Emergency Planning

Public Health Emergency Preparedness (PHEP) Grant Program

The Public Health Emergency Preparedness (PHEP) Grant Program of the Ross County Health District focuses on planning and preparing for the response to public health emergencies in Ross County and the surrounding region. The activities of this program stress the importance of working with local and regional public service agencies to provide help to one another in assuring the health of communities, especially when disaster strikes.   

Since the events of September 11, 2001, and the Anthrax scares of October 2001, there has been a great deal of attention on public health’s role in emergency response, particularly in relation to Weapons of Mass Destruction, or WMD. WMD include biological, chemical, or nuclear threats. Preparedness activities for WMD threats differ from natural events such as hurricanes, flooding, etc. People affected by a biological agent may take days to develop symptoms and seek medical care; a large geographic area may be affected, or persons may travel long distances and unwittingly infect others. Developing appropriate public health responses has been on the agenda at the national, state, and local levels.

The terrorist attacks of 2001 raised our awareness of the need to be prepared for any event that could threaten the health and well-being of the citizens of Ross County. As our concern for your safety increases, so does our preparedness. Linked with county, regional, state, and national resources, the Ross County Health District receives up-to-date information on any biological or communicable disease occurrence that could affect the citizens of Ross County.