Local Preparation for Pandemic Flu

The Franklin County Board of Health and Columbus Public Health have worked with our partners at the Franklin County Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency to create a community-wide approach to planning and response for pandemic flu. In the event of a pandemic, the Franklin County Board of Health and Columbus Public Health would jointly lead the response effort.  Both departments work together daily and share one joint response plan.

Since April of 2006 the health departments have worked with over 50 additional agencies in the Central Ohio area to build a unified command system that involves every potential response agency from our area.  We have been meeting throughout the year and will continue to meet and build upon our planning efforts to insure that our community is as prepared as possible when a pandemic arrives.  We have been able to raise awareness about the impact of pandemic influenza on our community and to increase the understanding regarding responsibilities of all community partners. 

We continue to identify strengths and gaps and meet regularly to engage all partners to insure continued planning.  The networking and relationship building is key to our response success. 

For additional information on the community-wide unified command process please contact Mike Fielding, Director of the Office of Emergency Preparedness at Columbus Public Health at mjfielding@columbus.gov.

Central Ohio Public Information Network

Communication to the public through the media and our stakeholders is essential to a successful pandemic flu response.  The Franklin County Board of Health and Columbus Public Health have partnered with over 70 agencies to form the Central Ohio Public Information Network for Pandemic Flu (COPIN). The group has been meeting since April 2006 to plan and prepare for pandemic flu. The goal of COPIN is to jointly provide transparent public information about our community-wide response to pandemic influenza.  We will:

  • Inform the public about actions taken and actions they need to take
  • Create confidence in local response efforts
  • Speak with one consistent voice
  • Release accurate, complete and timely information as soon as possible

COPIN Members (as of August 2007)

      1. Health Departments
      2. Hospitals
      3. Police, Fire and Emergency Response Agencies
      4. Government Agencies
      5. Schools
      6. Media and Communication
      7. Transportation
      8. Other Partners

… and growing

The Health Intelligence Team (HIT)

The Health Intelligence Team (HIT) was established to provide credible and reliable resources from public health and the medical community in regards to data sources, data collection, data analysis and decision making during and after any health related event. The five main goals of the Health Intelligence Team are:

  • To develop planning assumptions for the top five public health threats
  • To determine the trigger ranges of actions for a major public health threat such as pandemic influenza
  • To develop command an specific health intelligence operating policy and procedures before, during and after an incident
  • To gather and analyze date, and provide health intelligence to the UCS and appropriate partners
  • To collect and review best practice guidelines around the world

The HIT was formed in May of 2007 through a community-wide collaboration initiated by Columbus Public Health, Franklin County Board of Health and the Central Ohio Trauma System (COTS).

Visit the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs web site to read Dr. Daniel Andrew Janies' testimony regarding his involvement with the Health Intelligence Team.

Health Info Translations

Health Info Translations is an online collaborative initiative to improve health education for limited English proficiency patients. The Disaster Preparedness section of their web site was created to better prepare our community members to deal with emergencies. This information is:

  • Easy to read
  • Translated into different languages with English (dual language)
  • Available free without copyright restrictions

This project is made possible by efforts from local agencies including: The Columbus Medical Association Foundation, The Central Ohio Trauma System, Columbus Public Health, Franklin County Board of Health, Mount Carmel Health, Ohio State University Medical Center and OhioHealth.

Additional Resources: