News

UMPERLC Preparing Families to Improve Community Resilience

Published on September 4, 2014

A portrait of Tanya Uden-Holman of the University of Iowa College of Public Health
Tanya Uden-Holman

The Upper Midwest Preparedness and Emergency Response Learning (UMPERLC) at The University of Iowa College of Public Health works closely with its emergency preparedness partners to identify unmet needs.  One identified need was training to support community resilience to strengthen family preparedness.  In response, UMPERLC created the course, “Prepare Your Family: A General Preparedness Scenario” which provides general emergency preparedness training for families.

“The course focuses on protective actions that should be taken prior to a disaster. The scenario in the course is set in the Midwest, however the content is applicable across the nation,” says Dr. Tanya Uden-Holman, director of UMPERLC and associate dean for education and student affairs in the College of Public Health. “With this new course UMPERLC is able to reach a much larger audience and hopes to help the general public prepare with their families in the event of an emergency.”The Upper Midwest Preparedness and Emergency Response Learning Center (UMPERLC) is strengthening the emergency response capacity of the public health workforce through education and training on topics such as bioterrorism, emergency communications, natural disasters and severe weather, infectious, disease, and chemicals and radiation. It is one of a select number of Preparedness and Emergency Response Learning Centers funded by a grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.