When it comes to natural disasters, disease outbreaks and terrorism attacks, California may be slightly less prepared than the rest of the nation. But the state has made improvements over the last few years, as CapRadio’s Sammy Caiola explains.
There are a couple of key things states need to do to be prepared for health emergencies. They need backup stocks of vaccines and basic medical supplies. And they need to make sure government agencies, community groups and homeowners have a way to talk to each other.
California fell short on most of those benchmarks in a new survey from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. They did move up in every category since the last survey in 2013.
The biggest failings had to do with health care delivery — how fast people can get medical services after a disaster.
California did perform better than the national average on keeping the water and food supply safe in an emergency. Though there have been major water contamination concerns in Paradise following the Camp Fire.