Does your jurisdiction have a public information call center (PICC)? This toolkit is designed to walk you through the basic steps of developing a PICC to help build the capacity to handle a surge in phone calls during a public health emergency.
|Seattle & King County Advanced Practice Center ||Risk Communication||Word||Reference / Guides||English||1/16/2012 3:43 PM||Gaurav Mahajan|
<br>Prepare for medical surge by engaging community pharmacies/pharmacists with preparedness efforts.
Federal, state, and local governments must reach out to pharmacists to ensure that they are included in policy decisions and emergency planning, and to seek their input on the pharmaceutical needs of vulnerable populations. Rx4Prep is an interactive, educational website to help local health departments obtain information about collaborating with pharmacies and connect with other users.<br><br>
|Montgomery County Advanced Practice Center ||Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and Explosive Preparedness||Website; Podcast||Reference / Guides||English||3/13/2012 4:46 PM||Susan Wherley||Blueprint for the Use of Volunteers in Hospitals and Rural Medical Centers; Building Preparedness: Proven Tools for Your Health Department||http://apc.naccho.org/Products/APC20101002|
1. Engage local health departments (LHDs) and pharmacies/pharmacists to work together on all hazards emergency preparedness and response.
2. Define important resources to increase awareness and understanding of public health and pharmacy organizations.
3. Provide current tools, resources and materials that:
• Identify strategies to connect LHDs and community pharmacists and other local pharmacy leaders;
• Foster sustainable relationships by demonstrating new products and areas of mutual benefit;
• Create links between hospitals, healthcare professionals, emergency management, LHDs, and pharmacists/pharmacies; and
• Describe trainings and drills that LHDs and community pharmacists and pharmacies can use to train, be READY and practice for emergencies.
<br>Alternative care sites, shelters, and points of dispensing (PODs) require a specific number and type of facility depending upon the public health scenario and the number of persons affected.
The Alternative Care Site Planning Model is intended to help public health officials evaluate the resources required to staff and equip alternative care sites in multiple emergency scenarios.<br><br>
|Montgomery County Advanced Practice Center||Workforce||Website||3/13/2012 1:46 PM||Susan Wherley||http://apc.naccho.org/Products/APC20101003|
The Alternative Care Site Planning Model is intended to help public health officials evaluate the resources required to staff and equip alternative care sites in multiple emergency scenarios.
This model focuses on the critical resources needed for alternative care sites. It is not intended to manage all materials required. Users must have Microsoft Excel in order to operate the model.
Does the public really understand the difference between the terms "avian influenza" and "pandemic influenza"? Do they know how avian and pandemic influenzas are spread? Are they familiar with simple ways to prepare for influenza?
This tool is both a resource for local health departments to educate their communities and a self-study for persons who wish to increase their own knowledge and awareness. This tool includes a PDF of the “Complete Presentation Guide” which includes The PowerPoint presentation with speaker's notes, pre- and post-tests, suggested handouts, and interactive activities. Word documents are available for the Pre- and Post-Test and evaluation.
|Montgomery County Advanced Practice Center||Risk Communication||Word; PDF||Reference / Guides||English||5/20/2011 11:05 AM||Ian Goldstein|
<br>Prepare for an emergency by equipping first responders with the medication they need to safely respond to a biological incident or other public health disaster. Protect first responders while cutting down on response time.
The Bio-Pack toolkit demonstrates an effective model of medication prepositioning implemented in Montgomery County, MD.<br><br>
|Montgomery County Advanced Practice Center||Mass Medical Countermeasures; Workforce||HostedVideo||Reference / Guides||English||3/13/2012 4:56 PM||Susan Wherley||http://apc.naccho.org/Products/APC2005681|
• Demonstrate an effective model of medication prepositioning for first responders through bio-packs.
• Highlight challenges of medication prepositioning, including implementation, screening, purchase, storage, and dispensing.
<br>Foster relationships with community partners and incorporate volunteers into local preparedness and response.
This toolkit was developed to help hospitals and public health agencies integrate volunteer support into hospital inpatient, emergency department, and incident response operations through deployment of just-in-time training (JITT) and exercise curricula.<br><br>
|Mesa County Advanced Practice Center||Partnerships and Collaborations; Volunteer Management||Website; Podcast||Reference / Guides||English||3/14/2012 10:21 AM||Susan Wherley||http://apc.naccho.org/Products/APC20102192|
• Refine medical surge tools in a way that will enhance partnership-building.
