Training set for animal disease emergency response preparedness

North Dakota State University Extension, in cooperation with the North Dakota Department of Agriculture, North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality and the NDSU Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, will host a training on emergency response preparedness for foreign animal diseases and mass livestock mortalities in North Dakota.

The goal of this training is to better equip local responders with the skills and resources needed to respond to an animal disease outbreak or mass livestock mortality. All participants will receive kits with personal protective equipment required to safely conduct farm visits.

This hands-on professional development training is geared specifically toward Extension agents, emergency managers and responders, and veterinarians and veterinary technicians who may deal with mass livestock mortalities. The training will include a classroom component, as well as hands-on demonstrations. Topics to be covered include:

• Overview of animal diseases

• Continuity of business planning (biosecurity)

• Personal protective equipment and decontamination

• Incident command systems, local response roles and impact assessment

• Humane endings

• Carcass disposal site selection and methods

• Stress management and responding to stressed people

• Effective communication in high stress situations

• Response simulation exercise

Seats are available for up to 200 participants with the option to attend one of two dates at the NDSU Carrington Research Extension Center. The training will be offered on June 11-12 or September 10-11. Continuing education credits will be available. For more information and to register for this event please visitndsu.ag/diseasetraining. The registration fee is $35 per person. Please register by June 1 or September 1 for meal count purposes.