According to a survey conducted by the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC) in 2001, 40% of al health centers in the nation did not have a disaster readiness plan in place; 90% of health centers were not adequately linked to a public health information network and many health centers lacked financial resources for drugs and supplies, appropriate training for their staff, and appropriate systems to respond to an emergency of any kind.

The same year, the Bureau of Primary Health Care commended all health centers to be “part of a community-wide response in an emergency situation” and have basic emergency preparedness plans integrated to local and regional plans.

In November 2004 through an agreement with the Office of Public Health Preparedness with KDHE, KAMU started a three phase project with the development of a survey that evaluated the clinics internal capacity and resources and assessed their level of preparedness to deal with emergencies including bioterrorism threats The results of the survey showed that 71% of the health centers did not have a written response plan, 1 / 4 of the clinics had integrated their planning efforts at the local level, and only two clinics had access to the Kansas Alert Network. The second phase started in 2005 with the development of the clinics emergency response plans. Sixty eight per cent of the clinics developed their emergency response plan.

The third phase will consist of addressing the gaps identified both in the survey and response plans by:

1) Providing training to clinicians in recognition and reporting of and response  to diseases of public health significance

2)  Acquiring basic personal protective equipment and providing training in its use

3) Conducting an in depth assessment of information systems in the clinics

4) Promoting coordination and adoption of the clinics response plan among other entities in the community (hospitals, local health departments)

5) Promoting registration to and use of PHIX (KDHE health alert network) among the clinics

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