October 4, 2006
Little Rock —
Today, colleagues of the Arkansas Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Health (DOH), Governor Huckabee, and other officials dedicated a new state-of-the art public health laboratory that has the capacity to culture and identify dangerous bacteria and viruses that may be released by terrorists. This laboratory will place Arkansas in the forefront in the fight against new infectious diseases and potential bioterroristic agents.
Governor Mike Huckabee stressed the need for the new facility and how completion of the facility will strengthen the safety measures needed to protect the health of Arkansans. "The aftermath of the terrorist attacks on our country helped us to understand that a laboratory building, designed to allow testing for agents such as anthrax and smallpox, is urgently needed. We're also seeing an onslaught of newly discovered infectious diseases such as SARS, West Nile virus, avian influenza and monkey pox. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says 30 new infectious diseases have been identified during the past 20 years. It's clear this laboratory is a necessity for Arkansas."
John Selig, DHHS Director, said, “This is a great day for public health in Arkansas. Our mission is to protect the health and welfare of the citizens of our state, and this new laboratory will greatly enhance that effort.”
Dr. Paul Halverson, DOH Director and State Public Health Officer, said, "Our public health laboratory is a vital part of our state public health system. Providing a current state of the art facility to meet the public health challenges facing Arkansas was on the minds of Governor Huckabee and our state legislature as they strongly supported this important project to replace our aging and increasingly problematic laboratory space that was built in 1969. In this day of a potentially lethal bioterorrist substance and increasingly complex technology, we need a facility that can effectively serve the citizens of our state. Our new lab is designed to meet these challenges in an effective manner."
Dr. Joe Bates, Deputy State Health Officer, said, “The opening of this laboratory marks another major advance taken to protect the health of Arkansans. This laboratory and its professional staff provide laboratory support for 94 public health units throughout the state where more than 800,000 individual patient visits are recorded each year. In addition, this laboratory regularly tests public drinking water from more than 1,000 sources and food and drink from more than 14,500 food establishments to ensure that what Arkansans drink and eat meets all standards for health protection.”
Dr. Glen Baker, Director of the Public Health Laboratory, pointed out that it is important to recognize that the Arkansas Public Health Laboratory protects the health of Arkansas citizens every day by insuring that highly infectious diseases are promptly recognized and controlled, and all new born babies are tested for serious genetic defects. In addition, the laboratory serves as a resource for other laboratories throughout the state for training and technical support. Baker stated that the Public Health Laboratory performs over 800,000 tests each year on nearly 500,000 individual specimens.
The facility, located on the existing campus just south of the present Division of Health headquarters, was funded by a bond issue and financed with fees charged by the Division of Health. Construction of the laboratory began in September 2004 and cost approximately $24,600,000 million dollars. The lab provides approximately 80,000 square feet for the 138 laboratory employees. Building new public health laboratories has been an important function in many states over the last ten years where new laboratories have been built in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, Texas and Virginia.
Designing and constructing a complex public health laboratory requires a team of diverse professionals with special skills. Architectural services were provided by The Wilcox Group of Little Rock, and the Lord, Aeck and Sargent firm of Atlanta, Georgia. Engineering services were provided by the TME firm of Little Rock, and the general contractor was Nabholz Construction Company.
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