Public Health Emergency Preparedness (PHEP) Program

General Information

Public health threats are always present. Whether caused by natural, accidental, or intentional means, these threats can lead to the onset of public health incidents. Being prepared to prevent, respond to, and rapidly recover from public health threats is critical for protecting the health of Nevadans and our many visitors.

The 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic underscored the importance of communities being prepared for potential threats. Nevada’s Public Health Preparedness (PHP) program, working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), plays a pivotal role in ensuring that state and local public health systems are prepared for these and other public health incidents. The CDC provides funding and technical assistance to the state of Nevada through the Public Health Emergency Preparedness (PHEP) cooperative agreement. Nevada PHP plans and implements measures in coordination with local health authorities and other partners to prepare Nevada for public health threats and to mitigate their effects.

The CDC has a systematic process for defining public health preparedness capabilities to assist Nevada with our strategic planning. These are captured in Public Health Preparedness Capabilities: National Standards for State and Local Planning, this document creates national standards for public health preparedness capability-based planning and assists State PHP and our local partners in identifying gaps in preparedness, determining the specific jurisdictional priorities, and developing plans for building and sustaining capabilities.

The CDC has identified the following 15 public health preparedness capabilities as the basis for state and local public health preparedness:

1. Community Preparedness
2. Community Recovery
3. Emergency Operations Coordination
4. Emergency Public Information and Warning
5. Fatality Management
6. Information Sharing
7. Mass Care
8. Medical Countermeasure Dispensing
9. Medical Materiel Management and Distribution
10. Medical Surge
11. Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions
12. Public Health Laboratory Testing
13. Public Health Surveillance and Epidemiological Investigation
14. Responder Safety and Health
15. Volunteer Management

The Public Health Preparedness (PHP) program within the Nevada Division of Public and Behavioral Health (DPBH) collaborates with many partners within the state of Nevada to implement and improve upon these capabilities. This program sub-grants funds to the local health authorities, including: Southern Nevada Health District, Washoe County Health District, Carson City Health and Human Services, and Nevada Community Health Services, as well as to the Nevada State Public Health Laboratory to promote and implement these capabilities within the local communities of Nevada. The PHP program also works with the Inter-Tribal Emergency Response Commission to achieve outreach to Nevada’s Native Tribes, as well as partnering with the Nevada Division of Emergency Management, local emergency managers and private industry to continually demonstrate progress in Nevada’s preparedness and response efforts to public health emergencies; thereby promoting prepared and resilient communities across the State.

SNS and CHEMPACK Programs:

• Strategic National Stockpile (SNS)
• Chemical Emergency Response Package (CHEMPACK)