His is a profession that dispenses remedies in small doses.

But Sept. 11 hammered home the need for a battle plan to handle a large-scale emergency, a smallpox outbreak, bioterrorism or health maladies brought on by acts of chemical warfare.

"Where do we stand? In relation to a year ago, we're much better off if something were to occur," said Mark Middlebrooks, assistant director of pharmacy at LSU Health Sciences Center.

Since the terrorist attacks, officials with area hospitals and health agencies have pulled together with the Caddo-Bossier Office of Emergency Preparedness to plan response to acts of terrorism. Middlebrooks is among area pharmacists and pharmacy representatives who spent time at Noble Training Center at Fort McClellan, Ala., for a course on the national pharmaceutical stockpile.

The stockpile pharmacy is one of less than a handful in the country that are virtual national warehouses of medications, intravenous solutions and other agents that would be needed in the event of a disease outbreak brought on through bioterrorism, chemical warfare, disaster or attack.

Only a select number of people know where the stockpiles are located; but in the event of an emergency, medical supplies could be delivered to a community anywhere in the United States in less than 12 hours, Middlebrooks said. "We have had some training and could go into action to distribute the assets from the stockpile should it be needed."

Access to the stockpiles can only be obtained through a request from the state governor's office.

Local health agencies still are formulating an emergency response plan and hope to have a disaster drill to test their efforts before year's end.

It took the events of Sept. 11 to spark action that now could help save lives, Middlebrooks said.

"I guess what has happened is that the medical community as a whole has pulled together in the past year," he said. "We have a core group of people who can now go into action and start the process of getting medications distributed throughout the community, pure and simple.

"We have our foot in the door to have access to this aid," Middlebrooks said. "Before, we would have been lost."