Health Department

Emergency Preparedness

Rock Island County Health Department is continually expanding and updating our emergency plan to cover a variety of possible emergency situations and guidelines for response.  We frequently meet with our key partners and stakeholders within the community to share plans and to ensure integration with their own agency emergency plans.   RICHD writes a quarterly newsletter to keep healthcare providers apprised of current public health issues.  To view the current newsletter, click here. These partners include local hospitals, fire, police, county officials, and the Illinois Emergency Management Agency, just to name a few.

For a biological attack our role would be quite demanding.  If there was a release of a biological agent such as Anthrax or Smallpox, the Rock Island County Health Department would be responsible to medicate or vaccinate all the residents of Rock Island County (almost 150,000 people).  This is the focus of much of our planning and has led to the creation of a local Medical Reserve Corps unit (MRC).  Click here for more information on the Rock Island County MRC. Our plans include disease surveillance, investigation and epidemiology, requesting additional supplies (the Strategic National Stockpile from the CDC in Atlanta) through our local Emergency Service Disaster Agency (ESDA), securing sites for shipment of the supplies as well as sites within the county to hold mass clinics. For information about emergency medication dispensing sites, click here.   Last January we held a mass antibiotic dispensing drill at the Mark of the Quad Cities to test our ability to utilize the entire health department staff and simulate how many people we could service in a given time period.  This exercise gave us much valuable information, which we use to continually improve our plan to be as efficient as possible.  We also continue to participate locally and regionally in tabletop exercises and functional drills to increase our knowledge and strengthen relationships with those key community partners. 

Rock Island County Health Department advocates that citizens also prepare at home for emergency situations.  It is recommended that individuals prepare to be self sufficient for at least 3 days during a disaster.  For instance, during a natural disaster power may be out and crews may need to clear debris before rescue workers would be able to get through to damaged areas.  Creating a home emergency supply kit will ensure your family has enough supplies for that period of time before additional help arrives. Click here for a printable emergency supply checklist. 

The definition of "emergency" may at times expand to include a heightened response to the prevention and control of communicable diseases. When a local disease outbreak occurs such as the Pertussis outbreak in the fall of 2004, the Rock Island County Health Department plays a leadership role in communicating with the public, health care providers and others. Public Health acts as a liaison to provide information on the disease, prevention and control measures, updates on occurrence etc. If an outbreak is the result of a food borne illness, the Health Department's environmental health practitioners are involved in investigation and control because of their expertise in food sanitation and their role in the inspection and licensing of food service establishments.  An influenza pandemic would have implications for our entire community, therefore Rock Island County Health Department works in collaboration with other area agencies to determine strategies for a public health response.  Rock Island County co-hosted a Bi-State Pandemic Influenza Seminar with community partners from Rock Island and Scott Counties which was held on November 27, 2006 in Bettendorf.  Presentations from the seminar can be accessed by clicking the links below.

Dr. Louis Katz- "Pandemic Influenza 101"

Dr. William Candler- "Pandemic Influenza in the Workplace"