DomesticPreparedness met with Colonel George W. Korch Jr., USA, Commander, U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID). Colonel Korch discusses the USAMRIID core mission and explains how it can serve the U.S. public-health and first-responder communities both as a laboratory and training resource.
Segment One Background on USAMRIID and an Overview of Training
USAMRIID’s core mission: basic and applied research on biological threats leading to the development of vaccines, diagnostics, and therapeutics – and an expantion of the public-health information base. USAMRIID’s laboratory role for public health as a National Reference Laboratory for the CDC’s Laboratory Response Network (LRN). USAMRIID as an evaluator of commercial off-the-shelf diagnostic solutions for first responders. An overview of training.
Duration: 12 Minutes 35 Seconds
Segment Two USAMRIID’s Course in the “Field Management of Chemical/Biological Casualties”
room, lab, and field training work on the current global threat posed by the use of chemical and biological agents, the characteristics and effects of those agents, early recognition and emergency treatment of agent exposure, the principles of triage, and decontamination of chemical and biological agent casualties.
Duration: 1 Minutes 57 Seconds
Segment Three “Medical Management of Chemical/Biological Casualties”
A credited course for public-health and medical providers involved in the diagnosis and treatment of chemical and biological casualties in the medical facility. Distance learning products via https://web.archive.org/web/20161122230634/https://ccc.apgea.army.mil/courses/distance/distance.htm and www.swankhealth.com.
Duration: 3 Minutes 26 Seconds
Segment Four Hospital Management of CBRNE Incidents
A credited course on mass-casualty incidents for hospital-based medical professionals in public health, the private sector, and emergency management. A mix of room instruction, real-life scenarios, and tabletop exercises.
Duration: 2 Minutes 39 Seconds
Segment Five Fieldentification of Biological Warfare Agents
A course for lab managers and trainers on biological agententification that includes operational issues for decision-making and the instructions for setting up, maintaining, and operating a deployable laboratory under field conditions.
Duration: 2 Minutes 44 Seconds
Segment Six Bio-Agent Detection Technologies
Korch’s views on such detection technologies as polymerase chain reaction (PCR), electrochemiluminescence (ECL), microarrays, immunoassays, immunosorbent assays, etc. His stress on a truly integrated sample-analysis approach. The importance of the Laboratory Response Network partner labs for analytical support for the public-health and first-responder communities.
Duration: 4 Minutes 48 Seconds
Segment Seven USAMRIID’s Aeromedical Isolation Team
The composition, equipment, and missions of USAMRIID’s Aeromedical Isolation Team (AIT) and the team’s orientation to the principal threats posed by viral hemorrhagic fevers. The AIT’s approach to communications among caregivers and communications with the patient. The challenge of maintaining containment.
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George W. Korch Jr.
Colonel George W. Korch Jr., USA, Commander, U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID)
John F. Morton
John F. Morton is the Strategic Advisor for DomPrep. He is also the Homeland Security Team Lead for the Project on National Security Reform (PNSR). A member of the DomPrep team since its founding, he has served as managing editor for writer assignments and interviewer for scores of DomPrep audio interviews.
