Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 6
The Role of the Public
Health Official
Michael J. Fagel
Contents
What Is the Incident? ........................................................................................132
When Can the PHO Help? ...............................................................................132
Who Is Involved? ..............................................................................................132
Your Training Plan in Action .............................................................................133
What Is the Incident?....................................................................................133
Storm Aftermath Response.......................................................................133
Natural Disaster Response........................................................................133
Nonnatural Disaster Response (Nonterrorist)...........................................134
Terrorist Attack ........................................................................................134
When Can the PHO Help? ..........................................................................137
Who Is Involved? ..........................................................................................139
Your Training Plan in Action ........................................................................141
The Emergency Management cycle is just as important to the Public Health Official
(PHO) as it is to any other person or agency that has a role in dealing with incident
response. It is only through planning and training, under the preparedness portion
of the cycle, that PHOs will know how to adequately respond to a major incident
that is clearly beyond the scope of a routine emergency. A PHO is not going to be
involved in a routine emergency. These are almost always best handled by local fire,
police, and EMS resources on a daily basis.
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