By Lori EhdeAn important part of any county emergency management plan is a community’s ability to respond to public health emergencies.That’s why Nobles-Rock Public Health hosted a planning meeting last week to put the region in a better position to deal with a health emergency scenario such as a SARS outbreak.The purpose of the seminar was to connect affected agencies and outline potential steps to follow should a public health emergency occur."A lot of it is knowing who to call," said Public Health Director Bonnie Frederickson. "From a readiness perspective, we know our staff isn’t that big. We have made the decision to build a regional response team."She said an infectious disease like SARS could be worse than a natural disaster like a flood or tornado, because the casualties continue indefinitely."It could drain the capacity of one community in a hurry," Frederickson said. "That’s why we need to look collectively at what we can do in a situation like that."She said key discussion hinged on communication within the communities and across state borders. This included the critical care centers in Sioux Falls, South Dakota Emergency Management and local public health agencies in Iowa.Along those same lines, the seminar stressed the importance of partnerships among agencies within communities. For example, schools, counties, hospitals, media and others need to know what their roles might be in an emergency.Frederickson said attendees also learned about state and federal resources to draw on in an emergency and about how public health emergencies fall under the county emergency management system.Rock County Emergency Management Director Kyle Oldre attended the meeting, along with about 60 other representatives from communities in Rock and Nobles counties."People learned a little more about the disease and learned a little more about what their responsibilities and capabilities are," Oldre said."I think it made them go back and think about what their capabilities are, and ask, ‘Are we capable of meeting a disaster of this kind?’"He said the SARS scenario was a good way to test local emergency response. "I thought it was very good training. … We may not have SARS, but you can apply the same principles," he said. "If you know you can handle 15 casualties at the same time, it doesn’t matter if its Influenza A, or SARS or what it is. The same principals can be applied."Public Health Nurse Diane Boyenga is the response coordinator for Nobles Rock Public Health should a public health emergency occur in Rock County. The agency has developed a public health annex that would guide the response.She said that boils down to making sure everyone’s on the same page in a disaster."The big challenge is knowing what each of us is doing and being able to blend," Boyenga said. "Communicating and working together is key."She said the meeting didn’t necessarily prepare the region for a disaster, but it’s a good start."This is a monumental task when you’re trying to prepare for the unknown," Boyenga said. "We’ve got a long way to go, but the wheels of thought are in process."Frederickson said the seminar helped fulfill requirements for a federal public health preparedness grant Nobles Rock Public Health received from the Minnesota Department of Health and the Centers for Disease Control."The day was certainly full of good discussion," Frederickson said. "I think we know our partners, but there’s a lot more we can do with training and building relationships."A "table top" exercise to test a regional response to an infectious disease is planned for Feb. 11 in Worthington, followed by a functional drill scheduled in March and a full-scale regional drill in April.
