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Small reminders
Identify community partners early. From the outset we sought to identify the critical agency representatives-perspectives, expertise and authorities. Ultimately, this cast of characters was far larger than we initially anticipated, and it continues to grow.
Be ready to shift at all times. This is a dynamic and evolving process. Use a structure to keep your process moving forward but be ready to adjust. Anticipate a significant amount of time.
Stay With the Core Public Health Functions. Public Health performs best when it does the response work it is expert at.
Prepare for staffing challenges. Staffing is one of the greatest challenges and remains unsolved. Partnerships and sturdy volunteer programs (like the Medical Reserve Corps) are critical. Planning must also address core preparedness capacities, such as staffing surge capacity (internal/external), the sufficiency of the local health care delivery system, etc.
Be ready to shift at all times. This is a dynamic and evolving process. Use a structure to keep your process moving forward but be ready to adjust. Anticipate a significant amount of time.
Stay With the Core Public Health Functions. Public Health performs best when it does the response work it is expert at.
Prepare for staffing challenges. Staffing is one of the greatest challenges and remains unsolved. Partnerships and sturdy volunteer programs (like the Medical Reserve Corps) are critical. Planning must also address core preparedness capacities, such as staffing surge capacity (internal/external), the sufficiency of the local health care delivery system, etc.
Isolation & Quarantine
Planning Process & Plan Development
Lessons Learned
Public Health Paradigm Shift
Preparedness planning and large-scale response are now considered "core functions" of Public Health's historic commitment to intervening on behalf of the community's health and safety. Public Health is now a first responder. This is a complex organizational shift and can't happen overnight.
In a large-scale, bioterrorism event or disease outbreak, all Public Health employees are essential employees. The most effective way to begin making this shift internally is to begin internal communication, recruit new employees with a responder role in mind, and encourage existing employees to volunteer in responder roles.
Key short-term steps include:
Congruency with Incident Command System
The National Incident Management System guides local Incident Command Systems (ICS) - the standard for how to manage an emergency without being hindered by jurisdictional boundaries. Build your plan according to ICS principles, and it will be consistent in format and concept of operations with other plans for emergency response (e.g., mass vaccination, mass dispensing, etc.). It will also be most efficient, scalable, "user friendly" and written in the "common language" for local "first responders" (fire, law enforcement, EMS, emergency management) as well as the State Department of Health and other governmental agencies.
Your I & Q plan should also be consistent with all other Public Health emergency response plans. Where possible, they should have a similar format, flow and operability such that agency response staff can easily find their way to specific components of the plan.
Planning Process & Plan Development
Lessons Learned
Public Health Paradigm Shift
Preparedness planning and large-scale response are now considered "core functions" of Public Health's historic commitment to intervening on behalf of the community's health and safety. Public Health is now a first responder. This is a complex organizational shift and can't happen overnight.
In a large-scale, bioterrorism event or disease outbreak, all Public Health employees are essential employees. The most effective way to begin making this shift internally is to begin internal communication, recruit new employees with a responder role in mind, and encourage existing employees to volunteer in responder roles.
Key short-term steps include:
- Add "preparedness and response activities" to all job descriptions and personnel recruitment materials.
- Incorporate emergency response into initial and ongoing employee training.
- Educate bargaining units and employee representatives about this critical need/role, and negotiate to ensure that labor contracts allow for redeployment of staff in emergency situations.
- Work with agency leadership to strategize the integration of preparedness planning and response. Problem-solve regarding resource needs (staffing, time, funding, flexibility) to handle the preparedness workload.
- Promote the preparedness effort as an opportunity to craft new partnerships across programs/departments/teams/agency divisions to build toward the goal of a unified response.
- Configure internal systems to support the assessment of employee skills and capacities to enable rapid redeployment of personnel in an emergency.
- Be clear that "something must give." Preparedness activities can't just be added to the plates of already busy staff with critical work to do in the absence of an emergency. During an emergency, many day-to-day services and programs will not operate, so that staff can help with the response effort.
Congruency with Incident Command System
The National Incident Management System guides local Incident Command Systems (ICS) - the standard for how to manage an emergency without being hindered by jurisdictional boundaries. Build your plan according to ICS principles, and it will be consistent in format and concept of operations with other plans for emergency response (e.g., mass vaccination, mass dispensing, etc.). It will also be most efficient, scalable, "user friendly" and written in the "common language" for local "first responders" (fire, law enforcement, EMS, emergency management) as well as the State Department of Health and other governmental agencies.
Your I & Q plan should also be consistent with all other Public Health emergency response plans. Where possible, they should have a similar format, flow and operability such that agency response staff can easily find their way to specific components of the plan.
