Employees honored for bioterrorism education work

Josh Rowland, left, and Tony Sambol with their awards.

Two UNMC employees recently were honored on behalf of the Nebraska Hazardous Materials Association (NHMA) for their work in helping first responders.

Tony Sambol and Josh Rowland received Educator of the Year Awards from Capt. Darin Clark of the Hastings Fire Department and Capt. Troy Shoemaker of the Scottsbluff Fire Department. The awards are the first NHMA has presented.

For the past three years, Sambol and Rowland have been traveling across the state educating firefighters, law enforcement, EMS (emergency medical services), other first responders and public health specialists on the Nebraska Public Health Laboratory preparedness efforts for chemical and bioterrorism threats.

Sambol is assistant director of the Nebraska Public Health Laboratory and an assistant professor in the School of Allied Health Professions’ medical technology division. Rowland is a state laboratory trainer in the Department of Pathology and Microbiology.

In addition, following the 2001 anthrax scare, Sambol helped make a hazardous materials sampling procedure and techniques kit, which was developed by Chief Kent Gilbert and other firefighters at the Hastings Fire Department, available to everyone across the state.

“Now we have a standardized kit throughout the state,” said Clark, vice chairman of the NHMA. “Tony worked with the haz mat (hazardous material) teams and considered the needs of the Nebraska Public Health Laboratory and funded the production of the kits.”