Three Central Oregon counties are working together to better share resources and information during an emergency thanks to a recently awarded $65,000 grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

The pilot project aims to regionalize the Public Health Reserve Corps, now located in Deschutes County, to extend throughout Crook and Jefferson counties, said Deschutes County Public Health preparedness coordinator Mary Goodwin.

“We know that if a disaster hits we’re a lot better off if we’re communicating with one voice,” she said. “We’re already collaborating, but this is an official way to get the process supported.”

The two-year project is one of 16 across 14 states. The purpose is to help health officials, policy makers and other stakeholders identify and share best practices to expand the quality and availability of services while also improving efficiency, Goodwin said.

“It’s a way to really look at cost effectiveness,” she said. “We’ll be deciding where to streamline to save money and how we can better serve the area.”

Goodwin said working together during a disaster — a forest fire, pandemic or earthquake, for example — increases the number of volunteers available and helps reduce redundancies.

“We’ve all heard about the potential for a strong earthquake on the west side of Oregon,” she said. “When that happens, we have to be prepared to take care of ourselves but also to take care of any refugees coming from there.”

Goodwin recently returned from a training seminar in Kansas City, Mo. Crook County Commissioner Ken Fahlgren also attended the training.

“This program is going to make a huge difference during an emergency,” he said. “This way, if I call Jefferson County or Deschutes County I know they’re on our side.”

Fahlgren said Crook County has nearly 200 volunteers ready to help out in an emergency, and Goodwin said Deschutes County has plenty of volunteers.

“The other two counties don’t have the money or the time to expand the management of volunteers,” she said. “This program will really increase the amount of training we can do on emergency triage care.”

The grant was officially awarded in January and the program is still in the planning phase, Goodwin said. The next step will be to meet in April to decide how the program will look and set goals for the future.

The recent training in Kansas City included the other 16 grant recipients and Fahlgren said bringing everyone together made him realize other counties face the same issues as counties in Central Oregon.

“We all had the same questions,” he said. “Now that we’ve been to the training we’re able to find shortcomings just by looking.”

During the February 2012 meningococcal outbreak in Crook County, Fahlgren said questions of the legality of working between communities arose. This program will help solve organization and liability problems.

“The challenge will be looking at the liability surrounding volunteers and how that will work between counties,” Goodwin said.