Public Health Preparedness

The Sumter County Health Department (SCHD) is the lead agency for Emergency Support Function 8 (Health & Medical). SCHD is tasked with staffing Special Needs Shelters in Sumter County as well as having a representative present at the Emergency Operations Center during natural or man-made disasters.

The Sumter County Health Department is proud to sponsor the Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) of Sumter County. The MRC is intended to augment local community and state-level health and medical services utilizing pre-identified, trained and credentialed healthcare professionals and medical support staff to respond to a natural or man-made disaster as well as public health emergency. In addition, MRC volunteers may be called upon to work on specific community health projects or initiatives. For more information visit: http://www.sumtercountymrc.org/index.html

The Sumter County Health Department sponsors the Neighborhood Emergency Preparedness Program (NEPP). The goal of this program is to organize and educate communities to increase their level of preparedness in handling all types of emergency incidents. The program is designed to engage and mobilize teams to help foster self-sufficiency at the residential level. For more information on the NEPP program, visit http://www.doh.state.fl.us/PHNursing/

Sumter County Health Department is Public Health Ready! Sumter County Health Department attained this national award which honors a limited number of Health Departments across the nation each year that have proven through a rigorous process that they have established plans, procedures, and protocols to respond to the disaster needs of their local community. For more information on Project Public Health Ready, go to http://naccho.org/topics/emergency/pphr.cfm

Visit the following links for up to date weather information as well as more information on how to prepare for a disaster or public health emergency.