An Iowa medical school has received a federal grant to develop a course to teach Iowa health professionals how to deal with “bio-terrorist” attacks. The Federal Emergency Management Agency grant will be used by “Des Moines University,” a college which turns out osteopathic doctors.Dr. Jim Fleming, director of occupational medicine at Des Moines University. Fleming says it’s a graduate or high undergraduate level course. He says the idea is to teach Iowans how to deal with potential biological threats so we don’t rely on experts who fly into Iowa after an incident. Fleming says they’ll target care providers throughout Iowa.Fleming hopes to develop emergency experts in rural Iowa who can deal with terrorist attacks on Iowa crops or livestock. He says most of the programs now deal with major metropolitan areas.Fleming was in the U-S Army for 20 years and was an advisor to the U-S Surgeon General on how best to deal with nuclear and chemical threats.
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