Iowa — A new report places Iowa in the middle of the pack in terms of the state’s preparedness for emergencies — from weather disasters to disease outbreaks to terrorist attacks.
Nadine Gracia, president and CEO of Trust for America’s Health, says the annual “Ready or Not” report placed 21 states and Washington DC in the high-performance tier for emergency readiness, Iowa and 12 other states in the middle-performance tier, and 16 states in the bottom tier.
Iowa was also in the middle tier in last year’s report, as she says the state could do more to be better prepared for future challenges.
The nation’s emergency preparedness has improved in some areas, Gracia says, while public health officials and policymakers need to do more to strengthen health emergency preparedness — and Iowa could do better, too.
Only about a quarter of all hospitals nationwide have that “A” rating. Gracia says a majority of states have made preparations to expand healthcare and public health laboratory capacity during an emergency, but she says the report also found too few people are vaccinated against seasonal flu and too few workers have access to paid time off. See the full report here: tfah.org
