SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (NEXSTAR) — Dr. Sameer Vohra is coming up on 18 months as the director of the Illinois department of public health. He joined the department at the tail end of the worst parts of the pandemic. His first year and a half has been defined by getting it ready for the next disaster.

“We are every day thinking about improving our preparedness,” Vohra said.

The state released it’s new playbook for dealing with these emergencies. It tries to fix all the problems the state saw in 2020. Plus, establishes clear communication lines for agencies at all levels of government and healthcare. And it requires training on understanding the full scope of the actions taken on not just the health of patients, but also other impacts like on personal or professional lives when making decisions.

“Ensuring that we are in partnership and communication so that the foundation is built, so that we have the best evidence on hand,” Vohra said. “And then the governor has the best evidence on hand to make the decisions that work with the scenario that unfolds ahead of us.”

When the pandemic first started, state and local governments made connections on the fly and made certain data basically from scratch. The state is now building on those kinds of systems for the next disaster.

“It’s really making sure that our proper data systems reflects 2024 and part of the stuff that the governor has led on is putting money into our aid budget both in FY24 and FY25 to rebuild some of those data systems, including a brand new Illinois disease surveillance system,” Vohra said.

The state also understands that there was a contingent of the public that grew to not trust government and health officials. Building that trust back will be a long, slow process — but one they plan to follow through on.

“That is the responsibility of our public health agency to help prepare for whatever the next public health crisis is,” Vohra said.

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