Emergency Preparedness and Bioterrorism Program

The Emergency Preparedness and Bioterrorism Program provides citizens of Ford and Iroquois counties with a plan ensuring comprehensive emergency preparedness and response to any overt threat, whether natural or man-made. Emergency preparedness includes identifying the crisis at hand, implementing plans, providing education and media information as appropriate and pertinent to the event, plus providing appropriate treatment in a timely manner, if available.

In the event of a bioterrorism attack, a plan for the distribution of strategic national stockpile medication dispensing has also been completed. The purpose is to establish policies, procedures and guidelines for the dispensing of mass medications and/or vaccinations to the residents of Ford and Iroquois counties and to anyone who may be traveling through the two counties in the event of a bioterrorist attack, diseases outbreak, or other natural or man-made disaster. The overall responsibility for the plan is with the Ford-Iroquois Public Health Department. In order to respond to an actual event in initiating this Plan, coordination and support of multiple agencies and community partners will be necessary.

The Community and School Health Division works closely with the Hazardous Materials Emergency Preparedness (HMEP) Planning Grant Program through the Illinois Emergency Managment Agency (IEMA). The program objectives are to:
-Support the Local Emergency Planning Committees (LEPCs)
-Enhance hazardous chemical emergency plans
-Determine flow patterns of hazardous materials
-Conduct emergency response drills and exercises of the hazardous chemical emergency plans
-Assess local response capabilities
-Hazard analysis
-Community awareness and public education

The Community and School Health Division is involved with notifying first-response communities by using the State of Illinois Rapid Electronic Notification (SIREN) warning system. The SIREN system allows all community entities in both counties to be notified simultaneously of any alerts that may arise. SIREN cuts the response time dramatically for our local agencies to respond to natural or man-made disasters.