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Readiness and Response

CDC Responds in 2008

CDC staff in the DEOC continue to strategically focus on building infrastructure and improving the speed at which CDC and its partners respond to public health emergencies.

A week prior to Hurricane Ike making landfall, CDC’s Director’s Emergency Operations Center (DEOC) was busy preparing to send life supporting medications, communication devices, personal protective equipment, and staff to Galveston, Texas, to aid the state in responding to this natural disaster.

CDC was proud to open the doors of the DEOC in 2003; it’s staffed 24 hours, every day of the year. The facility organizes scientific and operational experts in one location during emergency response; efficiently maintains situational awareness and exchanges of public health information with international, national, state, and local partners; and helps to ensure that CDC is integrated into the National Incident Management System. This system is the federal government’s systematic plan that guides departments and agencies at all levels of government, nongovernmental agencies, and the private sector to work seamlessly in order to reduce the loss of life, loss of property, and harm to the environment during a catastrophic event. In Fiscal Year 2008, the DEOC was activated for 359 days in response to 55 domestic and 16 international events, including the multistate Salmonella Saintpaul and E.coli 0157 outbreaks, the Midwest floods, and the outbreaks of cholera and hemorrhagic fever in Africa.

A significant part of preparing the CDC workforce for a public health emergency response is planning, training, conducting exercises, and evaluating CDC’s ability to respond. In Fiscal Year 2008, CDC coordinated plans, training, and evaluation for five real world events: hurricanes Gustav, Hanna, and Ike, and the Salmonella Alamosa and Salmonella Saintpaul outbreaks. Seven CDC training exercises were conducted—including exercises for anthrax, hurricanes, and pandemic influenza—to help us improve our overall response performance. In addition, 13 agency wide exercise and response-related training events were conducted and two scenario-specific response plans were completed that evaluated and clarified the roles and responsibilities of CDC centers and offices during an incident.

CDC continually updates rosters of CDC staff in the field, checks on staff members’ safety during and after an event, and conducts communication checks for deployed staff. CDC’s DEOC Logistics’ Team alone supported 871 staff with 1,500 equipment items and provided travel services for 109 staff in the field in Fiscal Year 2008. In addition, the DEOC has around-the-clock capability to coordinate the transport of life-supporting medications, samples, specimens, and personnel anywhere in the world via contracted aircraft when commercial carriers are unable to meet response needs.

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