Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
your jurisdiction is not going to require the expertise of an epidemiologist. But you
can not discount the contribution that person could make in the event of the dis-
covery of a Avian Influenza case in your jurisdiction, or something more standard,
such as a disease outbreak of a malady that is well known, but that arrives on a large
scale. As another example, the PHO will probably have no need to call on supplies
from the SNS in the wake of a tornado, but there may be other disasters—ones that
are not necessarily biological or chemical related, but simply happen on a grand
scale—that could require that sort of contact.
On the next page is a list of possible contacts whom the PHO should have
constantly open lines of communication with, so that when an incident occurs, the
PHO, his/her staff, the Incident Commander, or other entities can more effectively
and efficiently coordinate the response by calling in all the necessary expertise.
Note that, if you are in the Public Health agency in an urban area, or cover a
large jurisdiction with a significant population, there may be even more agencies
and contacts that you need to have to cover the communications lines for all pos-
sible incidents. The contacts listed in Figure 6.4 are suitable for any jurisdiction, but
it is never unwise to add to it. The more prepared you are, the better.
Your Training Plan in Action
The final section of this chapter will carry you through the PHO's role in incident
response based on a possible scenario. This scenario will deal with Avian Influenza, and
the confirmation of cases in your jurisdiction. Your first thought may be to read on only
casually—after all, as of December 2005, this malady had not been reported as striking
a human in the United States, and the likelihood that it would seems very small.
But in emergency management, this is exactly where the training process begins
instead of ends. The key to successful emergency management coordination is planning
for everything, to the point of having a Plan X when all other plans have failed because
of catastrophic conditions. Two cases of Avian Influenza, as you will see in this scenario,
do not instantly set of the kind of response effort you would have were a jetliner to
crash in a densely populated residential neighborhood, such as what occurred outside
New York City several years ago. However, the sequence of events and contacts that the
PHO must work on and with is similar and every bit as important.
One factor to consider in a Avian Influenza incident, or a similar type of disease
outbreak, is that the typical first responders will not necessarily be in play. Police,
fire, and EMS department personnel, who will be first to the scene in a transit acci-
dent, derailment, plane crash or explosion, will not be the first ones called in upon
the discovery of a Avian Influenza case in your jurisdiction. Instead, the scenario
would probably occur as described below.
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The PHO is likely to be first made aware of this situation once the first patient
who has been infected is in the hospital. There are several concerns that the
PHO must consider at this point.
