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Preparedness

Florida Department of Health in Levy County

We Are Ready!

The Florida Department of Health in Levy County (DOH-Levy) Public Health Preparedness program is READY. After a year long community wide effort in 2010-2011, the National Project Public Health Ready certificate was awarded.

Each of the three PPHR project goals: all-hazards preparedness planning, workforce capacity development and demonstration of readiness through exercises or real events, has a comprehensive list of standards that must be met in order to achieve PPHR recognition.

The 'preparedness cycle' is one element of a broader National Preparedness System. Levy County uses this continuous cycle to ensure readiness. Our goal is to ensure DOH Levy and healthcare partners are prepared for, can respond to, and recover from a bioterrorism event, outbreak of infectious disease or other public health emergency.

Our Partners

Levy County Healthcare professionals and facilities are critical partners in a disaster to meet the needs of those injured or ill.

Levy County Emergency Management becomes the critical coordination point in a county wide disaster to activate an Emergency Operation Center. DOH-Levy takes the lead in Health and Medical Response under Emergency Support Function 8 at the Levy County Emergency Management.

Levy County School Boardsupports the county by providing shelter to people needing to evacuate during an emergency. DOH-Levy provides nursing staff for a Special Needs Shelter. A registration form for space in this shelter is found on the Levy County Emergency Management registration form page

The Levy County Medical Reserve Corp (MRC) supports the Public Health and Healthcare preparedness system. The MRC develops and maintains a pool of local pre-identified medical and non medical volunteers to augment the staff of the health department in emergency medical operations and vital public health activities.

Levy County is a rural area that relies on the cooperation of all businesses, citizens and resources within the county to respond to an emergency. This has been demonstrated time after time when the community pulls together to "get things done".

  • Planning
  • Organizing
  • Training and Equipping
  • Exercising
  • Evaluate and Improve

To develop your Family Disaster plan visit the Florida Division of Emergency Management.  If you need to evacuate, what should you bring to a shelter? Use our Shelter Checklist. DOH-Levy is Ready! We have very complete plans that compliment the Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan of Levy County.

DOH-Levy's main plan, the All Hazards Emergency Operations Plan, has twelve annexes that cover these topics:

  • Continuity of Operations with Emergency Call Down List
  • Special Needs Shelter
  • Strategic National Stockpile/Mass Prophylaxis and Immunization
  • Pandemic Flu
  • Communications
  • Epidemiology and Outbreak Response
  • Mass Fatality Management
  • Behavioral Health
  • Mass Patient Care/Alternate Treatment Site
  • Environmental Health All Hazards
  • Social Distancing, Isolation, and Quarantine
  • Multi Year Training and Exercise Plan

ICS: DOH-Levy uses the Incident Command System

EOC: The Emergency Operations Center is the place where all the county emergency support functions are coordinated.

DOH-Levy has a baseline of training in Emergency Response for all staff. As part of the employee orientation, each new employee takes these preparedness courses:

DOH-Levy participates in county wide exercises often organized through the Levy Emergency Mangers Office.

For more information, contact 352-486-5300.

Past Exercises:

  • October 18, 2007 - Levy County State Homeland Security Tabletop Exercise
  • May 28, 2009 - Levy County EOC Tabletop Exercise
  • May 11, 2010 - Levy County Tabletop Exercise
  • April 19, 2011 - Florida Department of Health in Levy County Strategic National Stockpile Tabletop

All exercises meet the standards established by the Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program (HSEEP). This assures that each exercise provides clear direction for improvement based on the lessons learned. In addition, any real event is evaluated to identify what areas are done well and where improvements can be made.