The COTS team recently hosted emergency management professionals from Lithuania to discuss emergency preparedness and response.

The Grove City Rotary Club approached COTS leaders about hosting an information-sharing session with the experts as part of their sponsorship of the Open World program with the US Congressional Office of International Leadership (COIL). Open World brings emerging leaders from Eurasia to the United States to engage with their professional counterparts. 

On Wednesday, May 14, COTS and CMAA leaders, along with representative from other central Ohio agencies, gathered at the COTS office to share best practices in emergency preparedness and response and learned a few tips from them. 

“It was an incredible opportunity to make new friends and learn from one another on the life-saving strategies deployed in emergencies,” said Sherri Kovach, COTS president.

This isn’t the first time COTS has worked with an international delegation through this program. In 2019, the COTS board and several partners met with the Ukrainian Minister of Health and his team to share COTS regional work and how a large urban and rural healthcare coalition operates.

Advocacy Alert: Emergency Preparedness Funding at Risk
President Trump's federal budget eliminates funding for the Hospital Preparedness Program (HPP), the primary source of funding for health care preparedness and response. COTS coordinates emergency preparedness and response for 36 of Ohio's 88 counties for the Ohio Department of Health, which administers the HPP in Ohio. COTS does this in collaboration with fellow preparedness experts in Toledo, Cleveland, Akron, Dayton, and Cincinnati. The complete elimination of this program is an existential threat to the safety of all Ohioans. Learn more about the proposed cuts and how the steps you can take to alert your representatives about this issue in this advocacy alert: Hospital Preparedness Program – Funding at Risk.