Cape Girardeau County's first responders know they can't prepare for every kind of disaster imaginable -- but they intend to try.

A strong partnership between police, fire and health agencies is the key to protecting the public in a disaster, and this has been accomplished locally. Representatives from such departments meet consistently, said Jackson fire chief Brad Golden.

"This week, I've already met with the county health department four times, the State Emergency Management Agency three times and the Department of Natural Resources four or five times," Golden said.

Twenty-five agencies in Cape Girardeau County form the Emergency Action Committee, said Charlotte Craig, director of the county public health department. The group meets every three months and has two subcommittees on medical planning and sheltering that meet monthly.

"I don't think there's any better gift we can give our community than to be prepared for a disaster, emergency or terrorist attack," Craig said.

Should the state's terrorist threat level be raised to red, or extreme, a few changes could take place in security operations at the Cape Girardeau Fire Department, interim fire chief Mark Hasheider said. Nobody would be allowed inside the station unless they had official, approved business to conduct.

"We'd be in a lock-down situation, and our calls would be scrutinized at a higher level," he said.

The department would also re-assess what extra supplies were needed and begin acquiring them. However, this might be tempered by a tight city budget.

"The biggest problem for us is, while these new challenges and risks of terrorism are very minimal to our area, we still have to plan and train for those risks," he said. "But we try to do what we can with what we have available to us."

Since Sept. 11, 2001, grants are more accessible to fire departments, Hasheider said. Recently, his department received $4,000 from the State Emergency Management Agency to support Citizen Emergency Response Training, or CERT, classes. Regular Cape Girardeau residents train in disaster preparedness, fire suppression, search and rescue and a variety of other areas.

Like many cities, Cape Girardeau would enact the use of its emergency operations plan in a disaster. The plan -- published in a 4-inch-thick binder -- is continually being updated, Hasheider said.

Most of the adaptations in Cape Girardeau's plan will involve changing team members' assignments of responsibilities.

Should an attack occur here or nearby, law enforcement may face a panicking public or a mass exodus of traffic congesting the highways. But by adapting contingency plans already developed for other disasters, local emergency responders would step right into action.

"We would manage that like we would manage any type of disaster or emergency," said Lt. Tracy Lemonds, Cape Girardeau's representative to the Anti-Terrorism Task Force Eastern District of Missouri. "We have to look at a terrorist act like we do a natural disaster or other emergency."

Personal preparednessFor the last few months U.S. Homeland Defense Director Tom Ridge has preached personal preparedness to the public, urging people to put together disaster kits and make emergency plans for their families.

While many people laughed off the duct tape and plastic wrap suggestions, some of the advice was taken to heart, including putting together food and medicine kits.

"The city has its own emergency plan, and I would suggest every family have its own plan too," Lemonds said. "It doesn't have to be elaborate. There are a lot of things people can do to protect themselves in an attack or disaster."

Concerned residents are periodically calling police, fire and health personnel. Most are asking about preparing for certain attacks or what they should be doing to make their homes safer.

"Once you answer their questions, their anxiety level is greatly diminished," Hasheider said. "They can let themselves feel comfortable about their daily lives again."

Preparedness is not a new subject to police, either. Within days after Sept. 11, the ATTF was formed. One of the most useful tools disseminated to officers by the ATTF is a checklist on the pre-incident indicators of terrorism, he said. It outlines documents, items and behaviors peace officers should recognize as suspicious and a potential indicator of terrorist activity.

"The street police officer is our first line of defense," he said. "He's the one out there making the car stops, making contact with the people and are the eyes and ears of law enforcement."

Since the Sept. 11 attacks, several Cape Girardeau officers have attended training on terrorist-related issues. In May 2002, about 10 officers spent eight hours in St. Louis studying terrorism and anti-terrorism in a course offered by the FBI with the U.S. Attorney's office and the ATTF as hosts.

Sgt. Rick Schmidt spent three days in December in Jefferson City learning to recognize weapons of mass destruction at a special course for law enforcement sponsored by the Missouri Emergency Management Agency and Louisiana State University.

Health-care workers planTo prepare for a massive bioterrorism medical crisis, Missouri is being proactive. Nine Cape Girardeau County health workers were immunized earlier this year against smallpox as part of a national plan to immunize front-line health-care workers.

"What we're hoping to be a part of perhaps this fall is phase two, which will include administering the vaccine to first responders, firefighters, police and ambulance paramedics," Craig said.

Last year, the state health department received a $19 million grant to hire 22 regional planners for bioterrorism, Craig said. These planners work with public and private health systems to ensure they can handle a large-scale health emergency or terrorist act, that duplication of effort is minimized and that responders have necessary information. Linda Doerge is the regional planner for Bollinger, Stoddard, Madison and Cape Girardeau counties.

Up until a year and a half ago, Craig received weekly reports from area hospitals and clinics of the communicable diseases being treated in the county. Now those reports come in daily and include the symptoms reported by patients. From these reports, her office can quickly determine whether an epidemic is developing in the county.

Craig's office can also disseminate information about new disorders to about 150 local physicians, medical facilities and government agencies via faxed news releases.

"We're partners in a planning process," she said. "The learning curve is new with bioterrorism. People in Cape Girardeau County ought to be real proud of what has been going on and has been for years -- we've not just suddenly gotten together on this."

mwells@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 160