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John Erickson: Program prepares public health for new emergencies

John Erickson with his emergency preparedness kit - the tools of his trade.

Although John Erickson works with agencies all over the state to prepare for public health emergencies, he says what individuals do to prepare is just as important. “If people are ready with emergency kits and plans at home and work, we will be much more capable of getting through whatever situation arises,” he explains.

John began his public health career by working on radiation protection issues for 20 years both in the field and as director of the department’s Office of Radiation Protection. He was chosen to head the department’s Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response (PHEPR) program when it was created following the 9/11 attacks. The kinds of situations he is concerned with as director of the PHEPR program are outbreaks of infectious diseases such as the flu, SARS, and West Nile virus, and terrorist attacks using biological agents, chemicals or radiation.

Regardless of the source of an outbreak, public health needs to be prepared to do certain things including: quickly identifying patterns of disease in humans and animals, distributing emergency medicines and vaccines to large numbers of people, quarantining people if necessary, and providing essential information to the public.

The PHEPR program works to ensure a coordinated response between hospitals, emergency responders, law enforcement, local health agencies and other partners. It takes a lot of planning and coordination, a lot of training and a lot of practice to be truly prepared, but Erickson says we’re making great progress.

“Thinking of ourselves as first responders working along side of firefighters, law enforcement and emergency medical technicians is a big adjustment for public health,” John says, “but we are all learning to work together, and that will be essential to our success.”

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