Medication Distribution Plan

About the Program

Category: Risk and Emergency Management (Best in Category)

Year: 2009

Lake County, Illinois has developed an innovative and strategic county-wide plan to utilize polling sites as points of medication distribution in the case of a public health emergency. This plan, initiated by the Lake County Health Department/Community Health Center, has been proven successful through multiple community-wide exercises and has received great acclaim from community partners, the Illinois Department of Public Health, the National Association of City and County Health Officials (NACCHO), and the Centers for Disease Control. In an actual public health emergency, the Lake County plan calls for heads of households to go to their polling place where they would be screened for illnesses and medical complications, and receive up to a 10-day supply of medication for each family member. By utilizing the county’s polling sites, the Health Department and Lake County are not only confident that the entire population can receive medication within the suggested time frame of 48 hours, but the population will be spread out to a large number of locations, alleviating possible traffic congestion and reducing the need to travel far distances.