In State-wide Drill, Health and Safety Officials Practice Bio-Terrorism Response

Event Will Test State and Local Authorities’ Ability to Get Federally Stockpiled Medicines to Those Affected by an Attack

State and local emergency officials will rehearse their response to a mock bio- terrorist event on November 10. The drill will involve state health, police, emergency management and transportation agencies, as well as Champaign- Urbana and Champaign County Public Health, Carle Foundation Hospital, Provena Covenant Medical Center, the Champaign County Emergency Management Agency and the University of Illinois.

The event will test how quickly and efficiently emergency responders can deliver drugs and medical supplies currently stored in the Strategic National Stockpile to those affected by a natural or man-made disease outbreak or bio-terrorism event.

In the drill, state authorities will deliver large quantities of medicines and medical supplies to Champaign County hospitals and to Public Health. The hospitals will then test their ability to utilize the materials in a mock response. (Public Health tested its ability to distribute medicines to large numbers of people in a drill at Parkland College on September 22.)

This exercise is part of an ongoing statewide effort to prepare for any natural or man-made disaster that endangers public health.

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Planned Parenthood Teams Up With Public Health and Champaign County Health Care Consumers on November 5

Planned Parenthood of East Central Illinois to Distribute Free Emergency Contraception; Public Health to Offer Risk-Reduction Counseling and Tests for Sexually Transmitted Diseases

Public Health will join Planned Parenthood and the Champaign County Health Care Consumers on Saturday, November 5, to offer vital health services to women. At the event, called “The Great EC Giveaway,” doctors and nurse practitioners with Planned Parenthood will offer women free supplies of Emergency Contraception (EC). Public Health staff will provide skills-based risk reduction education about sexually transmitted diseases, and will offer information, condoms and on-site tests for chlamydia and gonorrhea.

The event, sponsored by Planned Parenthood, the Illinois Department of Human Services, and the Champaign County Health Care Consumers, will be held from 1-3 p.m. on Saturday, November 5 at the Illinois Disciples Foundation, 610 E. Springfield, Champaign.

If taken soon after unprotected vaginal intercourse, Emergency Contraception prevents pregnancy by stopping ovulation, fertilization or implantation. It will not cause an abortion.

Emergency Contraception is most efficient when taken immediately after sexual intercourse. It may be taken up to 120 hours after unprotected intercourse but has a reduced efficiency as time passes. It does not protect against sexually transmitted infections. Emergency contraception can be used when a condom breaks, after a sexual assault, or any time unprotected vaginal intercourse occurs.