Posts

Attending the Preparedness Summit in Anaheim? Make plans to Visit the APC Products Genius Bar!

2012-02-13T18:11:46+00:00

Come see us at the APC Products Genius Bar (booth #705 next to the NACCHO booth) at the Summit in Anaheim, CA, February 21-24! NACCHO’s APC Program is recognized as the most credible source for free public health preparedness resources that can be easily implemented by any local health department, as they are created by LHDs, for LHDs.

At the Summit, leaders from each of the eight APC LHDs will be on hand to demonstrate the APC Program’s free toolkits, resources, and to provide consultative support. There will be a laptop set up to facilitate your online registration to apc.naccho.org where you can then download free resources to help your LHD meet its public health preparedness goals and objectives – including objectives related to any of the 15 PHEP Capabilities. Be sure to bring a flash drive or USB key with you so you can download relevant APC products on the spot!

Make plans now to visit the APC Products Genius Bar, meet with product developers, and get your questions answered about how APC products can support your local PHP needs – the products are “genius,” if we do say so ourselves!

Public Health Reserve Corps ramps up to sign up more volunteers for 2012!

2011-12-28T19:45:11+00:00

As we think about the year ahead and what it may hold for us, volunteering may be one activity you are considering. I recently sat down with Dave Nichols, Program Manager of the Public Health Reserve Corps and asked him to share with me the value of Public Health/Medical Reserve Corps Volunteers and why people should consider volunteering in 2012…
“At Public Health we strive to provide our volunteers with quality missions to help public health in its mission, and trying to bring limited healthcare to those who do not have access to regular healthcare. We strongly believe it is important to engage and schedule our volunteers for non-emergency events to keep our reserve corps active and engage in the community.”
For more information on the great work being championed by the Public Health Reserve Corps see their Facebook page and subscribe to their feed to stay up to date on their work. We also have planning information on mobilizing staff and volunteers in our Managing Surge Response and Public Health Activation APC toolkit.

Testing and Feedback Opportunity!!!

2011-11-10T16:42:30+00:00

Greetings,

Many of the Advanced Practice Centers from around the country each have preparedness tools and resources that are also in need testing over the next year. There are several products to choose from covering several topical areas. APCs are listed below, along with respective products. This is a great way to meet training and exercise requirements, while helping us complete a robust evaluation of these resources to ensure they meet the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) criteria for excellence.

IMPORTANT: Please contact the APCs directly, and do NOT respond to this email. The APC manager at each site will be happy to follow up and provide additional information re: the pilot process, timelines or any of the tools. Contact information is included, below.

SEATTLE KING COUNTY APC (SEATTLE, WA)
Contact Jeff Boudreau, (jeff.boudreau@kingcounty.gov, 206.263.8707)

Business Not AS Usual: Preparing for Pandemic Flu:

(http://apc.naccho.org/Products/APC20081323/Pages/Overview.aspx)

Help businesses, government agencies, and community-based organizations in your jurisdiction with their pandemic flu planning efforts. This 20-minute video profiles leaders from a variety of organizations as they prepare for the consequences of an influenza pandemic. The stories illustrate key elements of planning that apply to all of us, no matter where we work.

Emergency Risk Communication for Public Health Professionals:

(http://www.nwcphp.org/training/courses/risk-communication)

Effective communication with the public during an emergency is vital to protect the community’s health. This module can help you learn how to better handle your risk communication. It provides an overview of how to plan for an emergency, create effective messages, and interact with the media and community in times of crisis.

Meeting the Needs of Vulnerable Populations: Equity in Emergency Response:

(http://www.apctoolkits.com/vulnerablepopulation)

Reaching vulnerable and at-risk populations during a public health emergency is a challenging and complex issue. This toolkit provides information and tools to assess, engage and build relationships with key community based organizations that serve vulnerable populations.

Managing Surge Response & Public Health Workforce Activation:

(http://www.apctoolkits.com/phworkforceactivation/)

Public health departments are preparing for an array of potential events requiring large scale response. The toolkit shares processes and resources regarding mobilization of staff to staff emergency response teams.

