About Us
In August 2005, the USA Center for Rural Public Health Preparedness was designated by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as one of a total of 27 Centers for Public Health Preparedness charged with training the public health workforce to respond to threats to our nation’s health. The mission of each of these centers is to work together to improve the capacity of front line public health and health care workers through education and training. The USA Center for Rural Public Health Preparedness at the Texas A&M Health Science Center School of Rural Public Health seeks to focus on public health issues are that are particularly relevant to rural America.
The mission of the Center is to work with both internal and external partners to promote the development of skills and competencies that support the nine CDC goals for emergency response and preparedness in primarily rural states and rural sections of the country.
The goals of the Center are three-fold:
- Strengthen the public health workforce readiness in predominantly rural and underserved areas through implementation of programs for life-long learning;
- Strengthen capacity at State and local levels for a rural preparedness and emergency public health response; and
- Strengthen the network of academic-based programs contributing to national terrorism preparedness and emergency response capacity.
The objectives of the Center are:
- Develop and deliver training and exercise opportunities that demonstrate multi-disciplinary response at the state and local levels;
- Provide training opportunities that build upon participants’ preparedness response job functions;
- Construct a plan for achieving identified preparedness competencies for partner states; and
- Share rural expertise and resources across state and local jurisdictions.