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Two-day preparedness symposia coming to Omaha next week

The Center for Preparedness Education is hosting a two-day Preparedness Symposia and Nebraska Biocontainment Unit Training on June 14th and 15th at the Scott Conference Center.

Barbara Dodge, Director of Hospital Preparedness Programs at UNMC, says the symposia will begin with a state-of-the-state address delivered by Jennifer Roberts-Johnson from the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services. 

She says that will be followed by a focused presentation on the Zika virus, led by Dr. Ted Cieslak, Defense Department liaison to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

Dodge says Justin Frederick of the Douglas County Health Department’s presentation is called, “In the Shadow of the Biocontainment Unit".

"When all the hoopla was happening at the Med Center with the Ebola patients, he looked at what was happening generally with public health around the community because all the focus at the time was on the patients in the biocontainment unit. But what that does to a community is incredible with the fears and the false alarms and the reactions and everything that happens in the community.”

Dodge says the second day of the symposia will focus on Nebraska Biocontainment Unit training led by Medical Director, Dr. Phil Smith.

Participant check-in starts at 7:30 a.m. both days.  Registration is required.  For more information, the website is preped.org/events.