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Planning, Training & Exercises

During an emergency such as a disease outbreak, natural disaster or intentional bioterrorist attack, CCDPH will continue to:

  • Conduct surveillance. The CCDPH Communicable Disease Control Unit is responsible for collecting disease data and monitoring the health status throughout suburban Cook County.
  • Implement disease prevention and control measures. Depending on the situation, CCDPH may employ mass dispensing as a response and/or exercise powers of quarantine and isolation.
  • Disseminate accurate and timely health information to key response entities and the public.

These activities would take place at a more rapid pace with CCDPH using all available local, state and federal resources to minimize the spread of disease.

Planning

CCDPH is working to develop an All-Hazards Response Plan, to ensure plans are adaptable to the emergencies or disasters posing the greatest risk. This type of plan is crucial for a coordinated response and reduces confusion by having a consistent set of core responses within the agency. The following are examples of specific types of plans within the All-Hazards Response Plan:

  • Bio-Hazard Detection System Plan. Since anthrax was disseminated through the mail, the United States Postal Service has taken steps to guarantee the safety of its employees. Every postal and distribution facility has installed a Bio-Hazard Detection System (BDS) to analyze each piece of mail for Anthrax. Two of these facilities are located in suburban Cook County. The CCDPH, along with the Cook County Emergency Management Agency, Cook County Sheriff’s Police Department, and other local agencies, will all play a role in responding when the BDS alarm is triggered.
  • Pandemic Disease Plan. The Pandemic Disease Plan, which includes response to pandemic flu, incorporates many of public health’s core responses to any biological outbreak. Due to the contagious nature of pandemic diseases, implementation of disease control measures such as quarantine, isolation, and restriction of movement are vital to stopping or minimizing the spread of disease. (Additional information on pandemic flu will be forthcoming.)
  • Cook County Pharmaceutical Stockpile Distribution Plan. Adhering to guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Illinois Department of Public Health, CCDPH has written the Cook County Pharmaceutical Stockpile Distribution Plan outlining the process by which Cook County and its partners will request, acquire and dispense large amounts of post-exposure or prophylactic medications to the public in response to a biological outbreak.

    Given the geographical composition of suburban Cook County and limited resources, CCDPH has partnered with municipal first responders and community volunteer groups to staff and operate local Points of Dispensing (POD) sites --- places where the public will receive medications. As the municipal first responders’ primary resource for public health guidance and support for local planning efforts, CPCU has assigned Emergency Response Coordinators (ERC) to the North, West, Southwest and South regions of suburban Cook County. Each ERC provides technical assistance to local planning teams in developing their respective local POD plan. In partnership with CPCU, these planning teams are the local experts in setting-up, activating, and operating their POD.
  • Mass Vaccination Plan. The primary goal of the CCDPH Mass Vaccination plan is to provide vaccinations to suburban Cook County residents as is necessary in order to mitigate the potential impacts of infectious biological agents. This plan also serves to minimize the spread of naturally occurring communicable diseases through the use of mass immunization in a timely, safe, and efficient manner.

Training & Exercises

The CCDPH and its partners annually test, practice, and train on plans in order to prepare and improve our response. The agency’s first exercise took place in the Spring of 2003, in which CCDPH prepared for and participated in the nation’s largest terrorist exercise, Top Officials 2, or TOPOFF 2. TOPOFF required CCDPH to exercise its bioterrorism response and mass dispensing plan, developing and testing plans within approximately seven months time. CCDPH met its charge, bringing together leaders within the agency to train staff in incident command, respond to the media, develop a phone bank, and prophylax first responders and the public. Preparation for this exercise revealed that CCDPH with its large and diverse community-base could not meet the challenge of providing prophylactic medications to 2.3 million residents in a short amount of time with its limited staff. Since this time, CCDPH has made adjustments to the Cook County Pharmaceutical Stockpile Distribution and has coordinated exercises annually to test various components of the plan. Please visit www.cookcountyprepares.org for general information on CCDPH’s recent exercise in the north/northwest suburbs that occurred May 2008.