The Department of Public Health (DPH) will be conducting a statewide Emergency Preparedness Medical Countermeasures exercise the week of April 11 - 15.  This will be coordinated through DPH’s Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response. 

The exercise will test the effectiveness of the state and local emergency response system, including communications, resource allocation, and overall response coordination, in the event of an infectious disease outbreak such as pandemic flu. Local community involvement will include practice of distribution of medical countermeasures to citizens. 

“Exercises like this help ensure that DPH and our federal, state and local partners are prepared to respond quickly and effectively to public health emergencies or threats.  By conducting these in-depth exercises, we can identify best practices and areas for improvement to ensure we are ready to provide the highest care possible to Connecticut residents in the event of an emergency,” said DPH Commissioner Raul Pino.  “People should not be alarmed by any increased activity they may see at their local health departments or elsewhere while this exercise is occurring.” 

This full scale exercise will involve participation from various emergency preparedness partners at the federal, state, and local level, including the Centers for Disease Control, state agencies, law enforcement, hospitals, local health departments, health officials, and volunteers.

This full scale exercise is one of many activities that DPH and the State conduct as part of ongoing efforts to ensure effective unified response to any public health emergency or threat. Public health threats include widespread infectious disease, pandemic, natural disasters, or acts of terrorism.

Members of the public are invited to participate in this statewide exercise.  For a list of locations where volunteers are welcome, visit:   Http://ct.gov/dph/April2016Drill