BAKERSFIELD, Ca -- It only takes one bad batch of ground beef served at a local restaurant for an airborne illness to spread and clog hospitals.
"We have an influx of patients who have a foodborne illness which we learned throughout the drill process was E.coli," said Jimmy Phillips, Director of Marketing at San Joaquin Community Hospital.
Health care officials around the county participated in a statewide disaster drill aimed at working out any kinks in their foodborne emergency response plan.
"It's an opportunity to find out what we are missing and what we need to improve so that if we do have to respond to this we have an opportunity to do so," said Jean Roberts, Supervisor of Emergency Preparedness at Kern County Public Health.
San Joaquin Community Hospital staff set up tents outside the hospital to provide additional room if the hospital were at capacity to keep infected patients separate. Thursday's participants were not real patients. They were actors from Stockdale High School, and even though it's only a drill, it's the best preparation for the real thing.
"We have a command center, I'm the public information officer. We have an incident command center. We have a labor pool where were pulling employees from their jobs when appropriate to actually participate in the drill. We're trying to make it real as possible," said Phillips.
Phillips says a foodborne illness is very plausible. A statewide or regional outbreak can happen if bad meat was sold at a grocery store chain in different counties. A national outbreak can happen if contaminated produce from one farm ships to different states.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that each year about one in six Americans gets sick from a foodborne illness, 120,000 are hospitalized and 3,000 die.
"We have an influx of patients who have a foodborne illness which we learned throughout the drill process was E.coli," said Jimmy Phillips, Director of Marketing at San Joaquin Community Hospital.
Health care officials around the county participated in a statewide disaster drill aimed at working out any kinks in their foodborne emergency response plan.
"It's an opportunity to find out what we are missing and what we need to improve so that if we do have to respond to this we have an opportunity to do so," said Jean Roberts, Supervisor of Emergency Preparedness at Kern County Public Health.
San Joaquin Community Hospital staff set up tents outside the hospital to provide additional room if the hospital were at capacity to keep infected patients separate. Thursday's participants were not real patients. They were actors from Stockdale High School, and even though it's only a drill, it's the best preparation for the real thing.
"We have a command center, I'm the public information officer. We have an incident command center. We have a labor pool where were pulling employees from their jobs when appropriate to actually participate in the drill. We're trying to make it real as possible," said Phillips.
Phillips says a foodborne illness is very plausible. A statewide or regional outbreak can happen if bad meat was sold at a grocery store chain in different counties. A national outbreak can happen if contaminated produce from one farm ships to different states.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that each year about one in six Americans gets sick from a foodborne illness, 120,000 are hospitalized and 3,000 die.