AHCA Secretary at SPC

                                         
Andrew C. Agwunobi, M.D., M.B.A., Secretary of the Agency for Health Care Administration for the State of Florida was the keynote speaker at the SPC CE Health "Hurricane in Healthcare Conference" on June 21, 2007 at the EPI Center. He spoke on AHCA's expectations for the healthcare industry before, during and after the storm. The conference was cosponsored by SPC CE Health, Emergency Management of Pinellas and Hillsborough Counties and the Tampa Bay Regional Hurricane and Healthcare Planning Coalition. Approximately 250 health care professionals attended and received 6 continuing education hours at the program where they learned to plan and evaluate readiness for patient care for disaster response and recovery.

"I thank this great team of community partners for their dedication in holding such an important conference," said Dr. Agwunobi, "The message of the need to be prepared for life-threatening storms in Florida cannot be overemphasized. We all have a responsibility to our families and communities to take the steps necessary to be safe during this hurricane season. This conference emphasized that being safe starts with having an emergency plan. Anyone who needs help developing such a plan should go to the state website www.floridadisaster.org which provides instruction for customizing and building a personalized plan. Of course after any major event, it is also important to look back and analyze the steps taken, in search of possible improvements. Every year we should be getting better and more prepared than we were the year before. We may not have all the answers to every possible scenario, but working together as a team such as we did at the hurricane conference is the first step to becoming more prepared than ever."

The conference provided attendees with real experiences from professionals that had lived through Florida storms. Tony Carper of Indian River Emergency Management outlined the impact of the 2004 storm season on healthcare providers and Dick Fletcher of Channel 10 gave an overview of weather systems in Florida and weather expectations for the 2007 storm season. Channel 10 filmed part of the program and ran a story on the conference on the 6:00 news.

Sherman "Tony" Carper, Jr., Emergency Management Coordinator, Indian River County Emergency Services

Andrew C. Agwunobi, M.D., M.B.A., Secretary Agency for Health Care Administration for the State of Florida

Photos by Dennis Werner