News release from the City of Fort Wayne, dated August 5, 2011:
Mayor Henry announces move of regional State Health Department office to Public Safety Academy
Relocated office serves 11-county area, builds regional reputation of facility
(August 5, 2011) – The Public Safety Academy of Northeast Indiana welcomes the Indiana State Department of Health District 3 Preparedness Team to be housed at the training facility, 7602 Patriot Crossing, starting Oct. 1.
The new tenant is part of the facility’s purpose to serve first-responders and other emergency personnel throughout Northeast Indiana. In addition to office space, the preparedness team will host meetings and training sessions at the academy.
“The Public Safety Academy’s mission has always been to be a regional training center for the frontline of our area’s public-safety agencies. The addition of the Indiana State Department of Health’s regional office furthers that goal in this top-rate facility designed specifically to better prepare first-responders throughout Northeast Indiana in times of emergency,” said Fort Wayne Mayor Tom Henry.
The ISDH office relocation to the academy comes just three months after Mayor Henry’s appointment of Loren Robertson as executive director of the academy, who has focused on expanding the reach of the facility and its training capabilities. Robertson has experience in local and state public health agencies as well as county government.
“My background in understanding how these different offices and facilities operate helped us to engage the State Health Department in relocating their regional office to the PSA,” Robertson said. “This state-of-the-art training center offers both a great facility and a central, convenient location for agencies across northeast Indiana.”
The three-person office, which is staffed through the state contractor General Physics Corp. that will hold the lease, serves local health departments and hospitals in an 11-county area in northeast Indiana for large-scale emergency preparedness, especially as related to public health aspects of homeland security and infectious diseases. The office is currently located on West Jefferson Boulevard.
“The District 3 Team assists 11 local health departments in both providing technical assistance and coordinating with preparedness partners such as law enforcement, EMS, schools, hospitals, emergency management agencies, and other partners,” said Sean Keefer, Chief of Staff at the Indiana State Department of Health. “We are very pleased to be moving the District 3 Team to the Academy, a first class facility whose purpose and goals so closely align with that of the State’s public health preparedness mission. We feel that this move will enable us to move forward with our current priority of strengthening our partnerships and bringing public safety partners together in one location as well as being a cost effective solution for the State.”
The City owns the Public Safety Academy. The ISDH office is anticipated to generate approximately $10,000 annually in revenue for the PSA. It is the first State agency to have an ongoing presence at the academy. Other PSA tenants at the facility include Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne, Anthis Career Center, Ivy Tech Community College and Trine University. For more information about the academy, visit www.publicsafetyacademy.org.
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