|
Prepare. . .Plan. .
.Stay Informed
Visit the Ready
Ohio website for your one stop
resource for information to prepare for all types of emergencies.
Bioterrorism/Emergency
Response
The possibility of a large-scale Bioterrorism
incident became a reality during the Anthrax attacks of 2001. Unfortunately,
these demonstrated that our country was not prepared to deal effectively with
such a threat. In response, the federal government passed the Public Health and
Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act of 2002. This provides grant money
for states to improve the infrastructure of local health districts for
Bioterrorism response.
Infectious Disease Surveillance
Program
Countermeasures
All Hazards
Preparedness
Weapons of Mass Destruction Response
Pharmaceuticals
The Logan County Health Districts has received approximately $100,000 annually
for improving Public Health
Infrastructure since 2002. This has provided specialized training,
upgraded communication and information technology equipment, and allowed for key
planning, investigative, and response positions. Following is a list of
projects supported by these funds.
Infectious
Disease Surveillance Program:
The rapid discovery of a naturally
occurring and emerging infectious disease outbreak like pandemic
influenza or an intentional Bio-terrorism release will be crucial to
reduce the number of individuals affected by it. Logan County Health District has
implemented a comprehensive infectious disease surveillance program.
The program involves initiatives with
a multitude of agencies at the local, state and
regional level and the use of sophisticated disease investigation and
tracking software.
The following is a list of partners
in our surveillance program:
Mary Rutan Hospital
Logan County Emergency
Management Agency
Ohio Department of Health/
Health Alert Network
Logan County family
practitioners
Logan County veterinarians
Logan County pharmacies
Logan County industries
Area law enforcement, fire,
and EMS
- Bellefontaine and Logan County
School Districts
- Mental Health Agencies
- Nursing Homes
Back
to Top
Countermeasures:
Logan County Health
District has implemented the following measures to aid in
preparedness:
Instituted a 24 hour per
day, seven days per week, 365 days per year emergency call line accessed through Logan
County Sheriff's Department 937-599-3333 for reporting infectious
diseases and other public health emergencies.
Developed emergency
response plans for mass
immunization or antibiotic distribution in order to ensure the
safety of the residents. These include use of scanning data
management system, crisis communication plan, white powder, and
smallpox plans.
Coordinated smallpox
vaccination to response teams of public health and
healthcare personnel.
- Developed an extensive
library of reference materials
- Acquired multi-agency radio
communications systems.
- Works with the Catastrophic
Emergency Operations Team to develop a county Pandemic Influenza
Plan, responder and public education program.
- Trains staff on crucial
topics including, computer technology, Incident Command, Epidemiology, and Weapons of Mass Destruction.
Participates in
departmental, community, and regional exercises and drills to test
emergency plans.
Back
to Top
All
Hazards Disaster Preparedness:
Over the past several decades, the
number of natural and manmade disasters has increased in the United
States. As more people reside in disaster prone areas, human life,
health, and property becomes threatened. Responding to this
threat is a role of the local health district. The
number of people who seek medical attention after a disaster
profoundly increases after the disaster has passed. This
can be due to a variety of accompanying hazards, separate from the
actual disaster. These could include an increase in infectious
diseases related to broken sanitation systems, polluted drinking
water, carbon monoxide poisoning from the use of generators or space
heaters without proper ventilation, accidents caused by inexperienced
people using power tools, and unsafe debris removal techniques.
These illnesses and injuries can overwhelm the local health care
system after a disaster. The Logan County Health District is
addressing this
challenge by reviewing our emergency operations procedures to include
post disaster education and environmental testing programs.
Disasters most likely to occur in Logan
County are:
Back
to Top
 Weapons
of Mass Destruction Response:
Throughout the 1990's the US government
noted a dramatic increase in the proliferation and usage of nuclear,
biological, and chemical weapons. During the anthrax attacks in late
2001, it was quickly realized that there were major shortfalls in our
country's ability to respond to large-scale Weapons of Mass
Destruction (WMD) attacks. This prompted congress to fund an upgrade
of the local public health infrastructure to enable them to respond to
WMD incidents. Locally, Logan County Health District has been
working on the following initiatives:
Upgrading of Information
Technology, Global Information Systems, Distance Learning, and
telecommunications infrastructure allowing us to effectively respond
24-hours a day.
Implementation of a
multidisciplinary surveillance system to detect potential infectious
disease outbreaks as soon as possible.
Coordinating training,
preparedness exercises and mutual aid agreements with Ohio
Department of Health, the Central Ohio Region and other neighboring
health districts.
Strengthening communication
with local partners including Emergency Management Agency, law
enforcement, fire department, and Emergency Medical Services,
Medical Reserve Corps, Mental Health providers, clergy, hospitals,
schools and industries.
Implementing Homeland
Security countermeasures.
Providing first responder and
health care education programs.
Disseminating information to
the general public.
Back
to Top
 Pharmaceuticals:
In the event of a large-scale
infectious disease outbreaks or WMD attack, pharmaceutical
inventories in Logan County would be quickly depleted. In response to
this local vulnerability, the federal government has established the
Strategic National Stockpile. This stockpile is operated by the Center
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and consists of twelve
"12-hour push packs". The push packs contain hundreds of
thousands of doses of pharmaceuticals as well as a variety of medical
equipment. The push
packs are stored throughout the United States so that they are within
a 12-hour range of any state health department that requests
one.
In addition
Logan County Health District is working with area pharmacies to track
unusual increases in the sales of over-the-counter fever, stomach/intestinal,
respiratory, and flu remedies. This may warn us of a problem before a medical diagnosis
is made. This would buy some time by triggering an immediate investigation to identify
a source and
implement controls to slow or stop the spread of disease.
Back
to Top
|
