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NEWS RELEASE
April 10, 2012
For further information, contact:
Rick Osborn, Public Information Officer, Benton County Board of Commissioners Office
(541) 766-6082, rick.osborn@co.benton.or.us
Training to improve disaster preparedness
CORVALLIS, Ore. – If a natural disaster or other calamity strikes Benton County, preparedness and effective response will be the key to saving lives and helping people in need.
Benton County Health Department Emergency Preparedness Planner Brian Cooke is the latest Health Department employee to complete federal training covering some of the latest knowledge on responding to catastrophic natural disasters and terrorist acts at the Center for Domestic Preparedness (CDP) – operated by the United States Department of Homeland Security Federal Emergency Management Agency – in Anniston, Ala. Rob Baker and Gordon Brown with the Benton County Health Department also have completed the training.
“This is a feather in the cap for the Benton County Health Department and the community,” Benton County Environmental Health Division Director Bill Emminger said. “The knowledge from the training each of those individuals received will be shared with others throughout the county, helping us all to be better prepared in case catastrophe strikes Benton County.”
The CDP is the only federally-chartered Weapons of Mass Destruction training facility in the nation and the training was provided at no cost to the county. Cooke was one of numerous emergency response providers, emergency managers and other government officials completing advanced training in incident management, mass casualty response and emergency response to catastrophic natural disaster or terrorist events.
Cooke and other responders gained critical skills and confidence to respond effectively to local incidents or potential Weapons of Mass Disaster events. The advanced hands-on training enables responders to effectively prevent, respond to and recover from real-world incidents.
“When one of or people gets training like this, it is an opportunity to share best practices and what is learned with the rest of the organization,” Cooke said. “I am pleased to be able to help Benton County make our local communities safer.”
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