MONTPELIER – Vermont was among eight states leading the nation in emergency preparedness following the swine flu outbreak, according to a study released Tuesday.

"Ready or Not? Protecting the Public's Health from Diseases, Disasters and Bioterrorism" was conducted for the seventh year by the Trust for America's Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The study found that the H1N1, or swine flu, outbreak has exposed serious problems in the nation's emergency preparedness, a problem exacerbated by the current economic crisis.

"This report has always been and will be a call to action," said Irwin Redlener, Director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness in a conference call with the media on Tuesday. He said the United States has made progress since Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast and the terrorist attacks on U.S. soil on Sept. 11, 2001.

But, Redlener added, "We're a long way from saying the U.S. is secure and safe from a wide range of threats. We are simply not ready yet."

The study looked at 10 indicators of public emergency readiness and found that Vermont and seven other states have achieved those indicators. The other states were Arkansas, Delaware, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, North Dakota and Texas. Twenty states scored six or less out of 10 key indicators, and nearly two-thirds scored seven or less. Montana had the lowest score at three out of 10.

"The H1N1 outbreak has vividly revealed existing gaps in public health emergency preparedness," said Richard Hamburg, deputy director of TFAH, during the call. With the swine flu outbreak waning, Hamburg said, the country cannot "let down our defenses.

"In fact, it's time to double down and provide a sustained investment in the underlying infrastructure, so we will be prepared for the next emergency and the one after that," he said.

Among the 10 indicators: Whether states had purchased adequate H1N1 vaccine, kept adequate records of available hospital beds, maintained adequate public health staffing, maintained public health funding from 2007 through 2009, and more.

The one area where Vermont fell short was meeting a certain standard for medical volunteers in an emergency.

This marked the third year in a row that Vermont has met nine of the 10 indicators, said Vermont Health Commissioner Wendy Davis.

"The report recognizes that the arrival of the 2009 H1N1 influenza in North America was a daunting test of every state's capacity to effectively respond to a public health threat," Davis said in a statement following news of the TFAH report. "We can be proud of our ranking this year, but there is always more work to do."

Hamburg and Redlener said they worry that states will reduce public health staffing and emergency preparedness in light of the current fiscal crisis, and that states must not simply respond to individual crises, such as the swine flu outbreak, but look ahead for comprehensive emergency planning for any unexpected event.

The report calls for changes to strengthen public emergency preparedness, including modernizing flu vaccine production, adequate funding of these efforts, improved hospital preparedness and community readiness, , and more.

"H1N1, like Katrina, should be a wake-up call for politicians and the public," Redlener said Tuesday. Unfortunately, he added, public officials see these events "more like snooze alarms than wake up calls. "We then just drift back into a state of complacency," he said.

Vt. scores high in emergency report