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Ever since the anthrax scares that followed the 9-11 terrorist attacks, the United States Government has been trying to devise a system to rapidly treat a large number of people in the event of a large-scale anthrax attack. I'm surprised it took this long, but it looks like a clever - and, in hindsight, rather obvious - solution is coming, thanks to the United States Postal Service:

WASHINGTON (AP) - If there ever is another anthrax attack, the letter carrier may deliver your antibiotics. Federal health officials are beginning a project in Minneapolis-St. Paul to let letter carriers stockpile a personal supply of emergency antibiotics so they are protected and ready to deliver aid to the rest of the city at a moment's notice.

"These letter carriers are being asked to put their lives on the line to help their communities," Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt said Wednesday. By ensurng they are protected first, "the carriers can be ready on short notice to take to the streets."

The project aims to overcome a big hurdle of emergency planning. The government has much drugs stockpiled in case of future bioterrorism, but few ways to get them quickly to panicked citizens. Leavitt noted that if someone possibly has inhaled anthrax, the chances of survival are best if antibiotic treatment begins within 48 hours.

The U.S. Postal Service came forward, he said. "They have people who every day walk to every house."

Those carriers could provide "a front-end quick strike," added William Raub, Leavitt's senior science counselor.

But could letter carriers successfully deliver medications to a great number of homes during an emergency, when the carriers might be mobbed? Would they be willing?

To address the first issue, test projects in Seattle, Philadelphia and Boston over the past two years paired letter carriers with police officers on holidays. Carriers volunteered to do double routes, delivering empty pill bottles along with a "This is a Test" flier explaining what was happening. In Philadelphia, 50 carriers reached about 53,000 households in eight hours, Raub said.

This outside-the-box thinking demonstrates that at least somewhere in the USPS there are individuals and teams who are willing and able to consider a problem and develop innovative solutions. Can you say the same about your organization?