We often hear of remarkable acts of heroism in the news, but there is another kind of hero who quietly steps up to the plate and goes the extra mile with relative anonymity.

This was the case in a recent event in which a child experienced a serious infection that required rapid public health response to protect contacts.

Lake County’s Public Health Emergency Preparedness program develops plans for situations like this – especially when it is necessary to deliver medical “countermeasures” like vaccines or antibiotics to a large segment of the community.

In this case, the need to deliver “medical countermeasures,” i.e., antibiotics to reduce the risk of getting sick from the infection, involved just over 70 people (both children and adults) who were contacts to the ill child – not enough to call a major emergency, but definitely a stress on the system.

Dr. Luis Diaz, a pediatrician at Clearlake Family Health Center, along with his staff, recognized the need to work with the Lake County’s Public Health Division, Lake County Office of Education, and the local school district to take care of approximately 50 children who were judged to be at risk.

With calmness and professionalism, they coordinated with public health to identify the best treatment option, coordinated appointments, and worked into the evening to quickly evaluate and treat the majority of the contacts.

Similarly, Lake Pharmacy worked quickly to acquire sufficient antibiotics and prepare the pediatric suspensions needed. At the other end of the Lake, North Lake Pharmacy coordinated closely to quickly dispense treatment for the exposed adults.

Lake County Office of Education worked with all of the health providers to facilitate the process.

Individually, other health providers in the community provided the necessary care for other involved individuals who sought care through their own physicians.

As public health officer for Lake County, I would like to recognize these unsung heroes whose efforts were responsible for a successful intervention to protect the health of our community. They expected no praise or reward, yet without their help, we would not have completed this effort with the efficiency we needed.

No doubt, there are numerous other examples of understated excellence in our health care community. This is one event that stood out for me, not only because of its great benefit in this particular incident, but also for its broader significance.

This experience demonstrated to me that we have hidden “gems” in our community who will be the ones to step up during disasters or other emergencies to do what needs to be done.

We should be grateful for their presence and let them know that we appreciate efforts, even if they consider their extraordinary acts just “part of the job.”

Dr. Karen Tait is public health officer for Lake County, Calif.