Emergency Operations Center opened at Community Center

At about 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday, November 27, text messages, emails and recorded phone messages were sent out to the community members on the county’s emergency preparedness contact list. The people on the list—members of various emergency services disciplines—were asked to go to the Cook County Community Center for the activation of an Emergency Operations Center (EOC).

Fortunately, the page was for an exercise, not a real crisis. But participants were serious as they discussed how they would handle two potential emergency scenarios.

Cook County Emergency Management Director Valerie Marasco facilitated the EOC gathering which looked at resources and protocols that would be used in the case of a H8N4 influenza pandemic or a straight line wind incident that caused significant damage to the hospital and clinic building.

WTIP’s Rhonda Silence checked in at the Community Center to catch the emergency response team in action.