Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response > Regional Planner

Moira Howard, Regional Planner

The regional planner works with local public health agencies and other organizations in the San Luis Valley to prepare for emergencies. Some of the planner's responsibilities include working with community partners and helping communities complete a risk assessment to update local emergency plans. This year's focus is on developing a plan to address pandemic (wide-spread) influenza.

Additional information about pandemic influenza or bird flu can be found at:

Bird Flu

Planning areas of responsibility include:

• Call-down procedures are available in each county to notify and assemble public health staff on short notice to prepare or respond to public health emergencies
• Set-up and operate vaccination clinics or distribute oral medication in each county to protect citizens in each county against communicable disease outbreaks such as smallpox or anthrax
• Isolation and quarantine procedures during communicable disease outbreaks to reduce exposure to diseases and break the chain of infection
• Periodic testing of public health radio systems
• Work with local law enforcement to periodically test the telephone “Emergency Preparedness Network” to ensure emergency information is transmitted quickly to San Luis Valley citizens over telephone lines
• Facilitate volunteer recruitment for county public health agencies; volunteers will be critical to operating mass vaccination clinics or distribution of medical supplies
• Partnering and establishing working relationships with local, regional, and state emergency response agencies
• Insure methods and procedures for protecting special needs populations are part of vaccination or medication dispensing procedures are part of local public health emergency plans
• Coordinate receipt and distribution of medical supplies from the federal Strategic National Stockpile to county public health agencies during disease emergencies
• Periodic exercises to test emergency and contingency plans and procedures.

Last Modified: 2/27/06