Mission Statement: Oregon's Health Security Preparedness and Response (HSPR) program, in a joint effort with the Conference of Local Health Officials (CLHO) and the region's Tribes, develops plans and procedures to better prepare Oregon to respond, mitigate, and recover from all public health emergencies. This effort is an emergency response collaboration with Oregon Emergency Management (OEM) and local Emergency Management.
Local and state public health authorities have always played an important role in all phases of the emergency management system, including: preparedness planning and hazard mitigation, emergency response, and disaster recovery. This new level of commitment to public health preparedness improves local and state capacity to respond to any health emergency.
The Health Security, Preparedness and Response program is funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services through the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Cooperative Agreement and the Hospital Preparedness Program (HPP).
HSPR ensures that every community and hospital has an improving level of preparedness for health and medical emergencies by supporting the development and testing of plans, training and collaboration between communities and with adjacent states. HSPR has been a part of state leadership in advancing the state’s plans for pandemic influenza and the development of a state Crisis Communication Plan. Through this program, Oregon is far better prepared to detect and respond to a public health emergency.
Organization: Oregon's Health Security Preparedness and Response program is managed by the Office of the State Public Health Director and works closely with all offices and programs in the Public Health Division.
Programs: Health Security Preparedness and Response directly manages the following work units: Program Operations and Strategic Planning, HAN (Oregon Health Alert Network), HOSCAP and SERV-OR, which includes healthcare volunteers and information systems management , Risk Communication and Public Information, Hospital and Healthcare System Preparedness, Training and Exercise Design, County Liaison Program, Emergency Operations Planning, Healthcare Liasion Program, Public Health Section of the Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program (CSEPP). HSPR also dedicates staff within other Oregon Public Health Division offices, including the Office of Environmental Health, the Office of Community Health and Health Planning, and the Immunization Program (Office of Family Health).
To ensure that the required elements of federal preparedness grant agreements are implemented, HSPR also coordinates work plans with state staff working on:
The Office of Disease Prevention and Epidemiology's Acute and Communicable Disease Program (ACDP) implements epidemiology and surveillance elements of the CDC Cooperative Agreement, including the Epidemiological CDC PHIN component. ACDP Directory
Oregon Health Authority staff working to improve laboratory preparedness capacity reside in the Oregon State Public Health Laboratory. Michael Skeels, PhD, manages the laboratory. See the Public Health Laboratory Directory for contact details.
