Angie Vasa

And so we collaborate with the health departments on exercises, and we'll do protocol review if people reach out and say, here's what we're thinking for a response plan.

What guidance do you have?

So we spend a lot of time

in our region doing additional preparedness work, which is extremely important because the World Cup is coming and we have games in Kansas City starting June 16th.

And so we've been working on that for about a year, making sure that if there's any infectious disease risk, whether intentional or natural, that we're prepared to support not just our own team, but the rest of the region.

It is.

Yeah.

And I think it's, you know, there is a difference in the way that you respond to those types of threats.

And so making sure that people have at the forefront of their mind, what does this mean for me?

What does it mean for my team?

What does it change in the way that we respond?

Unfortunately, we do have to look at all of those risk factors when we're preparing for events like this.

Yeah.

So, you know, I joined our team in 2009.

Our unit has been open since 2005.

And I really have to give a lot of credit to Dr. Phil Smith, who was the founder of our special pathogen program here at Nebraska.

And the way that he led our team and the way that he inspired people was really saying, you know, there was a monkeypox case well before MPOX came in 2022, a small child who got infected from an animal, and the healthcare workers refused to take care of them because they were scared.

And there was a very small group of people who stood up and provided that care.

And after 9-11, and we had access to additional funding for

Improving the U.S.