September is National Preparedness Month and Castle Country Radio was able to sit down with Emergency Preparedness Planner, Eric Anderson to discuss what they do for the community.

“I work at the Southeastern Utah Health Department where we focus on general awareness and public health and safety for the population of Grand, Carbon and Emery Counties. For me specifically, I work a lot with the hospital preparedness program and the medical reserve corp. So I’m a coordinator, that, more of a facilitator that helps prepare all of these organizations, emergency medical service work with county managers for their worst day,” said Anderson. The worst day meaning natural disasters, emergencies and manmade disasters.

The organization recently held a mock drill of a plane crash in Grand County. “We did an exercise where we accentually pretended that a plan crashed and we brought in emergency medical services, worked with all the hospitals, the U of U Burn Center to try and make sure that our i’s are dotted, t’s are crossed in case of an emergency so we can facilitate successful resolution,” said Anderson. The drill was a huge success and officials were pleased with the outcome and thanked all those organizations that participated.

The emergency preparedness department has had a hand in the pandemic too. “Even the pandemic we have a lot to do with this it’s an infectious disease breakout obviously and so everything dealing with that and any other incident that you could possibly imagine we’re trying to come up with a plan so any of us can face it more easily,” stated Anderson. They have worked closely with the hospital to make sure that they have what they need to get through the pandemic.

Another big focus for the preparedness department is helping and educating the public with preparedness but breaking it down so it’s not so overwhelming. “We look at it from the basis of generally about four different things. We look at your physical fitness or your general physical health first. We look at potential scenarios that we are preparing for because that kind of shapes your mission, if you will, on what you want to be prepared for. And then we look at two versions of that one being sheltering in place and the other being if you asked to evacuate like in case of wildfire or flood,” said Anderson. It’s important that families have a preparedness plan for their household.

Individuals can learn more about emergency preparedness by visiting the Southeastern Utah Health Department’s website at https://www.seuhealth.com/