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Public
Health Preparedness
Public Health Departments play critical roles in health disasters.
Examples of the roles they play include the following:
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Facilitating Health Disaster Response Planning in communities (in
partnership with emergency management agencies)
Detecting and tracking diseases
Investigating outbreaks
Testing laboratory specimens to identify or confirm the cause of
disease
Accessing and administering medications or vaccines to prevent
disease
Offering guidance to health care providers and facilities
Managing limited health resources for the public good
Providing health information to the public
Enhancing emergency preparedness and response skills of health care
providers, public health professionals, and others
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State Activities
The WV Bureau for Public Health has many efforts underway to enhance
preparedness and response to health threats and disasters. These include
development of the state Public Health Threat Response Plan, enhancement of
epidemiologic capacity (disease surveillance, outbreak investigation and
control), development of a Bio-safety Level 3 Public Health Laboratory capable
of more accurately and rapidly identifying select disease agents, development
of Rapid Notification and other Information Technology systems, enhancement of
risk communication skills, development of systems to better deliver training to
learners in the field, etc.
Local Health Department Activities
Each
Local Health Department is working within their community to enhance health
emergency preparedness and response capacity as well.
Each
local health department has appointed a LHD Threat Preparedness Coordinator. .
Local
Health Departments are also working together within Public Health Preparedness
Regions (also used as Regional Epidemiology Regions)
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