MESA COUNTY APC (GRAND JUNCTION, CO)
Contact: Greg Rajnowski, greg.rajnowski@mesacounty.us, 970.248.5929

Environmental Health Emergency Response Guide: The Environmental Health Emergency Response Guide can complement existing emergency plans or serve as a foundation when developing a new environmental health emergency response plan. The guide addresses 15 environmental health-related topics and describes the potential roles for environmental health professionals during an emergency or disaster.
Emergency Handbook for Food Managers: The manual is a quick reference guide to provide step-by-step emergency information to food managers and other supervisory personnel at food service establishments. The handbook addresses both naturally occurring and man-made emergencies; provides prompts for whom to call, first steps to take and subsequent recovery actions to follow after an emergency happens; contains tips on managing longer-term emergencies cause by disruptions of utilities and municipal services; offers ongoing food security and emergency preparedness advice.
Emergency Readiness for Food Workers - Trainer Guide: This trainer’s guide offers food trainers a scripted, two-hour course on the fundamentals that will help food workers prevent or mitigate impacts to the safety of food and people in the panic of an emergency. The Emergency Handbook for Food Managers serves as the basis for this training guide. The trainer guide is recommended for food manager certification renewal training.
Decision Making in the Field during Disasters: Roll play as an environmental health professional during response and recovery efforts for floods and train derailments. Then test your knowledge and skills of environmental health professionals during disasters.
Blueprint for the Use of Volunteers in Hospitals and Rural Medical Centers: This web-based toolkit was developed to help hospitals and local public health agencies plan for the integration of volunteers into incident response through just-in-time training.

MONTGOMERY COUNTY APC (SILVER SPRING, MD)
Contact Rachel Abbey, MPH (rachel.abbey@montgomerycountymd.gov, 240.777.4670)

Plan to Be Safe: Training Modules for Emergency Operations of Dispensing and Vaccinations-A Guide for Public Health Program Planners: Designed by public health emergency planners as a 101 on public health clinic operations for training public health staff by offering four different training modules which can be used as either a series of trainings or as individual trainings.
Emergency Response Planning for Child Care Providers: A collaborative effort between the child care community and public health, this toolkit is designed to plan and prepare child care providers for emergency events and to assist in the recovery effort by helping children cope with traumatic events. Another training module, the COOP Training for Child Care Providers is an additional training module for child care providers is intended to build upon emergency response training with additional tools and resources to develop at COOP plan for emergency events.
Emergency Checklist for Nursing Homes, Assisted Living Facilities and Group Homes: Developed to assist facilities in planning for emergency events, this checklist covers training, planning and assessment of emergency planning efforts.
Clinic Planning Model Generator: Mass prophylaxis clinics are a primary function of the response a major public health event. The Clinic Planning Model Generator (CPMG) is a downloadable Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet computer model which will help public health emergency planners to determine staffing and estimate capacity and congestion of mass prophylaxis clinic.

SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA APC (SAN FRANCISCO, CA)
Contact info@sfbayapc.org

CERT-Pandemic-H1N1 Influenza Train-the-Trainer Toolkit: Enhance emergency preparedness and response capacity in your community with the CERT-Pandemic-H1N1 Influenza Train-the-Trainer Toolkit—a pandemic flu training resource designed to give your Community Emergency Response Team the knowledge and tools needed to prepare for a pandemic in your community.
Conducting a BT-Tabletop: A How-To Guide: Help ensure your tabletop exercise is well-designed and executed with design and facilitation tips from Conducting a BT-Tabletop: A How-To Guide, including special guidance for bioterrorism tabletops.
Epi Essentials for Public Health Practitioners: Teach your staff simple steps for creating health assessments and access just-in-time training resources for managing outbreak events.
Public Health Mutual Aid Agreements: Mutual aid agreements can help ensure your community has the resources it needs to respond to a public health emergency. Support the health of your community by establishing mutual aid agreements with other municipalities—Public Health Mutual Aid Agreements can help!

SEATTLE KING COUNTY APC (SEATTLE, WA)
Contact Jeff Boudreau, (jeff.boudreau@kingcounty.gov, 206.263.8707)

Business Not AS Usual: Preparing for Pandemic Flu:

(http://apc.naccho.org/Products/APC20081323/Pages/Overview.aspx)

Emergency Risk Communication for Public Health Professionals:

(http://www.nwcphp.org/training/courses/risk-communication)

Meeting the Needs of Vulnerable Populations: Equity in Emergency Response:

(http://www.apctoolkits.com/vulnerablepopulation)

Managing Surge Response & Public Health Workforce Activation:

(http://www.apctoolkits.com/phworkforceactivation/)

Regards,
Jeff Boudreau / Project Program Manager II
PUBLIC HEALTH - SEATTLE & KING COUNTY
401 5TH AVE, STE 1300 SEATTLE WA 98104
206.263.8707 phone │ 206.296.0166 fax
jeff.boudreau@kingcounty.gov
http://www.apctoolkits.com

2011 Joint Conference on Health

2011-10-19T16:58:28+00:00

Building Community Together – Creating Opportunities for Better Health, is the focus of the 2011 Joint Conference on Health. This year the conference examines the inter-connections between local health departments and the greater health and medical community and explores ways to expand and build upon those relationships as we struggle to maintain services in an ever more resource limited environment.

