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Health Department Emergency Preparedness Staffing

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Strengthen the preparedness of your local communities, healthcare organizations, and coalitions

A map of Indiana with four counties highlighted blue indicating service areas.

Established in 3 Indiana counties

The health department emergency preparedness staffing program started on July 1, 2019 in three Indiana counties: Hancock, LaGrange and Noble utilizing grants to fund the positions. 


The program consists of a VPC Emergency Preparedness Specialist working for the county health department.

Get capabilities-based planning, training, exercises, and testing

Request on-site coverage in your county

Start here to request more about staffing for your Health Department.

VPC’s Health Department Emergency Preparedness Program covers all areas of Emergency Management

  • Prevention
  • Protection
  • Response
  • Recovery
Ryan Smith at the DeKalb County Health Department during their recent point of distribution exercise (POD exercise)
Ryan Smith at the DeKalb County Health Department during their recent point of distribution exercise (POD exercise). VPC provides these exercises for the benefit of other staff and stakeholders, all while reducing the time existing staff have to spend preparing the exercise.

Your colleagues in nearby counties have saved time and money with VPC’s Health Department Preparedness and Staffing program…

Some health departments have 30-40 people on staff and may not feel the need to have a consulting firm. Certainly, the smaller, rural ones like ours are finding the advantages of working with VPC.

Dr. Terry Gaff, Noble County Health Department Health Officer (Retired)
Read more about Noble County’s experience with VPC

I’m used to implementing [emergency] plans, but not writing them. I started going through the paperwork and plans and there wasn’t anything there! I was kinda lost, and I reached out with EMA and they suggested VPC.

Dan Burk, Wayne Co. Health Department

When people in our community found out the [COVID-19 test] site was run by VPC, people were excited. Being a third-party provider, there was an extra sheen of professionalism.

Alicia Walsh, Steuben Co. Chief Environmental Health Specialist and Administrator

On-site VPC staff provide your Department required tools and training

Health Department Emergency Preparedness Staffing 1

Planning and preparation

Your Department receives Attachment A deliverables and assisting the county health department with emergency preparedness initiatives.

Health Department Emergency Preparedness Staffing 2

As-needed training fills gaps and skills-up staff and teams

Provide needed training based upon gaps identified during initial assessment and review.

Teams on-site with flexible hours based on county needs

Jessica and Joel have been extremely busy with assisting their respective counties during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Photo of Joel Heavner

Joel Heavner

Joel Heavner helps Hancock County’s Health Department train for the next tornado, pandemic, flood, and everything else.

Photo of Jessica Price

Jessica Price

Jessica Price leads on-site preparedness coverage in Noble and Lagrange counties in northern Indiana.

“I just wanted to take a second to tell you what a great job Jessica is doing here in our county. She is a rock! You can be proud of her.”

— County Emergency Manager
Kennedy Jester

Kennedy Jester

Kennedy Jester excelled at working at COVID-19 drive-through test sites during the pandemic. Now, she’s helping Noble County health leaders with her organizational skills. She will graduate soon from Trine University.

“I could not be more proud to assist the county during this pandemic, we have provided direction and assistance with incident command forms as well as pandemic response”.

— Joel Heavner, amid COVID-19 operations in Hancock Co., Spring 2020

Questions? Contact Troy Jester for answers.
Contact us online, or Troy Jester directly for additional information about this program email him at tjester@vantagepointc.com or call at 844-982-6824 ext 702.

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