The stockpile, maintained by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is a system of warehouses in undisclosed locations that are stocked with pre-packaged, pre-configured medical supplies, vaccines and medicines.
When the call to mobilize the stockpile is declared, the CDC ships the supplies to the state where they are needed. At that point, the state becomes responsible for distribution.
Carl Brewer, Integrated Warehousing Solutions' president, said Ohio's distribution system is scheduled to be operational by June 22.
When a state gets its stockpile of materials, it also gets a compact disc detailing the inventory. Ohio officials, using computers and hand-held devices, can use the state's system from on-site support centers to plan distribution based on population.
The system operates in real time, giving users up-to-date information. Being wireless, it doesn't rely on phone lines, which could be disabled in a disaster, Ware said.
"Paper is safe. People are comfortable with paper," Ware said. But in the event when you have mass distribution, you need immediate access to what you got, how much you have, what lot numbers they are. We've gained through-put by leaps and bounds."
Ware said in a test of the system, processes that previously took nine to 15 minutes in the paper forms method took less than a minute with the new system.
Not only can information be easily recorded and verified, but it can be analyzed with features such as a mapping program that will show the geographic distribution of the inventory.
"This is like an insurance policy,' Brewer said. "You hope you won't have to use it, but you have to have a plan."
Though disaster response is the impetus for the new system, Ware said it needed to have day-to-day applications as well.
The Health Department maintains its own stockpile of medications and supplies it uses for a variety of programs, including dealing with sexually transmitted diseases and providing vaccines to children.
"This is going to increase the ability to get to the end user quicker," Brewer said. "It could be a matter of hours instead of days."
The system gives the state Health Department better control of its inventory, which is expected to improve stock rotation and delivery, while reducing spoilage, Brewer said.
Integrated Warehousing Solutions has worked in more than 200 sites around the world, Brewer said, including projects for several state and local governments and for pharmaceutical companies. But the work with the state Health Department was its first dealing with the national stockpile. It might not be its last.
Ware said Ohio is ahead of many other states that are waiting to see the system in use.
"No other states," Brewer said, "are as sophisticated as Ohio right now."
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