High-Priority Tools for Public Health Emergency Legal Preparedness

Tuesday February 16th, 8:00 AM - 3:00 PM

Room: A704

Workshop

Session Number: 472

The National Association of County and City Health Officials, the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, state and local public health leaders, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have developed practical tools that county and city public health agencies and their multi-sector partners in emergency management, law enforcement, and other disciplines can use to assess and strengthen their legal preparedness for all-hazards public health emergencies. The CDC's Coordinating Office for Terrorism Preparedness and Emergency Response and Influenza Coordination Unit, consider legal preparedness critically important to public health agencies' comprehensive emergency preparedness for all-hazards emergencies, including H1N1. Participants in this highly interactive, six-hour workshop will gain a first-hand understanding of new and updated legal preparedness tools and learn from county and city colleagues and CDC's Public Health Law Program about practical approaches to using these tools to assess their agencies' and jurisdictions' legal preparedness, identifying gaps and areas of concern and taking action steps to meet performance standards of public health emergency legal preparedness. Among the tools the workshop will feature are the Social Distancing Law Assessment Template; Guide to Developing a Memorandum of Understanding for Public Health, Law Enforcement, Corrections, and the Judiciary for Coordinated Implementation of Community Response Measures to Control the Spread of Pandemic Respiratory Disease; Menu of Suggested Provisions for Public Health Mutual Aid Agreements; Forensic Epidemiology 3.0 training curriculum and Public Health Emergency Law 3.0 curriculum; Pandemic Influenza Tabletop Exercise: Legal Aspects of Pandemic Influenza; and Templates and Guidelines for Public Health Legal Action in Communicable Disease Response  guidelines.

Registration Fee: $100

Radiation Emergencies: An Integrated Public Health Response

Tuesday February 16th, 8:00 AM - 3:00 PM

Room: A706

Workshop

Session Number: 473

This workshop aims to provide the practical information needed for public health professionals to plan for response to a radiological or nuclear emergency. Presenters include subject matter experts from county and state health departments, radiation control programs, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The workshop begins with an interactive radiation primer, providing information necessary for public health professionals to understand and evaluate nuclear and radiological hazards, and focuses on practical applications by demonstrating easy radiation monitoring techniques using radiation instruments, mannequins, and sealed radioactive sources. The speakers will address the public health impact of radiation emergencies, medical response to such emergencies, including a discussion of radiation drugs, and CDC tools to support epidemiologic response to radiation. It is anticipated that members of the public will require external and/or internal radiological monitoring and, if indicated, decontamination. Public health, at local community level, can play a critical role for population monitoring and assessment. The speakers will describe these functions and recently developed CDC tools to assist in the training, planning, and operation of point of dispensing-like community reception centers in the aftermath of a radiation emergency. Strategies to prioritize specimens for bioassay and the CDC’s Urine Radionuclide Screen methods to assess internal contamination of large populations to 20 plus priority radionuclides will also be described. Effective response to radiation emergencies requires cross-cutting approaches that integrate various response elements and enhance local and state preparedness. Examples of such approaches, specifically for radiation emergency response planning, will be discussed.

Registration Fee: $100