Working to Keep Residents Safe

How is Public Health working to keep me safe in a public health emergency?

Early detection of disease in the community

• Public Health monitors the health of the community.  Epidemiologists or Disease Detectives identify infectious diseases and track disease outbreaks. 

Communicating before, during and after a public health emergency

• The Health Alert Network (HAN) helps health professionals communicate about potential health threats in the community. 
• Public Health partners with Emergency and Community Health Outreach (ECHO) to provide emergency health information in multiple languages. 

Collaborating with local and state partners

• Preparing for a public health emergency takes place by planning with hospitals, clinics, businesses, schools and local Community Partners.  Government planning takes place with local fire and police departments, the Minnesota Department of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other agencies. 

Planning for the response to a public health emergency

• In a public health emergency, the public health department may need to give medicine to large number of people.  This is called Mass Dispensing.  This medicine may come from the Strategic National Stockpile (SNS).  Public Health continues to practice the mass dispensing of medicine to the community.

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