Allegheny County's Emergency Efforts National Model of Preparedness

Beginning of article

With African drums beating, Allegheny County emergency officials took the stage and explained disaster preparedness plans to members of the Healthy Black Family Project.

With that one meeting two years ago, they gained the trust of the 300 people there and the ability to spread emergency information to 6,000 more with a single phone call.

"It was a smashing success," said Stephen Thomas, director of the Center for Minority Health at the Graduate School of Public Health at the University of Pittsburgh.

That meeting is praised today in a national report on preparing for public health emergencies, such as an influenza pandemic, written by UPMC's Center for …