Emergency Preparedness

Housatonic Valley Health District participates in emergency preparedness efforts, on a local, regional, and state level. Our emergency preparedness team receives training through the CT State Department of Public Health, as well as CT Dept. of Emergency Management and Homeland Security. Training encompasses everything from a cutting-edge web-based emergency operations center to full-scale drills and exercises. The District relies heavily on grant funding in order to fulfill the vital functions of Public Health Readiness and Emergency Preparedness.

Working collaboratively with Local Emergency Planning Committees in Oxford, Southbury, and Woodbury, the Health District plans for a broad range of emergency situations, including natural disasters, catastrophic events, disease outbreaks, and acts of terrorism. A major component of HVHD’s comprehensive Emergency Operations Plan involves the mass dispensing of antibiotics, antivirals or vaccines in response to a public health emergency.

The District’s Health Alert Network (HAN) is perpetually updated, as it serves as Districts Primary means of communication during a public health emergency. The HAN network contains five major categories: government officials, physicians, first responders/EMS, school officials, and a supplementary category, which includes everyone from media contacts and pharmacists to funeral home directors and nursing home administrators. Equally important, the HAN serves as an invaluable tool when we need to enlist the services of medical and non-medical volunteers. Housatonic Valley Health District’s volunteers assist with everything from data entry and annual flu clinics to blood pressure clinics and Covid Response. New volunteers are always welcome: please see our Medical Reserve Corps page for more information or call (203) 264-9616.