ICS: Do You Know What it is?

Preparing and planning for potential large scale public health emergencies is something the public health workforce in Jefferson County has become accustomed to. The staff is regularly trained on various aspects of incident management and response by the JCPH Emergency Preparedness Program and is involved in frequent planning exercises with both state and federal partners. Last month, JCPH staff had an opportunity to plan for an event using the Incident Command System (ICS).  ICS is a management system designed to enable effective and efficient domestic management of incidents by integrating a combination of facilities, equipment, personnel, procedures, and communications operating within a common organizational structure. ICS was first developed as a tool for managing multi-agency responses to wild fires. It has been successfully adapted to a wide range of emergency and disaster management applications. The beauty of this national system is that it can be used to manage any event and has been adopted across the country, allowing a wide range of responders, planners, and individuals to work effectively with public safety organizations to manage and support response efforts.  For more information on Jefferson County Public Health’s ICS and Emergency Preparedness program, visit the Emergency Preparedness website.