On September 1, 2002, the Erie County Department of Health established the Office of Public Health Preparedness with funds from the Pennsylvania Department of Health. The Office of Public Health Preparedness will enhance our capacity to detect and respond to biological attacks, infectious disease outbreaks and other public health threats and emergencies.

Preparedness, Planning and Assessment

We will assess the public health system's capacity to respond to bioterrorism, infectious disease outbreaks and public health threats and emercencies. Based on the assessment, we will prepare for a public health emercency reponse plan for the detection and respond to such events. In addition, we will develop a plan to manage the National Pharmaceutical Stockpile (NPS) and a smallpox pre-event/post event plan for Erie County.

Surveillance and Epidemiology Capacity

Because we do not know what new diseases will arise, we must always be alert and prepared to address and respond to any new infectious diseases.

ECDH will provide guidance in the area of infectious disease surveillance, investigations and interventions utilizing public health principles and Epidemiological methodologies to health care personnel and the community.

Public Health Surveillance Data Systems procedures will be upgraded to improve our ability to detect and respond to infectious disease outbreaks, bioterrorism events, and other public health threats and emergencies.

We will also implement a training network to strengthen the skills and knowledge of the public health and community workforce to detect and respond to public health threats and emergencies.

This information is distributed by Erie County Department of Health, 606 W. 2nd Street, Erie, PA 16507, 814-451-6700, www.ecdh.org