After the Summit County Health Department received a disappointing score last year from the Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for its emergency preparedness plan, the department shifted its focus and this year logged one of the largest improvements in score the CDC had seen in conducting the tests

“The CDC was really impressed we managed to improve our score from 39 out of 100 last year to an 89 this year,” said Katie Mullaly, the Health Department’s emergency response coordinator.

The CDC scores health departments yearly on their disaster readiness, including their ability to manage a natural disaster, a disease outbreak or bioterrorism.

“There is a checklist of things that the CDC feels are important,” Mullaly said. “In years prior, we have had a solid emergency response plan, but it didn’t line up with the technical specifications the CDC wanted.”

Mullaly added that prior to the Health Department’s CDC inspection last year, the department was trying to respond to the H1N1 flu and did not have time to improve its plan.

“We were too busy and didn’t have time to fill in the blanks,” she said. “This year, we hired a part-time consultant to work on our emergency response plan and make sure all the details were taken care of. We had the time and support this year to create a great plan and have everyone go through training.”

The department’s preparedness plan isn’t just for catastrophic events, according to Summit County Councilor John Hanrahan, a physician who tracks the Health Departments success.

“We are much better equipped now for any crisis. Even if the H1N1 flu had gotten out of hand, this plan could have been put in place to administer vaccines and medicine. The bottom line is the entire health staff and the new Health Department director, Rich Bullough, did a great job of turning this around,” he said.

One of the best things to come out of the planning process was a better relationship between the health department, county officials and the schools Mullaly, said.

“We now have significantly better communication capabilities with the other agencies,” she said. “Everyone knows what the public health department can do and how we can support the other agencies in case of a crisis. If Summit County experiences bad flooding, now the other departments know that we can monitor the drinking water and administer Tetanus shots.”

Mullaly said the CDC checklist gave the Health Department staff great training and the department is hoping to improve its score to a 95 or 97 next year.