The Genesee County Health Department conducted a community health emergency drill today at Genesee Community College, this time simulating how workers would handle a potential outbreak of Hepatitis A.
These drills are required by the state and state health department officials draw up the scenario that will be handled by all the county health departments in the state.
In this case, the health department was notified that a fictitious worker at a fictitious grocery store had contracted Hepatitis A, confirmed by lab results. Since the store employee handled fresh produce, residents in the county were to be notified through news media that if they had been in that store, especially in the produce section, that they may have been exposed to Hepatitis A. The residents are then encouraged to come to the aid station, register, be asked a few health questions and if not yet symptomatic, given a vaccine shot.
In the drill, nurses, from the mental health department in this drill, simulated the shots by sticking a needle into a tangerine.
Some of the participants acting as patients in the drill were GCC students. Each trip through the process was worth a slice of pizza.
