Healthy People in Healthy Communities
Emergency Preparedness
and
Incident Command System
November 2005 Disease Exercise of ICP, EOCs, and Dispensing Operations
Major Contagious Disease Exercises (2005)
During August and November 2005, the Multnomah County Health Department (includes Portland, Oregon) with Emergency Management, law enforcement, schools, and other partners conducted a series of major exercises in response to a major contagious disease outbreak. This was aligned with Oregon Department of Human Services’ (DHS) State-Wide Exercise to distribute medicine from a Federal stockpile. The scenario outbreak was initiated by an earlier release of Pneumonic Plague (Yersinia pestis) at a large public event. Hospitals were overwhelmed with numerous cases and ‘worried well.’ Response strategies included six Medical Care Points to ‘protect’ hospitals, isolation/quarantine measures, 30 mass medicine dispensing clinics, and operations requiring over 3,000 people per shift.
Exercise events were:
- A TableTop exercise on August 16, 2005, to brief City and County executives on the developing emergency, seek major resource commitments, and develop overall response organization relationships;
- Incident Command Post (ICP) and Emergency Operation Centers (EOC) exercises on November 1, 2005 that spanned an 8 hour Planning Cycle working toward an Incident Action Plan; and
- Two medicine dispensing operations (clinics) on November 2, 2005 at Benson Polytechnic High School and Portland State University
Links:
- Peer-Reviewed Public Health Reports Paper on Benson High School Operation (posted with permission)
- Scenario Book
- Incident Action Plan (excepts) for Operational Period of the ICP/EOC Exercise
- Objectives for next Operational Period (being planned for during the ICP/EOC exercise)
- Controller/Evaluator Handbook
- After Action Report
- Benson High School medicine dispensing clinic time lapse video
- Portland State University medicine dispensing clinic time lapse video
- Video Documentary of 2 Mass Medication Dispensing Exercises (~45 MB)
- Tab B Mass Prophylaxis of Regional Public Health Emergency Response Plan
- Chapter 2 Response Operations of Regional Public Health Emergency Response Plan
- Evaluation of BTX05 Command Post Operations on 11/1/05
Programs and Aids
The Push Partner Registry
supports organizations and large businesses willing to operate a PRIVATE dispensing site for employees, their families, and their clients (in the case of at-risk, or special needs, service providers).
The Voluntary Emergency Registry is a list of persons who need help evacuating their home during an emergency, or who would be unable to evacuate without special notification from emergency response personnel. The registry also includes people who would be unable to remain at home without assistance following a disaster. Information in this list will be provided to the Bureau of Emergency Communications (911) and other emergency response personnel from the City of Portland and Gresham and Multnomah County.
The Health Reserve Corps (HRC) is a voluntary unit, made up of local licensed health care professionals who will be called upon to assist in the response to large-scale heath or medical emergencies.
More information >>
The Pocket Guide to Emergency Preparedness
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Page updated March 06, 2008