Emergency Preparedness Division
The Emergency Preparedness (EP) Division plans, trains, and collaborates, so that residents and visitors within the 45 jurisdictions of Hamilton County can prepare for, respond to, and recover from catastrophic incidents. Through preparedness efforts, strong partnerships, and effective plans, EP works to ensure community resiliency and personal safety.
Hamilton County Public Health (HCPH) is the primary agency responsible for protecting the public’s health in the event of a widespread public health emergency. A public health emergency can be anything from a catastrophic weather event to an intentional event that poses a high risk of fatalities or serious long-term impacts to our population.
The EP Division builds and maintains plans, standard operating guides, and supporting documents that guide preparedness, mitigation, and response activities. The EP Division actively engages our employees, volunteers, and other support partners in training through classroom sessions, drills, and exercises to help plan and prepare for public health emergencies.
The emergency response plan is the health department’s basic plan for response to disasters of all types. View the Emergency Response Plan here. Feedback about this plan can be sent to Christa Hyson, Emergency Preparedness Director.
What We Do:
- Prepare: In addition to training, we participate in the development of key planning documents with local, state, and federal partners to mitigate harm.
- Mitigate: Coordinate with local agencies, coalitions, and committees to reduce harm from potential disasters and emergencies, across Southwest Ohio and Greater Cincinnati.
- Respond: Manage the dispensing and distribution of medicine and medical supplies during a public health emergency.
- Recover: Evaluate local responses to improve future responses and increase community resiliency.
Get Involved:
The Southwest Ohio MRC is seeking medical and non-medical volunteers to assist with improving the public health and resiliency in their communities as well as with emergency preparedness efforts! MRC volunteers may be needed to assist public health response and recovery efforts during a public health emergency. Click here to sign up. If you’d like to learn more about the national Medical Reserve Corps Program, please visit the ASPR MRC website.
Learn more about Emergency Preparedness:
Local Resources:
- Hamilton County Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency
Authorized by Ohio Revised Code to coordinate and administer countywide all-hazards emergency management and disaster preparedness functions for Hamilton County and its political subdivisions. - Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC)
LEPC promotes a working relationship among government at all levels, business and community leaders, environmental and other public interest organizations, and individual citizens to improve hazard communication and emergency planning. - Alert Hamilton County and Smart911
Alert Hamilton County (Alert HC) is a mass notification system used to notify residents about emergencies and other important information throughout Hamilton County. When registering for Alert HC, users can also create a Smart911 profile, allowing first responders to have quicker access to important information in case of an emergency. - Ohio Responds Volunteer Registry
State of Ohio’s online system for managing public health and healthcare professionals who wish to volunteer during disasters and all-hazard incidents.
National Resources:
- Ready.Gov and FEMA.Gov
Resources on everything from building an emergency kit to keeping safe during a tornado or flood. - Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEAs)
WEAs are short emergency messages from authorized federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial public alerting authorities that can be broadcast from cell towers to any WEA‐enabled mobile device in a locally targeted area. - Youth Preparedness Programs
Educational resources, worksheets, and interactive preparedness tools for kids. - Free Preparedness Publications from FEMA
Shipped directly to you, free of charge. - Disaster Training Course
The American Red Cross provides FREE disaster training for all volunteers. Trainings are both online and in-person depending on the course. To find out more about these training opportunities please contact your local Red Cross office.
