25 July 2011 – The HCs' Webinar Series Highlights Emerging Issues Public Health Preparedness

During their monthly Webinar Series, the Heartland Center for Public Health Preparedness at Saint Louis University School of Public Health presented the St. Louis Area Regional Response System: Development of the St. Louis Medical Operations Center (SMOC) on July 25, 2011.

The program provided an awareness of the core concepts and structure of the Regional Healthcare Coordination Plan (PHCP) and the St. Louis Medical Operations Center (SMOC). Deborah Beezley, Director of Health Information Management, at St. Anthony’s Medical Center discussed the process and strategies for implementation of the SMOC and other highlights from the Standard Operating Guidelines. In addition, presenters addressed the mobilization of Duty Officers and lessons learned from recent high consequence events (i.e., ice storm and blizzard impacting the region in January 2011 and a recent F-4 tornado hitting the St. Louis International Airport and surrounding communities) affecting the St. Louis Region.

The Heartland Centers developed the Webinar Series in July 2010 to educate professionals and initiate discussion about emerging issues in the field of public health, especially public health preparedness and training.

If you missed this Webinar session or would like to review older sessions, click here to view the archived event.

31 March 2011 – HCs Webinar Series Highlights a Best Practice In Flu Vaccine Education

On March 31, 2011, the Heartland Centers hosted their public health Webinar Series on a nationally recognized flu campaign developed in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Melanie Christian, the Marketing Director at the Tulsa Health Department presented the session entitled, Public and Private Partnerships: A Success Story, Tulsa Health Department's Flu Prevention Campaign: Don't Bug Me.

The "Don’t Bug Me" flu awareness and prevention campaign is in its seventh year and is a joint partnership between Hillcrest Medical Center and the Tulsa Health Department. This nationally recognized campaign is designed to teach healthy lifestyle habits to avoid getting and/or spreading the flu.

"Don’t Bug Me" is an interactive campaign presented continuously throughout classrooms and businesses, with supplemental educational materials for teachers and business executives. Through this campaign, the Tulsa Health Department and Hillcrest Health Care System, a nine-hospital health system located throughout eastern Oklahoma, joined together with one key objective – communicate tips to help stop the spread of flu. This educational campaign reaches out to some 750,000 Tulsa area citizens.

The Heartland Centers (HC) hosts this Public Health Webinar series throughout the year as part of the HRSA Public Health Training Center grant. For more information about the series or to view archived events, visit the Webinar Series website.