Baxter County, Arkansas, Implements Bioterrorism Preparedness Exercise
Release Date: April 24, 2003
Release Number: HQ-03-098
Washington, D.C. -- As this week's Smart Practice, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) highlights Baxter County, Arkansas,' efforts in conducting a mock exercise to vaccinate against a potential flu outbreak. Baxter County generated interest in its public health and preparedness initiatives while helping the community benefit from both.
"FEMA's effort to prepare the nation includes highlighting the smart practices of state and local emergency managers and first responders to strengthen their preparedness and response capabilities," said Michael D. Brown, undersecretary for Emergency Preparedness and Response at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. "By collecting and sharing the best ideas from the state and local level, FEMA can help communities improve their emergency preparedness and response-related activities for effective programs."
State and local smart practices could involve: effective mutual aid practices, response operations, training, assessment tools, planning models, exercises, standards and competencies, incident management and much more. Selected smart practices will be e-mailed to state and local customers in a weekly Spotlight on Smart Practices bulletin. Visit www.fema.gov/onp to read about Baxter County, Ark., and their efforts to implement a bioterrorism preparedness exercise to better prepare and educate their citizens on public health and preparedness initiatives, as well as view other smart practices.
To submit a smart practice idea to share with other emergency managers and responders or to subscribe to the weekly Spotlight on Smart Practices, e-mail a request to SmartPractices@fema.gov.
Last Modified: Wednesday, 28-May-2003 09:08:29