2007 - Alabama Department of Public Health

center for emergency preparedness
water food can opener
medications
first aid
flashlight
radio
clothes
personal care items Important Documents
The Center for Emergency Preparedness worked with the Communications and Health Marketing Division to create a Get 10 campaign to help people learn about ten important
items to have in an emergency.
• 2 Strategic National Stockpile distribution
exercises;
• Advanced HAZMAT training with 61 in attendance;
35 of the attendees became instructors;
• 4 Volunteer symposiums;
• Collaborated with the Department of Human
Resources to host the Safe and Sound II Pediatric
Conference; and
• The Alabama Incident Management System
(AIMS) software was expanded to allow enhanced
communication between health care organizations
requesting assistance with patient transfers and
sharing staff and equipment. The department, the
Alabama Hospital Association, and the Alabama
Nursing Home Association partner to staff a
medical transfer center during mass casualty
disasters. In addition to hospitals, AIMS includes
nursing homes, medical needs shelters, community
health centers, and ambulances.
• Hosted the third Agricultural Security Conference
with 277 in attendance.
The Health Resources and Services Administration’s
Hospital Bioterrorism Preparedness Program provided
$7,154,927 in a cooperative agreement with the
department. These funds were designated to enhance
hospital capacity and preparedness to respond to large
numbers of patients presenting to hospitals following a
naturally occurring disaster or terrorist action resulting
in mass casualties.
Specific activities that concentrated on the assessment
of health care partners to determine the overall state of
readiness included:
• An annual hospital mass casualty assessment to
gauge the improved state of readiness of hospitals
to respond to local and regional emergencies.
Information gained was used to determine funding
for the purchase of seven mobile medical stations.
• Portable high-efficiency particulate air filtration
units were purchased to increase the negative
pressure isolation capacity of hospitals across the
state. These units will allow the health centers to
set up a negative pressure isolation environment to
offload patient care from local hospitals.
• Conversion kits were purchased to allow up to 100
buses to be converted to transport patients during
an emergency evacuation.
Additional activities included:
• Monthly reporting and quarterly tracing and
reporting of emergency preparedness team activities
for CDC and HRSA grant projects
• Enhancement of a call center database to be used
in emergency events to help better track resource
requests from affected public areas
• Addition of radiation response teams in each public
health area
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