This book is intended to be a compliment to the class by the same title taught at Boise State University, College of Health Sciences, School of Public and Population Health.
During these times when the local Public Health Departments are in the news because of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is important to understand how exactly a local public health unit responds in an emergency situation. It is true that during this time the local public health departments, state public health and national public health have been in the spotlight. However, public health has always been involved in responding to emergencies such as floods, hurricanes, earth quakes, tsunami’s and other natural and man made disasters. There is always a public health component to a disaster response and most often it is one of the some 3300 local health departments that is responding to protect the health and welfare of the citizens of their community.
In this course we will look at a variety of the aspects involved in the response to an emergency by public health and some of the agencies that are all around us that are there to support the response by the local health departments.
Understanding the basics of how this response happens is very important to not only your safety during an emergency but also to the safety and health of those in your community.
Additionally, if you are involved in an industry or organization that is not health related the principles of emergency response equally apply to that industry and it is just as important for you to know the basics that will be shared with you in this class.
The following is a description of the course from the catalog:
DESCRIPTION: Survey of the legal basis for public health agencies to respond to public health threats to their community and to emergencies. Learn the Incident Command System that is the basis for emergency response nationally and internationally through the use of a group tabletop exercise. Other topics to be covered include communication during times of an emergency, developing press releases, managing volunteers, assuring staff safety and health, working with community partners, developing mutual aid agreements, evaluation of the effectiveness of messaging, and the development of public health preparedness plans. Students will earn Six FEMA certificates in emergency management during the course.
Credits for cover photos:
Incident Command Structure – http://www.training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/IS/ICSResource/assets/reviewMaterials.pdf
Katrina Hurricane New Orleans 2005 – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hurricane_Katrina_Flooding.jpg
Elk River Chemical Spill 2014 – http://www.defenseimagery.mil/imageRetrieve.action?guid=77ac790ef9d177d82351005af877dc19cb94b3de&t=2
Wild Land Fire Smoke – http://www.publicdomainfiles.com/show_file.php?id=13933885818900
Japan Tsunami 2011 – https://flickr.com/photos/dugspr/5560110232
