Public Health Emergency Preparedness

Marquette County Health Department’s goal is to help reinforce the community’s resilience to public health emergencies through preparedness, response and recovery.

Various emergencies may occur in Marquette County, many of which impact the health of the public. Examples include a disease outbreak or pandemic, tornado, flood, or chemical spill, just to name a few. It is your responsibility prepare before an emergency to withstand the unexpected.

It is important that every household spends time BEFORE an emergency putting together an emergency kit to help with personal needs during an emergency. With any emergency, it takes time for help to come. By gathering an emergency kit and planning for your needs before an emergency, stress levels may be reduced and well-being increased as some of your needs may be met by your prior planning. Exercise your plan to find out what works and what doesn’t before a disaster strikes.

Check out these resources to help prepare BEFORE an emergency happens:

Ready Wisconsin: https://readywisconsin.wi.gov/

Gather an Emergency Kit – Be prepared with food, medication, water, and other items needed during an emergency.

Be Alert – Make sure you can receive emergency alerts via cellphone or weather radio and stay informed.

Make a Plan – Don’t forget to plan for pets, elderly or disabled persons, and children. Talking about preparedness and including children in gathering your kit and making plans helps children handle stress better when an emergency occurs. Don’t forget a communication plan to help children know who to contact during an emergency.

Financial Preparedness – Ensure you have access to resources when needed including important papers your family needs for assistance during and after an emergency.

Technology Resources to Help Your Family Prepared:

The American Red Cross Emergency App has lots of interactive tools to help before and during an emergency. Available on iOS: Emergency: Severe Weather App on the App Store and Android: Emergency: Severe Weather App – Apps on Google Play

Don’t forget to talk with children before an emergency happens. Dealing with an emergency is stressful. Children need to know bad things may happen but your family is preparing and will be ready.
For very young children (ages 2-5), use resources designed for their age like the Let’s Get Ready! App from Sesame Workshops. It has child-friendly activities and tips to help families get ready for emergencies. Available on Apple iOS https://apps.apple.com/us/app/lets-get-ready/id903134141?ls=1 and Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=air.com.sesameworkshop.PSEG.GetReady

Younger elementary age children may like the American Red Cross education series, Prepare with Pedro | Red Cross, that helps younger children learn about emergencies using videos, stories, and activities guided by a penguin named Pedro. 

Older children may learn better by playing games. Check out ready.gov for a few different options.

Get emergency alerts for Marquette County sent right to your cell phone. Click here to learn more about signing up for the RAVE emergency alert system.

Other resources related to weather, power outages, health and safety:

WEAVR (weavrwi.org) – Want to help during an emergency? Enroll in the state of Wisconsin’s registry for active and retired health care, behavioral health and animal health professionals.