While the spring 2009 outbreak of H1N1 influenza was relatively mild, public health agencies are preparing for outbreaks that could involve large numbers of deaths in a short period of time. The College of Public Health's Center for Public Health Practice is managing this additional training in four areas of the state.

In the southeast, the health jurisdictions of Ross, Pike, Hocking, Vinton and Jackson Counties are collaborating. In the northwest, Williams, Henry, Fulton, Paulding, Putnam and Defiance Counties are partnering in the training.

These two rural regions are seeking input about mass fatality management, such as procedures that may have to be used to handle a large amount to deaths in a short period of time.

Health jurisdictions in two urban areas, Franklin and Cuyahoga Counties, are exploring policy choices related to cancelling or limiting large gatherings of people - or social distancing - as a way of containing the spread of disease. This urban area project was one of six selected by the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention from a pool of 25 national applicants.

All of the projects have funding support from the Ohio Department of Health.

The training will include two meetings in each area, one involving community citizens and one involving policy-makers. The citizens will be representative demographically and geographically.

In addition to helping decision-makers shape policy, the projects are intended to evaluate the effectiveness of engaging the public in these types of decisions, build capacity within the contributing agencies to apply this process to other health issues, and to build trust in public health decisions. 

In addition to the public health agencies, many partner organizations are contributing to the planning within each area of the state. Evaluators represent Ohio State's John Glenn School of Public Affairs and the Collaborative for Enterprise Transformation and Innovation within Ohio State's Department of Computer Science and Engineering, and the University of Nebraska Public Policy Center.

To review the final reports for these projects please see the following files:

OH Urban Final Report with Appendices

OH Rural Final Report

The Center for Public Health Practice provides project management, process consultation, meeting facilitation, and training. The projects will run through September 2009.

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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.