About Us

What Are the Centers for Public Health Preparedness?

Centers for Public Health Preparedness (CPHPs) educate front-line workers in state and local health departments, preparing them to partner with their communities and citizens in the event of a public health emergency like infectious disease, environmental contamination, or a terrorist strike.  Created in 2000 with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) funding, the national network of 27 centers are located in accredited schools and colleges of public health.  They have reached thousands of public health workers through applied training in targeted technical expertise for real-world crises.  The CPHP network of preparedness experts, coordinated by the Association of Schools of Public Health (ASPH), ensures a strong public health system across the nation.

Why is OCPHP Important to Ohio and the Surrounding Region?

As the land grant institution for Ohio, The Ohio State University has a strong mission to serve the state’s 11 million citizens.  Ohio’s public health workforce needs timely and specialized training to assist and support Ohio citizens to prepare for, respond to, and recover from all-hazards disasters.  The OWD Ohio Center for Public Health Preparedness (OCPHP) provides that vital training and technical assistance, engaging  primary partners like the Ohio Department of Health, Ohio Citizen’s Corps, Ohio Emergency Management Agency, and the local health departments.  Training and education efforts include incident management, exercise and drills, discipline-specific preparedness, and use of volunteers in all-hazards disaster preparedness, recovery, and response.  OCPHP’s needs assessment and evaluation components ensure that the training stays on target with the National Preparedness Guidelines and the Target Capabilities, as well as the Ohio Homeland Security Plan and emergency operations.

How Does OCPHP Contribute to Protecting Ohio’s Homeland Security and its Citizens?

• Pan Flu Prevention and Planning – State, university-college, regional & local level assistance to build and exercise plans, ensuring public health leaders are role-ready.  Over 200 nurses and school-based team members are trained to implement Pan Flu Plans for school.

• Public Health Centric Incident Management – NIMS compliant classroom/field training in ICS  for the public health workforce using public health examples, coaching, and supported integration of ICS into the daily job.  Over 400 participants to date ready to practice NIMS compliant public health response.

• Community All-Hazards Preparedness Initiatives – Facilitation of a 4-part Leadership Development Series delivered to volunteers in their Homeland Security Regions.  The initiative includes strategic consulting, research, and guidance for expansion and sustainability of all-hazard teams.  Over 40 leader teams trained across eight HLS Regions.

• Public Health Nursing Surge Response – A national model for discipline-specific, competency-based  training enabling 10,000 continuing education credits for over 200 public health nurses in Ohio.  The National release of the curriculum is underway for 07-08.

• Dedicated Partnerships – Placement of an OCPHP employee in the Ohio Department of Health Bureau of Preparedness to assure continuity in planning and operations between our agencies.  Support of regional efforts for volunteer training and readiness through the Ohio Citizen’s Corps.

• Social Marketing for Public Health Communication – Use of private business industry standards to carry out public health info campaigns at the local/regional level.  375 public health leaders and public health information officers ready for risk communication in disaster.