Preparing For Emergencies - Our Role

The Health Department has several jobs to do in public health incidents:

• Communicable Diseases Reporting and Tracking - Communicable diseases are diseases that can be passed from one person to person another, often called "contagious" diseases. The health department has an epidemiologist and communicable disease nurse who track illness and disease activity by gaining information from hospitals and physicians. The information is then entered into a database. The data is used to evaluate trends and patterns of illness and disease. The data is also used to try to identify the source, or identify ways to prevent more people from being exposed to the disease.
• Public Information - The Health Department will continue to communicate with the public through newspapers, radio and our website.
• Mass Prophylaxis - The Health Department will coordinate with hospitals, physicians, pharmacies and volunteers (MRC) to distribute medication or vaccine from the strategic national stockpile to prevent the spread of a disease.
• Isolation and Quarantine - The Health Department has legal authority to make recommendations regarding a communicable disease. Recommendations are based on the potential impact of a disease on our community. The health department will communicate recommendations to schools, churches, businesses, individuals, families and the community in general.
• Medical Reserve Corps - The Health Department will be responsible for coordinating mass prophylaxis if the need should arise. The Health Department does not have the personnel resources to handle this task alone. This is why we have an organization dedicated to coordinating volunteers in a public health emergency.