news release
ANDREW J. SPANO, Westchester County Executive SUSAN TOLCHIN, Director of Communications

CONTACT: SUSAN TOLCHIN (914) 995-2932

LYNNE BEDELL (914) 995-3106

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE AUGUST 8, 2005

COMPUTERIZED SURVEILLANCE SYSTEM TRACKS DISEASE

Officials confident CHESS would identify an epidemic or biological incident early

It may not seem too likely, but what if a number of people in Westchester began experiencing similar symptoms but all reported to different clinics and hospitals? How long would it take for someone to put two and two together and realize there’s a pattern of illness here - an epidemic, or possibly even an act of bioterrorism?

Probably not too long, given a computerized early warning surveillance system developed by the Westchester County departments of Information Technology (DoIT) and Health. The Community Health Electronic Surveillance System, or CHESS, was initiated by County Executive Andy Spano as part of his overall push to use technology to make residents safer and even more secure and has recently been “put to the test.”

Over the past few weeks, after a number of patients were found to have Legionnaire’s disease in New Rochelle, county health workers have been analyzing electronic data gathered from hospitals. They search for patients with pneumonia and have disease control specialists follow up by identifying those at high-risk for Legionnaire’s who would benefit from additional tests.

“This technology analyzes patient data at local hospitals throughout the county and is able to recognize patterns or detect outbreaks before they spread,” Spano said. “An incident of bioterrorism -- whether it is anthrax, smallpox or whatever -- may start out from something as simple as a small upswing in patients with flu-like symptoms. It would be crucial to catch it early.”

While there have fortunately been no large-scale public health emergencies, CHESS has identified the beginnings of flu season the past two winters, searched for SARS patients, looked for food illnesses during the 2004 blackout, and caught the “Clinton effect” – a spike in the number of patients reporting to emergency MORE

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Following two years of effort and coordination with medical facilities, all the hospitals in Westchester with emergency departments and selected outpatient clinics are now participating in the program. CHESS gets numbers from hospitals on a daily basis and statistically analyzes any unusual levels or patterns of disease.

“Having all hospitals with emergency departments connected to this reporting system greatly enhances

our ability to detect disease outbreaks more quickly than before,” said Commissioner of Health Dr. Joshua Lipsman.

Having CHESS in place allows health officials to be more pro-active and look for illnesses before they become more widespread.

“While many counties of similar size throughout the country continue to depend on outdated modes of detection, Westchester understands the benefits of investing in smart, innovative technology,” said Dr. Norm Jacknis, the county’s CIO. “By fully automating and expanding surveillance capabilities, DoIT has eliminated expensive manual labor, bolstered reporting accuracy and enabled, for the first time, data to be pooled from every hospital emergency room in the county.”

While the development of CHESS began prior to 9/11, the aftermath of the attacks and the threats of anthrax and other forms of bioterrorism provided an even stronger impetus for establishing a real-time surveillance system. The system is now an integral part of the county's efforts to improve emergency preparedness.

The county was recently honored with a 2005 NACo Achievement Award which named CHESS “Best in Category” among the Information Technology entries. In addition, CHESS was presented at the Second National Syndromic Surveillance Conference in October 2003 and is being used by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as a model program for other county and state health departments.

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