District Health Department No. 4 is dedicated to protecting and safeguarding the health of our communities during public health emergencies, such as an outbreak of disease, natural disaster, or terrorist attack just to name a few.  DHD4 collaborates and maintains partnerships with local, state and federal response partners in order to protect the health of our community.

In 2002 local health departments began receiving funding from the CDC for many infrastructure improvements that would allow it to respond to Public Health Emergencies. Some of these infrastructure purchases included 800 MHz radios for all four offices, generators, vaccine refrigerators and other essential emergency response items. Along with purchasing equipment, the Emergency Preparedness Coordinator has been tasked  with creating Emergency Operations Plans that are focused on public health response in the four counties served by DHD4. The Emergency Prepardness program also assists in training  health department employees and other agencies in the NIMS compliant Incident Command Management systems. An important aspect of the Emergency Preparedness program is the Strategic National Stockpile or SNS, which is a federal asset that would be sent  to the local health deparment in the event of a public health emergency.

DHD4 is a member of the Region 7 Healthcare Coalition(R7HCC), a partnership of local health deparments, hospitals, EMS, long term care facilities, and various other response partners. In addition to fostering and forming partnerships, DHD4’s Emergency Prepardness Program participates in local, regional and statewide exercise activities and trainings. Such as communication exercises with other agencies to ensure redundant communications, partnering with state to facilitate emergency medication distribution, contacting volunteers, emergency preparedness training, etc.

The DHD4 Emergency Preparedness Program encourages all citizens to learn what type of emergencies impact their community, school, workplace and/or business. Being knowledgeable about your community’s hazards and vulnerabilities will help you be ready during a crisis. To develop a plan, visit http://www.ready.gov/