Kansas Scores 6 Out of 10 in 2008 Public Health Preparedness Report

Kansas met six out of 10 criteria for public health emergency preparedness in a report released today by Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

December 17, 2008
Kansas City Info Zine

Topeka, KS - infoZine - "Kansas continues to make progress towards better protecting the public health in response to emergencies," said KDHE Secretary Roderick L. Bremby. "Our approach is to support the response to a wide range of threats, including disease outbreaks, natural disasters, chemical emergencies and others."

Some of the indicators that Kansas met included having sufficient plans to distribute emergency medical supplies, as well as employing someone to coordinate the recruitment of health professionals to respond to emergencies.

One of the report's criteria recorded as not being met was whether the state public health laboratory can meet expectations of the state's pandemic influenza plan. However, health officials note that the state pandemic influenza plan was developed with the laboratory's capabilities in mind, and that the laboratory has capabilities similar to labs in other states that met this criterion.

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