Education and training are key components to South Central Public Health District’s preparedness efforts. The Public Health Preparedness Program helps educate and train community partners to minimize death and disease in a public health emergency.
Training is provided by a variety of agencies, including Public Health staff, community partners, and Idaho Office of Emergency Management.
All SCPHD exercises are tied to the mission of the District, and are planned, executed, and evaluated using the Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program methods.
These plans are the framework guiding our efforts to prepare for public health emergencies. The plans direct SCPHD’s response to any hazards that threaten public health. Our preparedness and response capabilities are designed to work alongside first response agencies and other emergency organizations in south-central Idaho.
Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) – The SNS is a stockpile of emergency medication and medical supplies that can be delivered in the event of a major public health emergency. The stockpile is available only after local resources have become exhausted. At a minimum, supplies could be delivered to a designated area within 12 hours, but sending these resources requires coordination and paperwork from the local and state level. We help our communities practice requesting, recieving, and distributing SNS resources so that the process can go as smoothly as possible in a real emergency.
If one of our communities requests and receives SNS supplies, SCPHD will distribute the medications to residents at Points of Dispensing (PODS) sites.