A free emergency preparedness workshop for health-care professionals and those who work with persons with special needs is scheduled for next month.

The workshop will run from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Dec. 4 and 5 at the University of the Virgin Islands and will be videoconferenced between both campuses. Those interested in attending the workshop should register before Nov. 25.

The workshop is targeted to health-care professionals and others who serve children and adults with special health needs, as well as students who are planning careers in the health professions.

Attendees will learn how to conduct all planning and other activities necessary to prepare people with special health care needs under their care for the possibility of an emergency, how to respond quickly and appropriately if an emergency arises and how to keep their knowledge of emergency preparedness up-to-date.

Dr. Andrew Garrett, the director of planning and response at Columbia University's National Center for Disaster Preparedness, will be the keynote speaker.

Garrett also is an associate research scientist at the Mailman School of Public Health and the coordinator for the disaster response network of the Children's Health Fund, a national network of more than 20 mobile pediatric clinics for underserved patients.

Presenters will include representatives from the Developmental Disabilities Planning Council in New York, the Emergency Preparedness Project of the Westchester Institute for Human Development, the New York State Department of Health and the Virgin Islands University Center for Excellence on Developmental Disabilities Leadership Education and Developmental Disabilities program.

Other presenters include officials from the V.I. Territorial Emergency Management Agency and the V.I. Health Department.

Continuing education credits are available for health-care providers and other professionals who serve people with special needs and students preparing for a career to serve people with special needs.

The workshop is sponsored by the Westchester Institute for Human Development University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities in partnership with VIUCEDD. It also is supported in part by a grant from the Maternal and Child Health Bureau of the United States Department of Health and Human Services.

For further information and to register for the workshop before Nov. 25, go to www.wihd.org/conference2 or call Catherine Yankou at 914-493-8175.

To register for continuing education credits, call Shammi Carr at 693-1173.