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Los Angeles County Health Officials Unveil 'Just Be Ready

Posted on: Friday, 30 March 2007, 15:00 CDT

LOS ANGELES, March 30 /PRNewswire/ -- The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health unveiled the "Just Be Ready: Prepare Together" mobile education outreach program at a press conference today to kick off National Public Health Week. In honor of this year's Public Health Week theme, "Take the First Step! Preparedness and Public Health Threats," Los Angeles County health officials showcased the mobile education outreach program as the centerpiece of the "Just Be Ready" multicultural and multi-language public education campaign that encourages residents to create a family communication plan and put together an emergency preparedness kit.

The emergency preparedness kit should include the ten essential items: Water, Food, Cash & Important Documents, Clothes, Flashlight, First Aid Kit, Medicine, Radio, Toiletries and Tools. In collaboration with the Office of Emergency Management the 10 essential items were recommended by the Emergency Survival Program (ESP).

The "Just Be Ready" mobile RV unit will travel to schools and community events throughout the year. Its first official community event stop is at the Public Health Week Family Festival at:

City Terrace Park Saturday, March 31 11 a.m. until 2:00 p.m.

In conjunction with National Public Health Week, the County is also sponsoring 30 public health events from March 31 through April 8, 2007. More information on the community events is located at http://www.lapublichealth.org/.

"Emergency preparedness is an important public health issue that impacts all Los Angeles County residents," said Jonathan E. Fielding, MD, MPH, Public Health Director and County Health Officer. "It is essential that we are prepared for any potential emergency, including health threats such as a pandemic flu and natural disasters such as earthquakes. We recommend families create and share their emergency communication plan and build a kit with the ten essential items."

The Department of Public Health also joined forces with the Los Angeles Sheriff Department, Office of Emergency Management, the Los Angeles County Fire Department, Los Angeles County Parks and Recreation, American Red Cross, Los Angeles Unified School District, other county agencies, faith-based and community organizations to further extend the campaign's message. Public service announcements are currently in development and set to run in the summer.

In addition, the Los Angeles Board of Supervisors delivered an official proclamation at the press conference today stating: "The week of April 2-8, 2007, as Public Health Week throughout Los Angeles County, and urge residents and our communities to join this effort to promoting good public health practices throughout our communities."

The award-winning "Just Be Ready: Prepare Together" campaign was specifically developed for the highly diverse residents of Los Angeles County reaching multicultural and multilingual communities. Campaign materials will be produced in English, Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Thai, Khmer, Tagalog, Vietnamese, Armenian, Russian, Arabic and Farsi.

Public Health is committed to protecting and improving the health of the nearly 10 million residents of Los Angeles County. Through a variety of programs, community partnerships and services, Public Health oversees environmental health, disease control and community and family health and comprises more than 4,000 employees with an annual budget exceeding $700 million.

Los Angeles County Department of Public Health

CONTACT: Public Health Communications, Los Angeles County Department ofPublic Health, +1-213-240-8144, pager +1-213-990-7107, media@ph.lacounty.gov

Web site: http://www.lapublichealth.org/

Source: PRNewswire

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