New equipment yields fast answers for CCH
By Eric Freeman
Laboratory technicians at Columbus Community Hospital have an added weapon in their arsenal of diagnostic equipment.
The Secure Telecommunications Application Terminal Package system (STATPack) enables Columbus Community Hospital and other labs across the state to send digital images of suspicious or unknown organisms electronically to the Nebraska Public Health Laboratory for consultation.

Mt. Carmel receives STATPack
By Scott Sims
Mt. Carmel Regional Medical Center has a new tool to help identify potential bioterrorism materials.
The Secure Telecommunications Application Terminal Package (STATPack) allows staff to send photos or live video of samples to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE).

Remote Solutions
By Kerri Penno
Clinical laboratory scientists and public health officials say a computerized emergency response consultation system for public health laboratories developed in Nebraska is proving valuable for other states and has the potential to impact public and private health systems worldwide.

System Links Hospital with labs, health agency
PDF Version - PANews.com
by Jeff Mullen, CNHI News Service
Recently, a medical technician at St. Mary's Regional Medical Center was running tests on the blood of a patient when something unusual cropped up. "We saw a malarial parasite on a patient", said Barton Adiar, St Mary's laboratory director.

UNMC project shortens patients' wait for diagnoses
By: Andy Boyle
Some rural communities will no longer have to wait days to hear back from bigger health labs about research on microscopic specimens. The University of Nebraska Medical Center unveiled a new emergency response system for public health laboratories called STATPack, which makes it easier for smaller communities' research labs to contact larger ones.

New technology from UNO helps Nebraska hospitals
By: Keena Spencer-Dobson
The Secure Telecommunications Application Terminal Package is helping hospitals throughout Nebraska. This device allows remote hospital or diagnostic laboratories to send digital images of suspicious culture samples electronically to a state public health lab for identification.

STATpack great boon to Enid, state
new system designed to identify bioterrorism materials already has paid dividends and it didnt involve an attack on our country. St. Marys Regional Medical Center recently installed STATPack, which stands for Secure Telecommunications Application Terminal Package. The system is a secure, Web-based network linking St. Marys and, when the system is fully installed, nine other labs in various parts of the state with Oklahoma State Department of Health.

UNMC part of state's bioterrorism preparedness team
by Karen Burbach, UNMC public affairs
Nebraska's success in bioterrorism preparation stems from its teamwork among government, academia and the private sector, Gov. Dave Heineman said Thursday in presenting the Harry W. McFadden, Jr., M.D., Lectureship.

National officials impressed by STATPack
by Vicky Cerino, UNMC public affairs
Three officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the American Public Health Laboratory (APHL) recently spent two days in Nebraska as part of a site visit for the APHL Private-Public Laboratory Integration Project (PPLIP).

Improving Health through Technology
by Susan Houston Klaus
For citizens across the state, Nebraska's network of clinical health laboratories provides a crucial service. In the event of a public health emergency or bioterrorism event, they would be the front lines in ensuring potentially harmful substances are identified, analyzed and quarantined quickly.
Now, with a new computer application developed by faculty and students at UNO, labs in small and rural communities are finding it easier than ever to communicate findings and consult with the flagship Nebraska Public Health Laboratory (NPHL) at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha.

Packing a Punch with STATPack
by www.unoalumni.org
When Ann Fruhling, Ph.D., assistant professor of information systems at the College of IS&T, initially envisioned the project, she saw it as a means to better address urgent health care issues in rural Nebraska, like the area near Kearney where she grew up. China, quite literally, was the farthest thing from her mind.

UNMC part of state's bioterrorism preparedness team
BY JULIE ANDERSON, WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER
Researchers demonstrated a video microscopy system Thursday at the University of Nebraska Medical Center that could allow pathologists across the state to consult each other on biopsies of patients' cells. They also showed how 10 laboratories statewide can share images of organisms in a lab dish, consult to identify them and alert health officials if there's a potential problem.

