Preparing Public Health Staff as Point of Dispensing Liaisons

Friday February 19th, 8:30 AM - 10:00 AM

Room: International 4/5

Interactive

Session Number: 112

Having enough people to staff a point of dispensing (POD) is a challenge for many local health departments across the country. It is especially challenging for one local health district who serves a population of 460,000 people with only 80 staff members. POD sites will be staffed with community volunteers and at least one health district staff member serving as a liaison. This session will explain the role of the POD liaison as well as focus on the training methods used to prepare these staff. The training course consists of an overall POD orientation and a POD notebook training enhanced by POD games, videos, and a table-top exercise will be described.

Focused Continuity of Operations Planning (fCOOP): Updated for Continuity Guidance Circular 1

Friday February 19th, 8:30 AM - 10:00 AM

Room: M302/303

Interactive

Session Number: 141

fCOOP, a rapid-planning methodology for producing continuity of operations plans (COOPs), has been updated for the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Continuity Guidance Circular 1 (CGC 1). The session offers a template and work sheets for data collection for the production of COOPs based on CGC 1. The template and the data collection methodology have been successfully applied to the development of COOPs for state agencies in Alabama.

Surge Management of Emergency Medical Services and Public Safety Answer Points during an Influenza Pandemic

Friday February 19th, 8:30 AM - 10:00 AM

Room: International 8/9

Interactive

Session Number: 154

Management of an influenza pandemic surge affecting emergency medical services and public safety answering points will require patient prioritization and changes in response protocols. This session will focus surge response planning. For each of a variety of surge response concepts, including alternative staffing options, call and response triage, alternative transport, on-scene treat and release, cross jurisdiction coverage, medical supply, disease transmission risk reduction, disease surveillance, and priority vaccine allocation, a brief introduction to the issue, including a sample protocol,  and an interactive discussion to identify and evaluate approaches to surge management will take place.

Modeling the Processing of Mass Fatalities

Friday February 19th, 8:30 AM - 10:00 AM

Room: International 6/7

Interactive

Session Number: 206

There are several steps in processing human remains from death to burial including victim identification, cause of death determination, embalming, a memorial service, and burial. The presenter will treat this as a problem in queueing theory, using a pandemic flu outbreak as an example. Each step will be assigned a hypothetical number of decedents per day. The presenter will use a spreadsheet with the Bateman equations embedded, and the participants will be able to measure the effects of various procedure modifications. For example, how long does it take to determine cause of death with and without autopsy? How much time can be saved by not embalming? Other issues will be addressed in the discussion, such as what to do if a backlog develops at one of the steps. Participants will also study the effects of material shortages (i.e., caskets) and staff (i.e., medical examiners, embalmers).

Using Federal Regulations to Protect Public Health

Friday February 19th, 8:30 AM - 10:00 AM

Room: A602

Interactive

Session Number: 216

In this session, attendees will learn what Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is doing, through federal regulation, to protect the United States from the introduction of infectious pathogens at international ports of entry and subsequent spread of disease. Positioned at major national gateways, CDC quarantine stations have experienced first-hand the impact of globalization on public health. The rapid speed and tremendous volume of international and transcontinental travel, commerce, and human migration enable microbial threats to disperse worldwide in 24 hours—less time than the incubation period of most diseases. These and other forces intrinsic to modern technology and ways of life have stimulated calls for greater vigilance for pathogenic threats of public health significance at U.S. gateways.

The Meta-Leadership Summit for Preparedness: Engaging Communities, Changing Communities

Friday February 19th, 8:30 AM - 10:00 AM

Room: International C

Interactive

Session Number: 271

The Meta-Leadership Summit for Preparedness is a unique initiative to better prepare business, government, and non-profit leaders to work effectively together during a public health or safety crisis. Leaders learn skills needed to act effectively in a crisis and build connections with other leaders with whom they can share information and resources in an emergency. Participants will learn about the impact of a meta-leadership approach from individuals who have attended the Meta-Leadership Summit, a national program of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Foundation, CDC, Harvard School of Public Health, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Participants will also begin to consider how meta-leadership could enhance emergency preparedness planning and response in their own communities.

