Discussion: View Thread

Check out our new blog post here , where we discuss the importance of preparedness planners collaborating with environmental health professionals to prepare for and respond to a chemical incident in their jurisdiction.   

Question: How does your LHD ensure coordination between public health and environmental health during chemical emergencies? 

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Sarah Callahan MSPH
Program Analyst - Preparedness
National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO)
Washington DC
(954)203-8734
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In my neck of the woods, PH and EH are different dept's under the same Agency, so coordination between the two happens from the top down.  What I would like to pose tot he group is how do we take advanatage (in a good way) of EH's knowledge in Haz-Mat and use it to imporve Hospital Response to an incident?   

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Chad Cossey MS Emergency Management
Program Supervisor II
Orange County Health Care Agency
Santa Ana CA
(657)767-4365
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Good point, Chad! We all know that just because a department is in the same organization as another department doesn't mean there's a whole lot of coordination. but that can be addressed by good leadership!  Sometimes we just need to reach out to our brother (or sister) department and lay the groundwork for coordination.

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David Reddick BS, CBCP
Chief Strategy Officer and Co-Founder
Bio-Defense Network
Kirkwood MO
(314)574-4811
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Original Message:
Sent: 05-19-2025 04:05 PM
From: Chad Cossey
Subject: Bridging Public Health and Environmental Health for Chemical Preparedness

In my neck of the woods, PH and EH are different dept's under the same Agency, so coordination between the two happens from the top down.  What I would like to pose tot he group is how do we take advanatage (in a good way) of EH's knowledge in Haz-Mat and use it to imporve Hospital Response to an incident?   

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Chad Cossey MS Emergency Management
Program Supervisor II
Orange County Health Care Agency
Santa Ana CA
(657)767-4365
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Our agency's Emergency Preparedness Division works closely with our Environmental Health Division and all other agency divisions to ensure a coordinated response during a chemical emergency. As with any public health emergency, our health department would hold a Situational Update meeting via Microsoft Teams, involving senior management, the Public Information Officer, and all Division Directors and Supervisors. This meeting would provide a comprehensive update on the incident and clarify public health's role and each Division's roles and responsibilities in the response.

We would also have meetings with our county EMA, state EPA, and U.S. EPA partners to determine how public information, response actions, air monitoring, air/water sampling, and, if necessary, environmental remediation actions will be coordinated.

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John Sherrard Civil Engineer
Emergency Response Coordinator
Hamilton County Public Health
Cincinnati OH
(513)703-3092
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