Nebraskas Recent Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Activities and Accomplishments - June 2005
by Nebraska Health and Human Services System
First and foremost, Nebraskas preparedness accomplishments are the direct result of strong, collaborative partnerships at the state and local levels, between the public and private sectors. None of these things could have been achieved by a single agency or individual. The following highlighted activities are in no particular order, and are indicative of just some of the numerous activities and accomplishments occurring at the state and local levels in the public and private sectors.

Nebraska's Preparedness for Terrorism
by Nebraska Health and Human Services System
Nebraska has a coordinated effort to respond to emergency situations that may arise, including bioterrorism. The states emergency response effort is broad-based and includes the involvement of many state agencies, the federal government, and local organizations.

Lab sharing system demonstrated
by Julie Anderson
Omaha (Neb.) World-Herald, April 16, 2005, Pg. 5B
Researchers demonstrated a video microscopy system Thursday at the University of Nebraska Medical Center that could allow pathologists across the state to consult with each other on biopsies of patients' cells. They also showed how 10 laboratories statewide can share images of organisms in a lab dish, consult to identify them and alert other health officials if there's a potential problem. Both technologies are part of the state's efforts to fight bioterrorism, a looming concern since the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Global Applications Seen for Health Lab Electronic Link
University of Nebraska
Health care professionals say a computerized emergency response system for public health laboratories developed in Nebraska is proving to be a valuable tool for other states and has the potential to impact public health systems worldwide.

Linking Laboratories One by One to Strengthen Americas Emergency Response System
Author Unkown
Forging More Than Just Clinical Connections
Increasingly the scope of laboratory integration efforts is expanding to new realms. Public health scientists realize that animal illnesses or contaminated soil or reservoirs are just as likely to signify biological or chemical terrorismor other potential public health crisesas human illness.

Development of Public-Private Laboratory Systems
Rex Astles, PhD
Nebraska
- Develop and assess communication using secure information exchange (including image transmission of isolates) using STATpack
- Add videoconferencing
- Conduct challenge exercise of an event using a bioterrorism mimic

APHL - 2004 Year in Review
Author Unkown
The CDCthrough APHLawarded roughly $50,000 to each of ten states to carry out novel new activities to improve ties between the state public health laboratory and other laboratories in the state. The Nebraska public health laboratory, for example, is introducing a device called STATPack that will enable secure, realtime video transmission of laboratory images to the public health laboratory to speed confirmatory diagnosis of dangerous microbes and hasten emergency response activities.

2005 Annual Meeting Preliminary Program
Author Unkown
The Next Generation: Web-based Tools for Lab Consultation, Disease Reporting and Surveillance
Secure, user friendly electronic and web-based communications are the next generation of tools for surveillance and event management initiatives. Real-time movement of critical information for outbreak mitigation, bioterrorist and terrorist events is vital for ensuring the health of the nations public.

Introducing STATPack
by Ann Fruhling, PhD, UNO and Tony Sambol, Assistant Director, NPHL
The NPHL has been working with Dr. Ann Fruhling, Assistant Professor at the University of Nebraska at Omaha's College of Information Science and Technology, on a new project to help laboratories become more prepared for a bioterrorism event. The project which is funded by a Nebraska Research Initiative (NRI) grant aims to develop a laboratory-based Secure Telecommunications Application Terminal Package, termed STATPack. The goal of the NRI program is to leverage Nebraska resources to develop new technologies that may have commercial potential.

Infotec 2005 Brochure
Authur Unknown
This session discusses the extreme programming (XP) methods used to develop and deploy a telemedicine laboratory diagnostic system called STATPack (Secure Telecommunications Application Terminal Package). The intent of the STATPack system was to help clinicaal laboratories throughout greater Nebraska become more prepared for a bioterrorism event or public health emergency by having a direct consultation link to the Nebraska Public Health Laboratory located at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, NE. The session includes a demonstration of the STATPack system.