Health officials spend Ebola funds to build app

Staff Writer mwingerter@oklahoman.com

Remember when there was an Ebola outbreak and, worried it would reach the U.S., Congress set aside millions to prepare for it?

Almost three years later, Oklahoma County has used some of that leftover money to build a phone app to educate residents about getting ready for health emergencies, said Blaine Bolding, administrator for emergency preparedness and response at the Oklahoma City-County Health Department.

Fortunately, Ebola never took off in the United States, unlike in several West African countries, where a lack of medical supplies allowed the disease to spread. A man who had contracted Ebola in Liberia in September 2014 died despite receiving treatment in the United States. Two health care providers who cared for him were infected, but recovered. An aid worker who was infected in Guinea was treated in the United States and recovered without infecting anyone else, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Oklahoma County ultimately never had to deal with an Ebola case, but was allowed to use the emergency funds to communicate with the public about other emerging disease threats, Bolding said. The department used about $90,000 to develop it, he said.

“We wanted a way to be able to send out quick push notifications to the public,” he said.

The app, which is available for free on either Apple or Android platforms, sends out alerts for emergencies such as natural disasters, heat waves or disease outbreaks, Bolding said. People who download it also can sign up for alerts about community events and find general information about health resources, including a map of local trails, he said.

The department may eventually build on the app so it coordinates with people’s health tracking apps, and would like to add information about restaurant inspections at some point, Bolding said.

“We want to make it something that’s useful,” he said.