Joanne Pearsol, associate director of the Center for Public Health Practice, will speak at the Ohio Public Health Association's (OPHA) Sept. 1 conference on mass fatality planning.

The "Mass Fatality Planning 101: Is Your County Prepared for Mass Fatalities?" will be held at the Doubletree Hotel in the Crosswoods area of Worthington, Ohio.

Hurricane Katrina, possible pandemics, and man-made emergencies are prime examples of the need to prepare for mass fatalities at the federal, state and local levels. A comprehensive approach with both government and community resources must be employed.

"While no community hopes to have a mass fatality incident, we all agree it is better to have a plan in place," said Pearsol.

Pearsol will be a part of a panel , sharing the public's expectations during a mass fatality event based on a community engagement project in northwest and southeast Ohio. A brief overview on the public engagement projects can be found here:

 MFM Planning 101: What the Community Expects

Once the final report is available it will be posted on our website. For more about the conference, visit the OPHA web site at http://www.ohiopha.org. Pearsol will also give a poster presentation on the same topic at the fall conference of the Association of Ohio Health Commissioners (AOHC). The poster presentation is co-authored by Mark Eckhart, epidemiologist for six counties in northwest Ohio.

Emergency hospital during 1918 influenza epidemic, Camp Funston, Kansas. Credit: National Museum of Health and Medicine, Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, Washington, D.C.

The AOHC conference is Sept. 28-30 at the Embassy Suites Dublin in Dublin, Ohio. Pearsol's presentation will be Sept. 29, 3-3:30 p.m. For more information about the conference, visit the AOHC web site at http://www.aohc.net.

Joanne Pearsol has nearly 20 years of experience in local, state and academic public health arenas. Her Bachelor's degree from Youngstown State University is in Community Health Education, and she received her Master's degree in Workforce Development and Education from The Ohio State University. She is a Certified Health Education Specialist.

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The Center for Public Health Practice is a part of The Ohio State University's College of Public Health. The center is home to federally funded public health programs, including the Center for Public Health Preparedness, Pennsylvania and Ohio Public Health Training Center and the Buckeye Bluegrass Regional Leadership Academy. The center provides training to hundreds of public health practitioners every year through in-person and online programs. It also offers contractual and fee-for-service support in the areas of organizational and leadership development.