Volunteers needed for health department emergency drill

The McHenry County Department of Health needs volunteers to pose as victims to help test the department's capability to dispense emergency preventive medication.

The dispensing exercise will take place from 9:15 to 11:30 a.m. Thursday, June 16, at Woodstock North High School.

Individuals or organizations are welcome to participate for all or a portion of the exercise.

In the event of a large scale public health disaster, MCDH may need to dispense preventive medications to a large segment of the population at one time. Exercises are conducted periodically to practice rapid and accurate dispensing of medications. Plans are tested to refine those areas needing improvement.

This exercise is part of a larger exercise being conducted simultaneously by the Illinois Department of Public Health and many local health departments' throughout the state.

"In order to stress our dispensing plans, we need as many people as possible to play the role of a victim." said Susan Borucki, MCDH emergency response facilitator and designer of the exercise. According to Vanessa Cotton, assistant director of nursing, "Acting as a victim for the exercise is simple: register, show up, and walk-through the dispensing site. We want people to go through as many times as they are willing."

Advance registration for the exercise is strongly recommended. Anyone who is able to attend may register online at www.mcdhprepare.info.

McHenry County response partners participating in this exercise include District 200, Woodstock police, Woodstock fire, McHenry County Emergency Management Agency, McHenry County Sheriff's Office and the Division of Transportation, health department staff and Medical Reserve Corps volunteers.

For information, call MCDH's Emergency Response program at (815) 334-4510.