In the past month, Blair County emergency management officials have been working with county school districts to set up procedures for dispensing medications in case of a major public health emergency, according to Mark Taylor, the county’s emergency management director.

The state Department of Health’s Point of Dispensing (PoD) initiative is designed for rare cases, such as serious outbreaks of disease or bioterrorism, where getting medicines, vaccines or antidotes to large numbers of people quickly is critical, according to officials.

The concept dates to an outbreak of avian flu in 1997, said Taylor, who talked about the PoD plans at a recent meeting of the Local Emergency Planning Committee, an organization that develops plans to prevent and deal with accidents at facilities that handle dangerous substances.

“In today’s world, there’s an added concern about the possibility of (deliberately spread) biological agents,” he said.

He said he is not aware, however, that any particular threat motivated the Department of Health to reach out to local authorities recently to create or update their plans.

Some kinds of incidents would require that everyone in an area receive medication within 36 hours, Taylor said, citing the health department.

Others might call for medicating a population defined by some factor other than geography.

The department would be the source of the medications, which would probably arrive on skids that could be handled by forklift, Taylor said.

The Blair County Emergency Management Agency chose schools to become distribution centers because they are set up to handle the comings and goings of large numbers of people and because their staffs have experience with that, Taylor said.

The current local plan calls for distribution sites at Altoona Area, Hollidaysburg Area, Spring Cove and Tyrone Area schools, Taylor said.

Altoona’s campus on Sixth and Seventh avenues alone could handle 70,000 people, he indicated.

While such points of dispensing would be open to the public, hospitals, nursing homes and prisons would become “closed” points, with only those within receiving medications, Taylor said.

The points of dispensing would not be for those who have already become ill in connection with the emergency, according to information on the Shenango Township Department of Emergency Management website.

Those who have become ill would instead go to hospitals designated by the Depart­ment of Health, based on those hospitals’ ability to handle the situations, Taylor said.

Point of Dispensing volunteers and their families would be the first to receive the medications, officials said.

That will be an incentive to volunteer, Taylor said.

It also would enable the volunteers to focus on their dispensing work, rather than worrying about their families, according to the Shenango Township website.

During an emergency, those receiving medications will need to provide lists of their medications, allergies and health conditions, along with their age and weight, according to the Shenango website.

But they will not need to show identification or disclose their residency status, according to the Shenango website.

If the medication is in pill form, one family member can pick it up and take back what he or she needs for the others.

If the medication is being dispensed with a needle, everyone will need to go to the Point of Dispensing.

Local media and the Department of Health website will publicize the locations dispensing points during emergencies.

“It’s a matter of common sense logistics,” said Department of Health spokesman Dave Pidgeon. “(How) do we and our partners in emergency response get that medication to the right people at the right time and at the right place?’

“We’re trying to get caught up to speed,” Taylor said. “We hope we never need it.”

Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 949-7038.