Input on Washington County’s response to and management of the COVID-19 pandemic is needed in order to prepare for the next possible disaster.
Washington County Public Health has released a survey for all residents to complete to identify areas of improvement as well as strengths to be maintained and built upon in advance of the next emergency. Public Health Administrator Danielle Pettit-Majewski says all responses will be reviewed in order to put together an After Action Report (AAR), “What we’re really trying to get from the public and also from the partners that we worked with throughout the pandemic was how can communication be improved? What worked well, what didn’t work well? What are [the] resources that they want us to continue, what mitigation efforts might they continue as individuals, and just give us a better idea of how we can be better prepared in the event of another disaster.”
Washington County Emergency Management Coordinator Marissa Reisen says a key part of this survey is to identify anything the two agencies missed, “We always want to find the gaps in our resources, our planning, our everything. That way we can improve and make it better, so if everybody knows of gaps that we had in our response and our communication, please let us know.”
Infrastructure and other aspects that stretch beyond public health and emergency management are also tackled in the survey and AAR. The survey is available both in English and Spanish and will be open for about a month, though Reisen and Pettit-Majewski encourage everyone to participate as soon as possible. You can find links to the survey below. You can also give further feedback by emailing mreisen@wps.co.washington.ia.us.