County Gets Public Health Disaster Grant
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Aiming to defend public health during the next natural disaster, Ventura County supervisors on Tuesday accepted a $750,000 federal earthquake relief grant to hire two public health nurses and improve tracking and treatment of communicable diseases.
Dr. Gary Feldman, the county’s health officer, said the grant will prepare the county Health Department for the next earthquake or other emergencies. “The grant will help us get ready for the next crises,” he said.
In addition to hiring two nurses for two years, the money will go toward setting up a computer system to track and care for outbreaks of infectious diseases, such as valley fever and tuberculosis, in the aftermath of natural disasters.
The Health Department was seriously tested after the Jan. 17 earthquake when many houses in Simi Valley and Fillmore were left for days without water or power, Feldman said.
The grant comes from emergency earthquake relief funds provided by the federal Health and Human Services Department and the Centers for Disease Control.
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