Cristin Corcoran, emergency preparedness coordinator with Public Health, created a template of a plan that can help communities identify, respond to and recover from public health crises.
“We think of this as a worst-case scenario biochemical attack,” she said of the basis for her template.
The award was given earlier this month by the National Association of County & City Health Officials.
“It was an award I was happy to pass along ... but it really does belong to Skagit County Public Health,” Corcoran said.
The plan deals primarily with partnering with the community to distribute medicine and supplies from the state and federal governments to first responders and vulnerable populations.
“The state gave us this medication, so how do we get it to the people?” Corcoran said.
She said grant opportunities for this kind of emergency planning are only available to much larger counties, despite the fact that this kind of biochemical emergency can happen anywhere.
By making her plan available to other jurisdictions, she said this will help communities with limited staff prepare.
Corcoran said her department partnered with the county Department of Emergency Management, the town of Hamilton and volunteers to run an exercise to test the plan in May.
— Reporter Brandon Stone: bstone@skagitpublishing.com, 360-416-2112, Twitter: @Brandon_SVH
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