The Local Emergency Planning Committee, along with the Kosciusko County Health Department, wants to create a list of health professionals who live in the county on a seasonal basis.

LEPC President Gary McDaniel and Bob Weaver, the health department administrator, said inclusion on the list to volunteer during a catastrophic emergency is strictly voluntary and confidential.

Individuals wouldn't be contacted except in case of an emergency.

In 1986, the U.S. Congress enacted the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act.

The federal law relates to planning for chemical emergencies. It also allows the citizens the right to know the identity, quantity, location and properties of hazardous substances.

The Indiana State Emergency Response Commission created LEPCs. The local committee serves as a liaison between industry and the community.

McDaniel said the local group has thought about more than chemicals and expanded emergency scenarios to include weather-related events, influenza pandemics, hazardous material incidents or possible terrorist-related activities.

The names of health professions who live in the county is complete.

"The collection of names and contact numbers of emergency health personnel is only one aspect of emergency preparedness county government is working on," according to a press release. "Other phases include, but are not limited to, the development of communication plans, potential mass immunization sites and plans for dealing with chemical emergencies."

The county LEPC is recognized as one of the most progressive in the state. Representatives from school districts, industry, law enforcement, emergency medical personnel, media, the American Red Cross and mental health agencies have discussed and planned responses to a host of emergency situations.

"It's a very active group with 40 to 50 people meeting regularly. If I made a mass immunization plan, these agencies, with the LEPC, would hammer things out," Weaver said.

"We have these huge transportation corridors - U.S. 30 and the rail system - through our county. Anything could happen."

"We work as one unit with the Emergency Management Agency, headed by Ed Rock, and the Special Hazards Operations Team, a part of the Warsaw Fire Department," McDaniel said.

The LEPC and the health department plan to contact county lake association leaders to determine how to reach seasonal health professionals and add them to the database.

For more information, call the LEPC at 574-551-5317, or the health department at 574-372-2349. [[In-content Ad]]