On June 22-23, 2016 CUSEC participated in the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) and Illinois Public Health Association (IPHA) 2016 Integrated Public Health and Healthcare System Preparedness Summit. The summit was held in Schaumburg, Illinois with more than 650 public health and healthcare professionals attending. The focus of the summit was improving public health preparedness, response, and recovery to disasters in Illinois.
With funding support from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and Motorola Solutions Foundation, CUSEC presented in several sessions during the summit. During the opening plenary session, CUSEC gave an overview of central U.S. earthquake hazards, potential impacts from a New Madrid Seismic Zone earthquake, and lessons learned from past earthquakes such as the 2011 Christchurch, New Zealand earthquake. On the afternoon of June 22, CUSEC led a breakout session on earthquake mitigation and safety for hospital and healthcare facilities, including ways to identify and reduce losses from future earthquakes according to FEMA’s Incremental Seismic Rehabilitation of Hospitals methodology. We also participated in a breakout session with the Illinois Emergency Management Agency (IEMA) Earthquake Program Manager, Jason Williams, on integrated response and recovery following an earthquake or other disaster.
CUSEC would like to thank IDPH and IPHA for inviting us to participate in the conference, which drew near-record participation from public health and healthcare system professionals across Illinois.
