The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) approved a request to allocate $65,250 in carryover funding to the Spokane Regional Health District’s bioterrorism lab. A success in large part due to the work of Rep. Marcus Riccelli (D-Spokane) and other Spokane legislators, the funding will allow the facility to provide services through June 2014.
Rep. Riccelli has been working to keep the vital laboratory open since spring of last year when it was slated to close due to lack of funding. Riccelli rallied attention to the importance of the lab and worked with local elected officials, public safety leaders and the governor’s office to ensure the facility remained open through at least June 2014.
“The Spokane bioterrorism lab is one of only two such facilities in the state. It provides crucial protection for our region and ensures the Inland Northwest is adequately prepared to respond to a threat,” Riccelli said. “It’s essential that we work with our federal partners, the governor, law enforcement and health officials to secure the ongoing funding that will keep the lab operational and safeguard our community now and in the future.”
The Spokane facility plays a critical role in protecting public health in the Inland Northwest. During an incident last May, the lab received samples from a letter sent to Eastern Washington federal judge Fred Van Sickle that were later confirmed to contain ricin. The same letters were sent to Fairchild Air Force Base, a Spokane post office, the CIA and President Obama. The lab was also instrumental in responding to the 2011 Spokane bombing attempt, when a Washington man left a pipe bomb along the route of the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial march.
The lab’s future is threatened by the continual decrease in federal funding for the Washington State Department of Health’s overall Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response (PHEPR) program. Each year, the PHEPR funding is distributed to the state’s regional health districts, which then make allocating decisions. When money is short, funding gets cut.
The PHEPR funding has dropped from approximately $20 million to $10.4 million since 2002. But Riccelli and others have worked to keep this critical public health and safety lab open by requesting carryover dollars.
“Effective emergency planning in our community must include our ability to rapidly and accurately detect bioterrorism threats,” said Spokane Regional Health District Public Health Director Dr. Joel McCullough. “The emphasis should be on building capacity in the public health system, and that requires a sustained investment in people, technology and materials.”
The $65,250 allocation will keep the bioterrorism lab open until June, and only accounts for approximately forty percent of the required $160,000 annual costs.
“We welcome a short-term fix, but we need a long-term solution to keep this essential bioterrorism lab open,” Riccelli said.