Geauga Public Health has been involved in emergency and disaster preparedness planning and education for many years. In response to the 2001 attack on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, the federal government passed The Public Health and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act of 2002. The act provides grant money for states to improve the infrastructure of their local health departments for bioterrorism response.

In addition, the Health Department has been working with the Geauga County Department of Emergency Services (DES) and other local and state agencies to develop Weapons of Mass Destruction plans and general emergency response to a variety of disasters, both natural and “man-caused”.