CHILLICOTHE, Ohio — The Ross County Health District completed a public health emergency preparedness exercise Tuesday aimed at strengthening coordination during a biological incident.
The exercise, conducted as part of a Public Health Emergency Preparedness deliverable, brought together health district staff and a long-term care partner to review roles, communication, and response procedures during an emergency. The training used a game-style format to test existing plans and identify areas for improvement.
“The specific capabilities tested during the game included community preparedness, emergency operation coordination, medical countermeasure dispensing, public health surveillance and epidemiological investigation, and volunteer management,” said Chris Carver, the district’s Registered Environmental Health Specialist and Public Health Emergency Preparedness coordinator, who facilitated the exercise.
Participating staff included Health Commissioner Janelle McManis, Environmental Health Director Kelly Spindler, Public Health Nursing Director Morgan Kelley, Health Promotion and Quality Improvement Director Liberty Merriman, and Carver.
Health Commissioner Janelle McManis said the exercise helped build shared understanding with healthcare partners.
“This exercise was an important opportunity for us to sit down with a long-term care partner and build shared understanding around how we would handle a biological incident,” McManis said. “By focusing on general preparedness concepts like roles, communication, and decision-making, we were able to strengthen our overall planning so we can respond quickly and effectively when our community needs us.”
Officials said a post-exercise discussion focused on action steps to strengthen emergency plans, staff training, and coordination with healthcare and community partners.