The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA

Abstract #50110

Jeffrey W. Larmore and Pamela J. Thevenow. Water Quality and Hazardous Materials Managment, Marion County Health Department, 3838 N. Rural Street, 5th Floor, Indianapolis, IN 46205-2930, 317-221-2266, jlarmore@hhcorp.org

For ten years, the Marion County Health Department has worked with local industry, emergency agencies, and the community to stress the importance of protecting the public during hazardous materials emergencies. MCHD’s efforts have focused on two protective actions: evacuation and shelter-in-place. While the public is very familiar with evacuation, shelter-in-place represents a new concept that the public is not fully convinced of its protection. Faced with the challenge of overcoming negative opinion, e.g., “death-in-place”, MCHD intensified its outreach in 1998 to expound the benefits/advantages of shelter-in-place.

In 1999, MCHD, partnering with local chemical companies, began to deliver the shelter-in-place message to Marion County schools. MCHD and the local emergency planning committee created demonstration houses to take to schools to teach shelter-in-place. While highly popular, the houses permitted contact with only a fraction of our target population. In 2000, MCHD and a local chemical industry group approached the Indianapolis Fire Department about building an interactive house to teach shelter-in-place to fourth and fifth graders at IFD’s Survive Alive facility. An interactive village, Survive Alive teaches hundreds of children each year about fire and life safety education. As a result of the partnership, a “house” with openable windows and doors, and a smoke machine generating “toxic” smoke was constructed at Survive Alive in 2001. Now fourth and fifth graders from all of Marion County have the opportunity to learn life saving techniques not only to escape the perils of fire but also to survive the release of hazardous materials to the air.

Learning Objectives:

• During the session, the presenter will define four fundamental concepts of shelter-in-place, identify key resources in a community for creating shelter-in-place instructional aids, and describe an interactive, hands-on method for teaching 4th and 5th graders how to shelter-in-place in their homes.

Keywords: Bioterrorism, Hazardous Air Pollutants

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.