Police prepare drill for plague at school

By DAVID FITZGERALD – dfitzgerald@nwherald.com
Northwest Herald
Created: Friday, November 6, 2009 1:15 a.m. CST

LAKE IN THE HILLS – Citizens infected with a fictitious pneumonic plague will line up outside Lincoln Prairie Elementary School on Saturday to help test the site as a medication dispensary in case of an emergency.

The Lake in the Hills Police Department is carrying out the test as part of a grant from the McHenry County Department of Health for its emergency health plan. In case of a biological terrorist attack or widespread disease outbreak, the site would be able get medicine to the community, Lake in the Hills Chief of Patrol Services David Brey said.

“This is just a functional test of the site,” he said.

The event will use volunteers pretending to have been stricken by the plague to help test the flow of the site, from initial triage through receiving proof of being medicated.

“We picked the plague on purpose so it would have nothing to do with the swine flu,” Brey said.

The test will start at 9 a.m. Saturday at Lincoln Prairie, 500 Harvest Gate, across from Lake in the Hills Village Hall.