FEBRUARY 19, 3:00 - 5:00 PM WORKSHOPSCatastrophic Mass Fatality Incident Planning: Developing Comprehensive Response Strategies
Thursday February 19th, 3:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Room: Marina 6
Workshop
Session Number: 37
Catastrophic mass fatality incident planning has received relatively little attention compared to the potentially devastating impact of such an incident. Existing FEMA, PAHO, and State and local mass casualty plans and guidelines refer to mass fatality aspects of incidents but provide little or no operational guidance to mass fatality response. This session addresses the apparent resistance to confronting the realities that a catastrophic incident would have on our communities. The Mass Fatality Planning Annex being developed at Ventura County Public Health's Emergency Preparedness Office is an effort to create a detailed guide to an incident that results in catastrophic numbers of deaths. It comprises a set of individual plans, each of which would be implemented under its own Incident Command structure as part of a unified response. The session will help attendees begin working through numerous issues and provide some basic tools to begin catastrophic fatality planning in their own jurisdictions.
A Critical Preparedness Triad for the Local Health Department Community*
Thursday February 19th, 3:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Room: Marina 3
Workshop
Session Number: 81
Homeland Security PD-21 and PAHPA have defined a critical triad of required capabilities for biosurveillance, mass casualty care, and community resilience, which involve or assign public health as a key responsible agency. To meet these challenges, among other things public health must strengthen partnerships with schools, the medical community, and in building a strong volunteer workforce. Advanced Practice Center (APC) products provide enhanced capabilities and technical guidance in meeting these requirements. In this session, the Texas APC will describe its Web-based school health surveillance program and two CD products covering mass casualty triage and Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) development and training. The products provide guidance and support based on evidence-based practices with proven results in several local health departments from the north central Texas region. The Tarrant APC will describe the usage of all three products in overviews and will conduct three short practice demonstrations.
*This Workshop is an Advanced Practice Centers Training
"The Greatest Hits" for Environmental Health Emergency Preparedness*
Thursday February 19th, 3:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Room: Harbor Island 1
Workshop
Session Number: 85
Environmental health, public health, and other professionals will learn about a variety of useful resources, developed by the Twin Cities Metro Advanced Practice Center, that can help them prepare for and respond to natural and man-made disasters and planned multijurisdictional events. These materials focus on training, planning, and food protection emergency readiness. They strengthen the ability to plan for and respond to an incident and to effectively partner on behalf of the public’s health. This workshop will include group activities addressing two scenarios: a large multijurisdictional planned event of national significance and a natural disaster that strikes the community.
*This Workshop is an Advanced Practice Center Training
The Role of Non-pharmaceutical Interventions and School Closure in Pandemic Influenza
Thursday February 19th, 3:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Room: Harbor Island 2
Workshop
Session Number: 106
This session will focus on an exchange of ideas around school closure and alternatives, including concrete steps/policy changes that can be taken to prepare schools for a pandemic. Pandemic influenza threatens to cause substantial disability, death, and societal disruption and to overwhelm health care systems. Effective vaccines and anti-viral medications may not be available during the initial months of a pandemic. Non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs), such as infection control measures and behavioral changes, may be the primary means to decrease the spread of pandemic influenza. "Community Strategy for Pandemic Influenza Mitigation" (2007) lists school closure as one of the most important strategies. This can prevent the spread of influenza and protect vulnerable populations. But there are also disadvantages to widespread school closure. Children at home, especially young children, will need care in the event of widespread school closure. The adult work force, especially in the health care industry will likely be significantly be disrupted by having to care for them. School closure will also have an immediate negative impact on poor children who rely on school meal programs. Finally, school closure may result in increases in community exposure and transmission due to re-congregation of students in other settings.This session will feature presentations and discussions on:
- Issues of pandemic influenza and school closure
- Working with schools for preparedness and research
- Pittsburgh Influenza Prevention Project: a how-to intervetion approach
- Acceptability of non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) in an urban school setting
- Adoption of NPIs in an urban school setting
fCOOP: An Efficient and Effective Process for Continuity of Operations Planning
Thursday February 19th, 3:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Room: Seabreeze
Workshop
Session Number: 113
The need for continuity of operations plans (COOPs) has been well established and FEMA offers an outline for the general organization and content of COOPs. FEMA does not, however, recommend an effective process for the development and maintenance of workable and practical COOPs. The development of effective COOPs requires considerable strategic thinking, the participation of key organizational personnel, and the development of detailed time-specific implementation plans. This paper describes a simple, structured, participative, efficient, and effective process for developing and maintaining COOPs. The process, known as fCOOP (focused Continuity of Operations Planning), is an adaptation of Focused Strategic Thinking (FST), a tool designed to elicit and document the best strategic thinking of participants in the development of strategic and operational plans. FST and fCOOP have been successfully used in state and local public health departments, businesses, educational and nongovernmental organizations. Further, the paper describes use of fCOOP in local county governments and presents an example continuity of operations plan developed using the fCOOP process. Results of the fCOOP process demonstrated that more than 90 percent of a complete, detailed, and workable COOP can be developed in two one-half day sessions. It was also demonstrated that fCOOP participants could readily revise and update their continuity of operations plan after participating in the fCOOP process.
