(Santa Ana) - The Orange County Health Care Agency has been recognized by Project Public Health Ready for its preparations to respond to public health emergencies such as bioterrorism events, epidemics or natural disasters.

The Project Public Health Ready designation was awarded to Eric G. Handler, M.D., M.P.H, Orange County Health Officer, on July 12 during a recognition ceremony at the 2007 National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) Conference in Columbus, Ohio. Project Public Health Ready is a joint program of NACCHO and the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Achievement of Project Public Health Ready status demonstrates excellence in three areas: emergency preparedness planning, staff training, and conducting emergency exercises. To be recognized, each applicant must meet all three of the national Project Public Health Ready criteria.

“The achievement of Project Public Health Ready recognition is the result of the hard work of each member of our Health Care Agency staff,” said Dr. Handler. “Preparing to respond to disasters and emergencies is a continuing process and we will continue working to improve our capabilities to respond to public health needs during a disaster. We also hope that every household and business in Orange County will do its part, starting with having its own emergency supply kit and emergency plan.”

To achieve Project Public Health Ready status, over 2,600 Health Care Agency employees were trained on emergency incident management and disaster response roles. In addition, almost 700 Public Health employees were certified through a Columbia University program as meeting basic Public Health emergency response competencies. Staff also participated in emergency exercises such as the Points of Distribution (POD) exercise in November 2006 during which flu shots were administered to the public at Cal State Fullerton, Golden West College and Saddleback Church.

The Orange County Health Care Agency is one of 139 health departments in the United States and one of five health departments in California that have achieved Project Public Health Ready status during the three years of the project. There are approximately 2,850 local health departments in the U.S. For more information on Project Public Health Ready, including a complete listing of all recognized sites, visit www.naccho.org/topics/emergency/pphr.cfm.

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