The 2005 'Last Chance Bravo' bioterrorism exercise

The 2005 'Last Chance Bravo' bioterroism exercise provided a forum for testing advanced technologies in a simulated disaster. The four-day exercise included a 2-day simulated pneumonic plague outbreak, with 50 participants from the Montana Department of Health and Human Services, 20 participants from various hospital organizations and approximately 150 participants from over 40 telemedicine sites. Telephone communications and Web tools supported much of the critical information exchange. Videoconferencing added an element of image sharing for pathology, radiology and geospatial mapping. During the exercise three telehealth networks facilitated a telemedicine session to over 40 sites across Montana. Because of the large number of telehealth sites participating, the videoconference session became more like an informational news broadcast. The ability of telemedicine to support image and data sharing may be a significant advantage over simple telephone communications in disaster response.