Preparing Our POD Volunteers: An Interactive Workshop for Trainers*
Thursday February 19th, 3:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Room: Coronado
Workshop
Session Number: 117
During this highly interactive train-the-trainer workshop, participants will learn how to facilitate a fun and engaging training program that prepares Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) volunteers for point of distribution (POD) operations. Developed in 2007 by the Cambridge Advanced Practice Center (APC) and Massachusetts Department of Public Health, this two part MRC training program teaches fundamental concepts while developing teamwork and group problem solving skills. In the program's first session, MRC volunteers gain a functional understanding of incident command and Job Action Sheets, They also learn to identify, trouble shoot, and resolve bottle necks or obstructions to POD flow. In the second session, volunteers work with examples of language, physical, cognitive, and cultural barriers to explore issues and potential solutions. Both training sessions use a peer-to-peer, experiential teaching methodology that appeals to a range of adult learning styles and strengthens relationships among MRC volunteers. Workshop participants will experience both parts of the training program from an MRC volunteer's point of view. They will receive a trainer's curriculum resource book, complete with lesson plans, trainer's notes, teaching materials, and pre/post tests, Participants will also gain familiarity with other Cambridge APC products (e.g., the pictogram signage and pocket communicator). The workshop will conclude with a conversation about effective teaching techniques and how the program can be modified to suit local needs.
*This Workshop is an Advanced Practice Center Training
Western Massachusetts Individuals Requiring Additional Assistance Preparedness Project
Thursday February 19th, 3:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Room: Harbor Island 3
Workshop
Session Number: 182
This several-years-long project can be divided into three stages. First, we are utilizing the Let’s Make A Plan! materials for building service agency capacity to provide for themselves and their clients, developing personal preparedness plans with an emphasis on social network building, and propagating the training material through informal community networks. Next, we are developing communication networks and resource guides between agencies to improve their emergency planning and response efforts for vulnerable populations. Finally, we are developing a workshop for first responders focusing on professional, ethical, and legal requirements for disaster response, as well as community resources and network building.
Development of a Resource Center Model and Exercise for Supporting Multiple Points of Dispensing
Thursday February 19th, 3:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Room: Bel Aire North
Workshop
Session Number: 194
Logistical support is critical to the operations of emergency prophylaxis plans involving many Points of Dispensing (PODs). The Philadelphia Department of Public Health (PDPH) wrote and tested a plan for a POD Support Center (PSC), an organized command center designed to manage situation reports and urgent requests from 40 PODs. PDPH conducted an exercise to evaluate the staff organizational model, test the flow of information and data management, assess the effectiveness of a 30-minute just-in-time training, and compare five communication modalities. Participants in this session will hear about and discuss PSC planning elements and key lessons learned from the exercise.
Challenges and Strategies for Incorporating Racial/Ethnic Minorities in Public Health Preparedness
Thursday February 19th, 3:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Room: Bel Aire South
Workshop
Session Number: 265
There is a critical need to ensure that public health preparedness planning and implementation incorporates all populations, including racial/ethnic minorities. The Drexel School of Public Health Center for Health Equality (CHE) convened a broad-based national panel of experts to develop the nation’s first blueprint for integrating minorities into critical areas of preparedness. In addition, CHE is conducting a review of state and local efforts, as well as convening local panels to identify leading initiatives, gaps, and challenges. This session will present recommendations of the national panel on priorities and specific strategies for effectively incorporating minorities in preparedness as well as findings from the review of state/local efforts and provide a brief tutorial on using www.diversitypreparedness.org as a tool for advancing preparedness in minority communities.
