Isolation And Quarantine

Considerations

Partner Recruitment Strategies. Recruiting community organizations as partners requires a strategic approach. We used the following strategies to engage partners in our I & Q planning process:

• Find allies . Ask internally for help in developing new relationships. Find out whom in your department or among your existing contacts might have relationships with desirable partners. Determine who may have influence with potential partners.
• Take the perspective of the potential partner . Consider: What is at stake for me? How could I &Q preparedness align with my mission? Could emergency preparedness elevate my visibility in community? Would participation in I & Q preparedness impact my funding? Use the Things to Think About Before Meeting with Community Partners worksheet to help you take the perspective of a potential partner.
• Convey the urgency of emergency preparedness . This can be done using data from disease outbreaks in other areas that is listed on the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention Web site or predictions about the potential for Public Health emergencies in your area.
• Don't be deterred if a potentially important partner initially declines to participate . Ask yourself, Is this agency absolutely necessary to engage? If the answer is yes, then keep hunting for allies or for a new angle that will interest that organization. Also, keep in mind that the key is how to motivate a partner to participate, not how to coerce them into involvement. A coerced partner may create more difficulty in the long run.
• Avoid putting someone in a position where they can say no . Instead, give them the opportunity to say, not right now or let me think about it.