shopping center adjacent to Police Station).

Meeting was adjourned.