Functional Sections Health And Medical Provide AEP Functionality

The Health and Medical function addresses the activities associated with the provision of emergency health and medical services at the airport. For the purposes of this section, health and medical include emergency medical service (EMS), public health, environmental health, mental health, and mortuary services. Related activities include:

• Treatment, transport, and evacuation of the injured 
• Removal of the dead; and disease control activities related to sanitation 
• Prevention of contamination of water and food supplies during response operations during and after an emergency 
• Depending on the needs and resources of a particular airport, consideration may be given to the preparation of separate sections for these functions

Situation and Assumptions. This section provides an overview and general assessment of the Health and medical capabilities of the airport to support emergency situations. Since most airports cannot sustain on-airport deliberate health and medical capabilities, this section should describe the capabilities of the surrounding communities it serves. This section should focus on:

1. The airport’s capability to provide medical care, treatment, and transportation. 
2. The overall support to victims, response personnel, and the general public during the emergency response and recovery phases. 
3. Limitations or situations which may limit health and medical support. For example, those airports located in more remote areas may have limited medical/hospital support. Any such limitations should be discussed in this section. 
4. Assumptions may include:

• Maximum coordination and efficient use of off-airport medical resources will be required since this section addresses primarily large scale emergency and disaster events that would involve sufficient casualties and/or fatalities which may overwhelm local medical, health, and mortuary services capabilities. 
• 
  Public and private medical, health, and mortuary services resources located at the airport, and the communities it serves, will be available. 
  
  
• Large-scale emergencies and disaster threat situations (hurricane, earthquake, flood, etc.) may affect large areas, requiring use of mutual aid from long distances. 
• Public and private health and medical resources, including human resources, located at the airport and the communities it serves may themselves be impacted by the disaster. 
• Emergency services to protect life and health during the first 12 to 24 hours after the disaster will probably be exclusively dependent on local and area resources.
• Suspected Communicable Diseases. In the case of persons exhibiting signs/symptoms of a possible disease requiring quarantine, the airport will be required to contact state and/or federal Centers for Disease Control (CDC). The diseases subject to quarantine are established by Presidential Executive Order 13295. In the event that quarantine is required to protect public health, the emergency should be conducted in two phases: Short-term (approximately 6-8 hours) and Long-term (lasting several days).
• Volunteers will come forward to help perform essential tasks; their presence and efforts must be anticipated and coordinated.

Organization and Assignment of Responsibilities. This section describes the responsibilities of those individuals and organizations tasked with providing emergency health and medical services at the airport. This section  are Chief Executive/Airport Manager, Health and Medical Coordinator, Emergency Medical Services, Hospitals, Environmental Health Officer, Mental Health Agencies, Mortuary Services, Red Cross, Social Service Agencies, Animal Care and Control Agency, Law Enforcement, Military and All Tasked Organizations.

Environment Health Officer (EHO). One of the organization and assignment of responsibilities.EHO provide :

• Provides for the monitoring and evaluation of environmental health risks or hazards as needed. Ensure appropriate actions are taken to protect the health and safety of disaster victims, responders, and the general public
• Inspects damaged buildings for health hazards
• Detects and inspect sources of contamination
• Coordinates with animal care and control agency to dispose of dead animals
• Ensures that adequate sanitary facilities are provided in emergency shelters and for response personnel.

Reference : U.S Department of Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration Advisory Circular Airport Emergency Plan 6/19/2009