Retention of Key Crisis Communication Principles and the Implications for Crisis Communication Planning

Friday February 19th, 8:30 AM - 10:00 AM

Room: A706/707

Interactive

Session Number: 272

This session will share results from pre- and post-training surveys given as part of a state-wide program on crisis communication. The findings include information on retention of key principles of crisis communication both during the trainings and 60 days after the trainings. The session will include a discussion of the application of this information.

Public Health Emergency Response Gap Assessment Results

Friday February 19th, 8:30 AM - 10:00 AM

Room: International B

Interactive

Session Number: 325

In response to the H1N1 pandemic, Congress appropriated funding for the Public Health Emergency Response (PHER) grant. The purpose of PHER is to enhance the state and local public health infrastructure critical to responding to the H1N1 pandemic. To assist awardees in planning for the H1N1 pandemic, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Division of State and Local Readiness, Outcome, Monitoring and Evaluation Branch developed a gap assessment. The gap assessment collected baseline information on capacities critical to the awardees’ H1N1 planning and response, and assisted awardees in identifying priority areas for improvement. Aggregate results from PHER gap assessment will be presented. There will also be a discussion on specific capacities that proved crucial for state and local responses.

Project Public Health Ready Training Needs Assessment: Lessons Learned from the Field

Friday February 19th, 8:30 AM - 10:00 AM

Room: International 2

Interactive

Session Number: 335

Project Public Health Ready (PPHR) is a competency-based training and recognition program available for local health departments to help them better respond to emergencies. Health departments seeking PPHR recognition are required to complete a training needs assessment. Session participants will be provided with a background on PPHR and insight into the development of training needs assessment tools for two states seeking PPHR recognition using the state-supported PPHR model.

Developing and Sustaining Successful Coalitions

Friday February 19th, 8:30 AM - 10:00 AM

Room: International 3

Interactive

Session Number: 358

Participants will learn how to develop and sustain effective emergency preparedness partnerships. This session will focus on initial group formation, maintaining working relationships, decision-making, conflict resolution, and facilitation methods. The learning objectives include gaining an understanding of successful collaboration processes; techniques and useful resources; identifying elements for establishing and maintaining productive coalitions; and increasing participants’ knowledge of their own capacity for developing and sustaining partnerships.

Mass Dispensing Across State Borders

Friday February 19th, 8:30 AM - 10:00 AM

Room: International 10

Interactive

Session Number: 424

Providing medical countermeasures to a large urban population within 48 hours requires a significant effort, particularly when that population involves more than one planning jurisdiction. This session will present a variety of approaches to this issue and will engage participants in a discussion about potential lessons to be learned. This presentation is intended to strengthen communication and collaboration among states, specifically in the area of distribution and mass dispensing of medical countermeasures.

Tailored Training Preparation is Over; Implementation is Now

Friday February 19th, 8:30 AM - 10:00 AM

Room: A703/704

Interactive

Session Number: 451

This session will discuss how the utilization of Department of Homeland Security (DHS) materials and the tailoring component will enhance the effective training requirements to meet Bay County Health Department’s (TX) need and kick-off plan to SAVE LIVES. Bay County utilization of a grant-funded course provided by DHS is the catalyst for kick-off for the Just-in Time Training venue in September 2009. The kick-off during the wave of taking care of Bay County and surrounding locations is over 170,000 population for successful completion. After the training,implementation of H1N1 immunizations begin in stages or waves for a projected population of 170,000. Time-line documentation will be ongoing until Summit in 2010.

State Burn Disaster Planning

Friday February 19th, 8:30 AM - 10:00 AM

Room: M301

Interactive

Session Number: 455

Those involved in public health preparedness and medical disaster planning must have a workable strategy in place for events with significant numbers of burn patients. This session will review the North Carolina Burn Surge Disaster Program. This review will include their efforts to identify capacities and limitations and discuss the efforts underway to address this need. All disasters and solutions are local. This session is targeted to those responsible for medical disaster planning for their jurisdiction. There are applicable lessons learned that are transferable to any state with a similar need.

Public Health Teams: Building and Sustaining Their Capacity for Response

Friday February 19th, 8:30 AM - 10:00 AM

Room: A601

Interactive

Session Number: 485

Presenters will share assessments of the effectiveness of public health teams. Discussions include a simulation strategy (in-situ) to identify factors contributing to performance problems in teams; a toolkit to assess the effectiveness of Medical Reserve Corps volunteers in local health department activities; and lessons learned from Public Health Regional Surveillance Teams implementing regional exercises.