Michigan's Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) plan recently received a 99 percent from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), proving that the state remains a public health preparedness leader.

"Our readiness to deploy the SNS is a key element in our ability to protect Michigan's citizens during a public health emergency," said Janet Olszewski, Director of the Michigan Department of Community Health. "The diligent and strategic work by Michigan's SNS Team has allowed our state to lead the nation in this preparedness area." 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) annually evaluates Michigan's readiness to deploy the Strategic National Stockpile (SNS), which is a large quantity of medicine and medical supplies strategically located across the country to protect the American public. In December 2008, Michigan's SNS Team submitted the state's plan for evaluation. The team received a near-perfect score of 99 percent. The only remaining improvement area is exercising treatment centers, a new requirement, which will be completed by the end of 2009.

As an integral part of the state's preparedness, each local public health jurisdiction has an SNS plan that describes how they would provide emergency medications to the citizens of Michigan. Throughout 2008, state-level SNS Advisors provided on-site technical assistance to each local health jurisdiction to strengthen the local-level SNS plans. In addition, there have been extensive SNS-related trainings and exercises on both the state- and local-level that have continued to raise the level of preparedness across the state.

Michigan has had an SNS plan in place since 2002. Through collaborative planning and partnerships with other state-level agencies and private partners, and as evidenced by the overwhelming success of the SNS program, Michigan continues to lead the nation in public health preparedness initiatives.