BILBRAY RESCUES DISASTER SUPPLIES
25,000-Pound Stockpile to Stay in San Diego County

(Washington D.C.)- A controversial plan to move a 25,000-pound cache of emergency medical supplies from San Diego County to Los Angeles has been abandoned, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which had proposed the move.

Rep. Brian Bilbray, who worked with San Diego County Board of Supervisors’ Chairman Greg Cox, Rep. Susan Davis and White House staff to persuade HHS to reconsider the plan, was pleased by the decision. “I am very grateful to HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt and his staff for not only listening to our concerns, but for responding to them in such a positive way,” said Bilbray.  “I also want to thank Chairman Cox for all his hard work on this issue. “He, along with Dr. Jake Jacoby from the UCSD Medical Center, played a pivotal role.”

HHS had proposed regionalizing medical caches in Southern California and wanted to transport San Diego County’s stockpile to Los Angeles. Last month, Chairman Cox and Supervisor Ron Roberts asked the Board of Supervisors to officially oppose the move and enlisted the help of Bilbray and Davis.

On Friday, federal officials announced the supplies would be housed at the Point Loma Naval Base.  The supplies were placed in San Diego in 1994 by the federal government and are used by Disaster Medical Assistance Teams, which are local groups of volunteer doctors. The team is sponsored by UCSD in San Diego and last used the supplies during the 2007 fires. The DMAT team has also successfully deployed to major disasters around the country.

“History has certainly shown that large-scale disasters do happen in our region, evidenced by last October’s terrible firestorm,” added Bilbray. “And with popular tourist attractions, large military installations, an international airport, a port facility and the world’s most-traversed border crossing in such close proximity, the San Diego region will always be a potential target for terrorism.”

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