F E A T U R E
Bacillus anthracis spores
sean under phase  
contrast I
microscopy. »p ‘
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1 60-day dose of antibiotics. 1 _
"I knew the risks coming into it," he 9 _ i‘ ‘
said. "At first we found out we were be- ?· N , "’x     .
j ing deployed to an undisclosed location, g   ._
i but then the news broke about the let-     , A, "* L _A
ter in Sen. Daschle’s office and we knew  " ., `   at T
we were headed to (Washington) D.C," . i   i  
Hayslett said. “Many of my colleagues F at     y * -- ‘
! have families and children and this was a , A"-   _, t 1 {
big unknown with an outcome that could I Q r'   i
have been much more catastrophic and I felt I `
a responsibility to be on the frontline and to go
and do what I could to help."
In situations such as the anthrax case, the CDC’s
role is to reinforce the public health structure that al-
ready exists, Hayslett said. "In this case, any city, any-
where, would have been overwhelmed by its
magnitude?
But despite this terrible incident, some good came
from it, he said. "It caused everyone to really look at
the significance of the public health infrastructure in
this country," Hayslett said. "From this case, many
i symptom—based surveillance systems are now in place { 3 {
all across the country?
i Hayslett, who also has a master’s degree in public $5  
i health from the University of Oklahoma, thinks the      
anthrax case illuminated the role of public health offi—   l e I " , A i
cials and public health departments.     g i    j   p 
“They do their jobs — often thankless —— day in _:  A   is.i. _. , Q_.?_§- ‘ i i     » B   _
and day out from tuberculosis shots to flu vaccina—    
tions, but when something like the anthrax case hap— ·~**    W   .·.r..    _   ,
pens, they really are on the frontlines in keeping t .‘‘i I i ‘ » ` ‘   Y ` A   ‘ . Y j g j  9*:
people safe," Hayslett said.   ` YT`    °  
Hayslett, a native of Syracuse, N.Y., who has family ‘
in Louisville, also found himself near the site of an-
other terrorism attack in 1995. While working on his “ - - -
master’s degree and then completing a post-doctoral I arnved In waShIngt°n’ D'c"
fellowshi at the Universit of Oklahoma Health Sci-
ence Cenlfer, he was just lOyblocks from the Alfred R on Oct' 1 7’ two days after the letter
g lf/éugalrjalicglcgzral Building that was bombed on April was received in sen. (Tom) DaschIe,s
He also worked for five years as an Indian Health
Service pharmacist at the Navajo reservation in Ari- °ffice’ and I was the last one
ZOH3. gg
"Even when I was attending pharmacy school at to leave on Feb' 1 2'
UK, I never saw myself in a traditional pharmacy role .
working behind a counter," Hayslett said. “‘But today Ulm Hayslett
the role of pharmacists has greatly expanded and you
continue to find others like myself who are success-
fully incorporating their pharmacy education into
many different careers in health care settings." j
  `
Kristi W. Lopez ’9’l CIS is communications officer  www'cdc'g0v I
for the UK Collage of Pharmacy. Kristi can be reached l
at l