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Source: http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/s_599280.html
CDC lauds Indiana County's disaster preparedness efforts
By Jennifer Reeger
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, November 20, 2008
They've set up a field hospital and distributed more than 1,100 flu shots in a three-hour period.
Now Indiana County is being held up as a model to communities nationwide of how to properly plan for disaster.
The health and services subcommittee of the Indiana County Disaster Emergency Planing Committee was one of seven 2008 model communities selected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Terrorism Injuries: Information, Dissemination and Exchange Project, known as TIIDE.
"It's a great testimony to the folks that have done a lot of good work over the last three or four years," said Danny Sacco, chairman of the subcommittee. "We're not doing a lot of difficult things. We're not doing a lot of sophisticated things. We're doing a lot of good, basic, community planning."
Indiana County joins communities such as Orlando, Fla.; Danbury, Conn.; and the Minneapolis/St. Paul metropolitan area as model communities this year, said Dr. Brooke Lerner, a board member for the National Association of EMS Physicians, which is one of seven nongovernmental agencies that work under the CDC grant to promote best practices for disaster preparedness.
"We look for communities that are basically models for linking public health and the emergency care community," Lerner said. "It's that they've put in the time and created whatever groups or things that they need to actually be able to work together."
Sacco, who is the director of safety and security at Indiana Regional Medial Center, said the subcommittee comprises people from 30 health and human services agencies in the county -- from visiting nurses groups to personal care homes.
"We have such a great group of people that have embraced the idea of planning and the need for planning and the need for an entire community response when it comes to disasters and managing disasters. And we have a basic philosophy -- we want to do everything we can to take care of our own people in our community for as long as we can," Sacco said.
The work of the subcommittee evolved from a terrorism task force that was formed after the events of Sept. 11, 2001.
Sacco said it became important to realize that smaller, rural communities such as Indiana County needed to have an immediate response in case of disaster, because state and federal resources might take time to mobilize, particularly in the case of a large-scale problem.
"We may be low on the pecking order when it comes to help and receiving supplies and medicines," Sacco said. "So we decided we were just going to have a system in place to bridge that gap until help arrives."
The subcommittee is there to do things that first responders can't -- like provide shelter, food and medicine to those affected by a disaster.
Members wrote the county's plan in case of a pandemic outbreak. They've developed a phone tree to notify individuals of an event. They've compiled a list of resources available in case of a disaster.
This summer, the subcommittee planned a mobilization drill to set up a field hospital in the parking lot at the medical center to work out the problems of such an effort.
Recently, they distributed free flu vaccines to 1,135 people over a three-hour period at three sites in the county to test how they would get medication to people in the event of a disaster. More than 150 volunteers helped with the event.
Lerner said it's those efforts that make Indiana County a model.
"They have an incredible volunteer infrastructure with a lot of people," she said.
Members of the group are expected to attend a conference in January and participate in a panel discussion "to showcase what we've done so that maybe other communities can benefit from what we've done," Sacco said.
Jennifer Reeger can be reached at jreeger@tribweb.com or 724-836-6155.
CDC lauds Indiana County's disaster preparedness efforts
By Jennifer Reeger
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, November 20, 2008
They've set up a field hospital and distributed more than 1,100 flu shots in a three-hour period.
Now Indiana County is being held up as a model to communities nationwide of how to properly plan for disaster.
The health and services subcommittee of the Indiana County Disaster Emergency Planing Committee was one of seven 2008 model communities selected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Terrorism Injuries: Information, Dissemination and Exchange Project, known as TIIDE.
"It's a great testimony to the folks that have done a lot of good work over the last three or four years," said Danny Sacco, chairman of the subcommittee. "We're not doing a lot of difficult things. We're not doing a lot of sophisticated things. We're doing a lot of good, basic, community planning."
Indiana County joins communities such as Orlando, Fla.; Danbury, Conn.; and the Minneapolis/St. Paul metropolitan area as model communities this year, said Dr. Brooke Lerner, a board member for the National Association of EMS Physicians, which is one of seven nongovernmental agencies that work under the CDC grant to promote best practices for disaster preparedness.
"We look for communities that are basically models for linking public health and the emergency care community," Lerner said. "It's that they've put in the time and created whatever groups or things that they need to actually be able to work together."
Sacco, who is the director of safety and security at Indiana Regional Medial Center, said the subcommittee comprises people from 30 health and human services agencies in the county -- from visiting nurses groups to personal care homes.
"We have such a great group of people that have embraced the idea of planning and the need for planning and the need for an entire community response when it comes to disasters and managing disasters. And we have a basic philosophy -- we want to do everything we can to take care of our own people in our community for as long as we can," Sacco said.
The work of the subcommittee evolved from a terrorism task force that was formed after the events of Sept. 11, 2001.
Sacco said it became important to realize that smaller, rural communities such as Indiana County needed to have an immediate response in case of disaster, because state and federal resources might take time to mobilize, particularly in the case of a large-scale problem.
"We may be low on the pecking order when it comes to help and receiving supplies and medicines," Sacco said. "So we decided we were just going to have a system in place to bridge that gap until help arrives."
The subcommittee is there to do things that first responders can't -- like provide shelter, food and medicine to those affected by a disaster.
Members wrote the county's plan in case of a pandemic outbreak. They've developed a phone tree to notify individuals of an event. They've compiled a list of resources available in case of a disaster.
This summer, the subcommittee planned a mobilization drill to set up a field hospital in the parking lot at the medical center to work out the problems of such an effort.
Recently, they distributed free flu vaccines to 1,135 people over a three-hour period at three sites in the county to test how they would get medication to people in the event of a disaster. More than 150 volunteers helped with the event.
Lerner said it's those efforts that make Indiana County a model.
"They have an incredible volunteer infrastructure with a lot of people," she said.
Members of the group are expected to attend a conference in January and participate in a panel discussion "to showcase what we've done so that maybe other communities can benefit from what we've done," Sacco said.
Jennifer Reeger can be reached at jreeger@tribweb.com or 724-836-6155.