On Monday morning Mary Selecky, Susan Dreyfus and Heidi Robbins-Brown from the Washington State Department of Health gave an update on the on the state of the Washington budget and the possible outlook for 2011-2012 which could include additional cuts to services. They outlined the priorities and challenges in meeting those priorities that have been worked on at the state level and shared feedback from local health departments regarding the real world impacts of these cuts. Even with the bad news presented to the conference in plenary speeches there where many workshops that showcased yet again the amazing work going on all around the state by local health department’s continuing to strive and meet the needs of the populations they serve. Two of the workshops I was able to attend dealt with addressing cultural barriers in accessing behavioral health services and improving the access to translated materials around the state. Showing once again that even as we learn to do more with less, public health in Washington State continues to be an innovative.

Seattle & King County and Multnomhah APCs attended to share APC tools and talked with a number of participants who continue to look for preparedness tools and resources to help them save time and money.

Advanced Practice Centers Partner to Conduct Training Workshops in Burlington, WA

2011-09-28T18:20:02+00:00

The San Francisco Bay Area and Seattle-King County Advanced Practice Centers (APCs) conducted a training workshop on several APC products and one Preparedness and Emergency Response Research Center (PRRC) project at the Burlington Fire Department in Burlington, WA on September 16, 2011. Nine public health professionals representing five counties and the Washington State Department of Health were in attendance. Training participants learned about the San Francisco Bay Area APC’s Infectious Disease Emergency Response (IDER) and Seasonal and Pandemic Influenza Vaccination and Assessment (SPIVA) toolkits. Seattle & King County APC shared tools for vulnerable populations planning, including Survivor Tales, community engagement, translation processes, and Meeting the Needs of Vulnerable Populations: Equity in Emergency Response. Workshop participant Katie Denter, a Regional Learning Specialist from the Snohomish Health District in Washington said, “This was a fantastic training and provided tools that I will actually use and are very timely with the new CDC capabilities.”

New Emergency Preparedness Tools for Local Health Departments!

2011-09-07T15:06:50+00:00

The San Francisco Bay Area Advanced Practice Center, which represents a partnership between the San Francisco Department of Public Health and the UC Berkeley Center for Infectious Diseases and Emergency Readiness, recently launched two new emergency preparedness products for local health departments: the Infectious Disease Emergency Response (IDER) Toolkit and the Seasonal and Pandemic Influenza Vaccination Assessment (SPIVA) Toolkit.

The IDER Toolkit provides local health departments with guidance and templates that can be used to develop and operationalize a National Incident Management System-compliant response plan for infectious disease emergencies at the local level. It draws on extensive public health preparedness activities, experiences from the recent H1N1 outbreak, survey findings, and discussions with health departments throughout the country. The IDER Toolkit addresses unique features of an infectious disease emergency response, such as disease containment and epidemiology and surveillance, and includes modifiable organizational charts, job action sheets, and public health-specific Incident Command System forms.

The SPIVA Toolkit gives an orientation to using community assessment methods as a tool for emergency preparedness. The SPIVA Toolkit provides an overview of how to use key informant interviews and focus groups to inform assessment activities, a step-by-step guide to designing and conducting effective vaccination surveys, a description of online tools and resources that may assist with data collection and analysis, and field-tested examples that show how other counties have implemented community assessments.

The IDER and SPIVA Toolkits are free and accessible online at http://www.sfbayapc.org. Help spread the word about these free resources for local health departments by posting one of our promotional web buttons on your personal page or organization’s website: http://sfbayapc.sfcdcp.org/button_gallery.

Update: We are pleased to announce that the San Francisco Bay Area Advanced Practice Center and the Seattle-King County Advanced Practice Center will be coming to Region 1 on September 16, 2011 to conduct training on three different toolkits.

The San Francisco Bay Area APC will present:

Infectious Disease Emergency Response Toolkit - http://sfbayapc.org/IDER.html
Seasonal and Pandemic Influenza Vaccination Assessment Toolkit - http://sfbayapc.org/spiva.html

The Seattle-King County APC will present:
Vulnerable populations - http://www.apctoolkits.com/vulnerablepopulation/

The training will be held from 8:30 am – 4:30 pm, in Burlington.

Happenings at the 8th Annual Tribal Public Health Emergency Preparedness Conference

2011-08-24T14:06:09+00:00

This year’s conference was at the Little Creek Casino in Shelton Washington and is a continuation on last year’s theme of “Bridging the Gap: Public Health and Emergency Management.” The conference was attended by over 300 participants including representatives from almost 40 tribal nations in Idaho, Oregon and Washington. At this year’s event, the Seattle – King County Advanced Practice Center (APC) partnered with Multnomah County APC to host an informational kiosk showcasing a variety of toolkits including the Survivor Tales graphic novel series and the Family Assistance Center toolkit. Visitors to the APC kiosk where given the opportunity to sigh up for the online APC toolbox and download tools of their choice to key drives to take with them.

