On September 8, the Medical Countermeasures (MCM) Workgroup held its third monthly call of the project year. On the call, representatives from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced the MCM Link Project which is a new engagement strategy to connect with state and local health departments to provide the most up-to-date information, reports, and guidance from the CDC. The first MCM Link Webinar is on Monday, September 29, 2014 and will focus on updates and information about the Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) formulary. The CDC also informed the workgroup that Operational Readiness Review (ORR) early adopter site visits would be occurring in September and October.

The MCM workgroup then discussed final comments to 2014-2015 workgroup work plan and timeline on the call. The workgroup hoped to incorporate more ORR-related projects as the year progressed. Additionally, the workgroup discussed a strategy for the review and update of the MCM Toolkit which contains tools and resources to assist local health departments with MCM distribution and dispensing planning.

The MCM workgroup also discussed two abstracts to be submitted for consideration to the 2015 Preparedness Summit. The first is abstract is for an ignite session to share innovative practices tested during MCM-related exercises or important lessons learned elucidated during real world dispensing responses. Potential speakers are still needed for the ignite session. If you are interested in presenting during this ignite session, please send a 1-2 sentence description of your topic to Raymond Puerini ([email protected]) for consideration by October 31, 2014. The second abstract is for 90-minute learning session with panelists from state and local health departments who are ORR early adopters presenting on challenges faced, strategies used, and lessons learned during the ORR assessment process. The next call will be on Monday, October 13.