Domina DiBiase, Operations Manager

Recently, Connecticut was impacted by a severe weather event that officially produced four tornadoes in the state. While this may seem like a rarity, Connecticut is no stranger to tornadoes with 29 of them documented from 2000-2016. On a related note, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has released their predictions for this hurricane season (June 1-November 30). They are expecting a “75% chance that the 2018 Atlantic hurricane season will be near- or above-normal.”

CHCACT works with the state’s health centers to ensure that they have plans in place to handle both natural and manmade emergencies. These plans include the creation and modeling of internal plans to continue operations (given a variety of potential challenges, such as flooding or lack of electricity), as well as ensuring that health centers are connected to first responders and other community organizations. Over the next several months, CHCACT will continue this work, reviewing Emergency Operations Plans and creating Continuity of Operations Plans. These plans will allow our FQHCs to prepare for, respond to, and recover from any emergency or disaster that may occur!

Now is a great time for you to review your own personal preparedness plans and notification systems! Luckily, Ready.gov provides information and plan templates to help make this process easier. Particularly relevant for this time of year are their pages on tornadoes, hurricanes, extreme heat and power outages.

Hopefully this information will help you and your family to feel safe and prepared for any severe weather we may encounter this season! Remember: preparedness is the key to a quick recovery!

 Domina