Health priorities change as fears and funds recede

State health officials responded more quickly to the swine flu and SARS viruses because of techniques and equipment developed after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, but modern-day priorities mean they are less focused on monitoring Hawaii’s milk supply and tracking diseases such as tuberculosis.

The Laboratories Division of the state Department of Health has the same number of employees — 91 — that it had in 2001. But priorities have changed in the post-9/11 world and 19 of those employees are now funded through federal grants that have to be renewed annually, said Christian Whelen, the laboratory’s administrator.

At its hiring peak in 2005, the division had 102 employees, with 16 of them paid for through federal grants.

“You can only cut so many staff and maintain the same level of credible service,” Whelen said Tuesday at the laboratory in Pearl City. “Because of all of the cutbacks, we’re not going to do tuberculosis anymore. We’re not going to do food safety anymore.”

As a new flu season begins in the islands, procedures developed after 9/11 mean flu strains can be identified within days rather than weeks. Technicians also have been able to identify outbreaks of E.coli much faster because of post-9/11 technology.

Before the 2001 terrorist attacks, the laboratory had one person working in an ill-equipped facility devoted to tracking bioterrorism and testing for substances such as anthrax.

Then the terrorists hit, and the Health Department quickly had to change the way it operates.

Hoaxers and panicky residents across the islands and Guam meant the laboratory was overwhelmed with 451 samples of suspected anthrax from September through December 2001.

Officials and technicians at the lab later developed better tests for dengue fever, anthrax and the plague, along with better methods to identify strains of E.coli.

And in 2009, the laboratory tested 10,858 samples for the H1N1 virus in an eight-month period from May through December.

As the post-9/11 hysteria quieted and the economic slowdown took hold, hiring at the Health Department peaked in 2005.

The number of disease investigators, for instance, increased from eight in 2001 to a high of 14 in 2005, then dropped to nine this year, with two positions remaining vacant.

Keith Kawaoka, program manager for the department’s Hazard Evaluation and Emergency Response Office, now has only two positions instead of four to monitor chemical and toxic spills around the state.

“There’s a big difference between what we had right after 9/11 and what we have now,” Kawaoka said.

Ten years after the attacks, the panic that led to 451 suspected anthrax cases in just four months has gone away.

But ordinary problems remain for the department, such as people coming across discarded military ordnance and chemical hazards in their homes that need to be safely removed.

“From old munitions to old pesticides, people realize these pose a potential threat to their neighborhoods,” Kawaoka said. “There’s more heightened awareness and more vigilance.”

But health officials now worry about losing employees paid by federal money, which is also in jeopardy.

In the 2001-2002 fiscal year, Hawaii received less than $900,000 in federal public health emergency preparedness grants.

The amount jumped to $8 million after 9/11 and peaked at $9.3 million in the 2003-2004 fiscal year.

This fiscal year, Hawaii will receive only $5.3 million in federal public health emergency preparedness grants.

“The events of 9/11 and the anthrax threats heightened the focus on public health preparedness and helped strengthen our infrastructure, creating major advancements in our ability to respond to emergencies,” Health Director Loretta J. Fuddy said in a statement on Tuesday. “With reduction to our preparedness program over the years, we are in jeopardy of losing ground.”