Community News

     The Oswego County Health Department, assisted by the Oswego County Highway Department, will conduct a Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) drill using thousands of boxes of Girl Scout cookies to simulate medical supplies between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 13, at the Oswego County Highway Garage, State Route 104 East, Scriba.

     The Strategic National Stockpile is the national repository of antibiotics, vaccines, chemical antidotes, antitoxins and other critical medical equipment and supplies used in the event of a national emergency involving bioterrorism or a natural pandemic. Federal authorities require state and local governments to be able to demonstrate their ability to request, receive, and dispense medications and other materials from the Strategic National Stockpile. This exercise meets the criteria. Oswego County Health Department staff will receive an inventory of supplies (26,500 boxes of Girl Scout cookies), unload and sort them, process them for shipment, and deliver them to local scout troops for distribution to their customers.
     "We are testing our ability to receive large shipments of supplies, inventory and sort them, store them and ship them to local agencies, as demonstrated in a Strategic National Stockpile drill," Jiancheng Huang, public health director for Oswego County, said. "These types of exercises give local health departments the opportunity to handle a large quantity of materials. In the event of a large scale public health emergency, these items could range from respirator masks to antidotes, medical supplies, or vaccines. For our purposes, the simulated drill will give us a chance to test our emergency plans and distribute assets – in this case Girl Scout cookies – in a controlled environment."
     The health department staff will sort cookie orders for approximately 25 troops in the Oswego, Lycoming, Mexico, New Haven and Parish areas. Oswego area scout leaders will pick up their cookie shipments from the county highway garage. County highway vehicles will deliver remaining cookie shipments to three outlying sites where local scout leaders will pick up their orders.
     The county health department staff, assisted by members of the NYS and Onondaga County health departments, will observe and evaluate the exercise.