After the presence of disease has been confirmed and Government regulatory controls 

 have been put in place for pathogen control, local veterinarians typically continue 

 to play key roles in fighting disease — not only by increasing public awareness of 

 disease-control measures but also by supporting and/or joining the disease-control 

 and -eradication effort. Joining the effort is done through the National Animal Heath 

 Emergency Veterinary Reserve Corps (NAHERC), a program that provides temporary 

 Federal status to private professionals. To join, please contact your nearest APHIS-VS 

 Area Office. 



AERO and Interstate and Interagency Cooperation 



At the outset of an outbreak or other animal emergency, a local Animal Emergency 

 Response Organization (AERO) response team is composed of selected personnel 

 from within the local areas (e.g., the Oklahoma Veterinary Emergency Response Team 

 is the locally based component of the nationally coordinated AERO). Because no 

 State will have sufficient resources alone, additional support from other State-based 

 AEROs or one of APHIS' six national incident management teams will be mobilized 

 as needed to support any given State's local team or teams. These additional 

 personnel are requested through regional and national emergency operations centers 

 managed by VS. 



When an incident occurs, the appropriate A\'IC^ the State animal health official, and 

 State emergency managers will delegate their aiithorii) to take appropriate action 

 to the designated Incident Commander. If multiple Incident Command Post(s) are 

 needed in the State, an Area Command may be established to coordinate the activities 

 of the Incident Commanders through this organization. The AVIC and State animal 

 health official will continue to set priorities for the Incident Commanders and for use 

 of resources. 



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