Lancaster, Ohio PIOs Attend Training at CDP

Lancaster, OH, February 24, 2008 --(PR.com)-- Fairfield Medical Center Public Information Officer Donna Stalter, and Fairfield Department of Health Public Information Officer, Pamela Delay, recently completed Homeland Security training at the Center for Domestic Preparedness (CDP). Located in Anniston, Alabama, the CDP is operated by the United States Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency and is the only federally chartered Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) training facility in the nation.

The training that Donna and Pam received was a modified version of the Emergency Management Institute’s popular Advanced Public Information Officer course geared toward meeting the needs of a health-related emergency. It was targeted to public information officers from state and local health departments, hospitals, emergency management agencies, and other public health related services.

Donna Stalter is a Fairfield Medical Center public relations specialist and coordinates various outreach and promotional efforts aimed at building relationships, communication, and business between Fairfield Medical Center and the community as a whole. This training enabled her to gain insight and experience to be better prepared for communicating more effectively in any emergency situation that might occur in our community. Donna noted, “This class will assist in my efforts to keep our community informed and updated in the event of a crisis pertaining to the Hospital.”

Pamela Delay, Public Information Officer for the Fairfield Department of Health, added, “Because this was an advanced course, students applied their knowledge and skills to a simulated emergency situation. It was very helpful to me to work through an actual emergency experience within the framework of a Joint Information System, and will help us as a health department and within our county to be better prepared in the event of an emergency.”

Pamela and Donna are both public information officers within the county Joint Information Center (JIC), which includes communications representatives from agencies and organizations in our community who work together to deliver information in the event of a county-wide emergency. The goal is to provide public information on a larger scale than could be effectively managed by a single agency during an emergency.

The training was provided to the students at no charge to their local county or agency. The CDP provides federally-funded, interdisciplinary training for emergency responders from across the United States and U.S. territories, for ten responder disciplines: Emergency Management, Emergency Medical Service, Fire Services, Government Administrative, Hazardous Materials, Healthcare, Law Enforcement, Public Health, Public Safety Communications, and Public Works. Healthcare and Public Health training is conducted at the CDP's Noble Training Facility, the nation's only hospital facility dedicated to training hospital and healthcare professionals in disaster preparedness and response. Many training courses culminate at the CDP's Chemical, Ordnance, Biological, and Radiological Training Facility, the nation's only facility featuring civilian training exercises in a true toxic environment, using chemical agents. The advanced hands-on training enables responders to effectively prevent, respond to, and recover from real-world incidents involving acts of terrorism and other hazardous materials. Responders attending CDP training are specially selected from the nation's 11 million emergency responders. Training at the CDP ensures that responders gain critical skills and confidence to be better prepared to effectively respond to local incidents or potential WMD incidents. For more information or for photograph requests, contact Kathy Wood, CDP Communications Director at 256-847-2316 or kathy.wood@dhs.gov.

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