The conference allowed participants to interact with tribal, federal, state and local partners and address issues related to public health emergency preparedness and response. Informational kiosks set up in the main conference center offered the attendees the opportunity to find grants, resources, information and subject matter experts to assist with developing; enhancing and further building program capacity and capability. Information kiosks included partners from FEMA, US Health and Human Services, Washington State Department of Health, Washington State Emergency Management Division, American Indian Health Commission, Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board, The Northwest Tribal Emergency Management Council, Seattle & King County APC, Multnomah County APC and the Northwest Center for Public Health Practice.

For more information, including a full agenda of the two days, please visit the conference website.

Portland based Advanced Practice Center rises to the training challenge!!!

2011-08-02T16:04:11+00:00

It’s true. Seattle may have beaten us for “The West’s Best Food Town” in this month’s issue of Sunset Magazine, but we’ll give them a run for their money on most things any day. Despite the friendly rivalry between the Queen City and the smaller Rose City to the south, we’re pretty certain we can agree on at least one thing: the importance of creating safe, healthy and resilient communities in the face of man-made or natural disasters.

The Advanced Practice Center program at Multnomah County Health Department (Portland, Ore.) has worked diligently over the past two years to develop a portfolio of surge capacity toolkits for local health departments. Focused on an inclusive approach to just-in-time training (I-JITT), these toolkits were developed to enhance traditional JITT programs by using an inclusive framework—or one that considers the cognitive, behavioral and emotional needs of responders, while acknowledging the way in which adults learn, as well as the cultural influences of individuals, groups and organizations. A third tool allows preparedness planners to critically assess how to allocate staff during a large-scale emergency requiring both public health investigation and mass prophylaxis operations.

So, admit it Seattle. While you bring near perfection to all things “city”, you can’t deny our dedication and commitment to building resilient communities (or the food cart movement, for that matter!). And hey, who has a TV show based on them, anyway?

Visit the MCHD APC Web site to learn more about their workforce development/I-JITT resources. Questions? Contact us at apc@multco.us

Reflections on NACCHO annual meeting 2011

2011-07-22T15:24:06+00:00

NACCHO model practices

In today’s fiscal climate, it is essential for local public health departments to share best practices to help us all weather the seemingly relentless pressure to do more with less. Many innovative and effective practices were shared at the model practices reception held during NACCHO’s 2011 annual meeting. From new models (or new twists on tried and true models) of medical countermeasure distribution, to public health informatics, to healthcare surge planning, to disease surveillance, several of this year’s recognized practices have the potential to save time, improve outcomes, and break through process logjams in the area of public health preparedness planning. Thank you to the health departments who took the time to document their successful strategies and outcomes, and who came to Hartford to talk to us about what is working and why.

To a first time attendee, the collegial and supportive atmosphere at the NACCHO annual meeting is electrifying. Approach a fellow attendee to inquire about their work, and you’ll find yourself scribbling down a notebook full of helpful tips and resources as you grow excited imagining how to put their ideas into practice in your jurisdiction. Invariably, each interview concludes with a referral to another attendee doing exemplary work in the area you’re discussing. In this manner, initiating a single conversation can generate an exponential number of new ideas.

Public Health – Seattle & King County was recognized through the model practices program in 2010 for our public engagement toolkit, also known as our Vulnerable Populations Equity in Emergency Response toolkit, for the many best practices, and guidelines it includes. We’re already thinking about the innovative practices we can submit for consideration next year. Are you? Whether public health funding continues to contract, or finally starts to grow again, let’s continue to blatantly rip off each other’s good ideas. Imitation is the highest form of flattery.

For more information on NACCHO model practice awards follow this link.

Now featuring a tool from Tarrant County (TX) Introduction to Public Health 101 for First Responders

2011-07-07T17:40:12+00:00

The Introduction to Public Health 101 for First Responders tool is a CD toolkit developed in 2009. This training tool introduces Tarrant County police and fire/EMS cadets to the principles of public health, with particular emphasis on the roles and responsibilities of public health during an emergency.

Completed in September 2009 and available at no cost by signing up on the NACCHO website, the product reflects the need to reinforce the collaborative nature of emergency preparedness and the critical need to work together to ensure a coordinated, efficient community response.

This tool contains both a didactic piece and train the trainer notes. Specific topics covered include introduction to public health, preparedness, strategic national stockpile, epidemiology, avian influenza, white powder incident, and isolation and quarantine.

Trainers can use the resources on this product “as is” or customize them for their unique needs. The product contains handouts, pre– and post-tests, evaluations, and exercises in addition to the lecture notes. The product requires no special training or computer equipment other than the availability of a CD drive or access to the Internet.

For more information please visit out website: http://www.ntexasapc.net
Or contact the Tarrant County APC program at: wfstephens@tarrantcounty.com