• Make the use of medical and non-medical volunteers in public health and hospital activities more efficient.
• Simplify exercises and just-in-time training.
• Provide tools for volunteer management and integration into hospitals.
• Communities will develop a local committee that coordinates emergency preparedness and response planning efforts among
the communities’ stakeholders.
• A Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program (HSEEP)-compliant training and exercise program will be created. This
program will develop a jurisdiction's target capabilities and make the most use of limited resources.
• The hospital, volunteer organization, and local public health agency will be prepared to use volunteers in a surge situation and
agree on how to integrate them into hospital operations.
• The local hospital or medical center will have a Joint Commission-compliant Emergency Operations Plan (EOP) that is up-to-date.
<br>A Continuity of Operations Plan (COOP) facilitates the performance of a health department's functions during a public health emergency or other situation which may interrupt normal services.<br><br>
This tip sheet guides local health departments through the second phase of COOP planning, the process of identifying critical functions and services. <br><br>
|Montgomery County Advanced Practice Center||Continuity of Operations Planning||Word||Reference / Guides; Training||English||3/14/2012 12:01 PM||Susan Wherley||http://apc.naccho.org/Products/APC20071696|
• Identify critical day-to-day services of the local health department that will need to continue to
ensure uninterrupted performance during a wide spectrum of emergency events or disasters.
<br>Building a Public Health Community of Practice – A Biosurveillance Resource Compendium is a CD toolkit intended to help public health agencies implement an effective, comprehensive biosurveillance program.
Providing approximately 40 resources, the CD includes a series of articles on implementing biosurveillance initiatives, materials defining and discussing the development of a public health community of practice, specific examples of real-world tools and resources that have proven beneficial in North Texas (including system response protocols), and a research report on biosurveillance system efficacy.<br><br>
|Tarrant County Advanced Practice Center||Biosurveillance, Disease Detection, and Investigation||CD||Reference / Guides||English||3/14/2012 3:58 PM||Susan Wherley||http://apc.naccho.org/Products/APC20081484|
• Help public health agencies strengthen partnerships with stakeholders at the federal, state and local levels and with the medical community, law enforcement, first responders, and schools.
<br>Learn about public health preparedness issues such as isolation and quarantine, workforce activation/surge, vulnerable populations planning, risk communications, and pandemic influenza preparedness with tools directed towards Local Health Departments (LHDs), businesses, and community agencies.<br><br>
|Seattle & King County Advanced Practice Center||Risk Communication||CD||Training||English||3/14/2012 3:55 PM||Susan Wherley||http://apc.naccho.org/Products/APC20091746|
Build, strengthen, and carry out emergency response strategies in:
• Vulnerable and at-risk populations
• Risk communication
• Pandemic flu
• Healthcare response
• Isolation and quarantine
• Community and partner engagement
<br>Help businesses, government agencies, and community-based organizations in your jurisdiction with pandemic flu planning efforts.<br><br>
This 20-minute video profiles leaders from a variety of organizations as they prepare for the consequences of an influenza pandemic. <br><br>
|Seattle & King County Advanced Practice Center||Pandemic Influenza Preparedness; Risk Communication||HostedVideo; PDF||Reference / Guides; Training; Templates||English||3/14/2012 4:31 PM||Susan Wherley||http://apc.naccho.org/Products/APC20081323|
• Prevent and prepare for pandemic influenza in your community by working with local businesses, government agencies, and organizations.
<br>Partner with Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) trainers in your jurisdiction to provide them with pandemic H1N1 influenza training resources.
Increase awareness of the threat of a pandemic influenza and its impact on the community and give CERT participants the education and tools needed to increase preventive health behaviors and limit the spread of the pandemic influenza virus.
|Santa Clara County Advanced Practice Center, revised by the San Francisco Bay Area Advanced Practice Center||Workforce||CD; HostedVideo||Training; Reference / Guides; Checklists||English; ASL (Sign); French; Hmong; Spanish||10/25/2012 1:41 PM||Ian Goldstein||http://apc.naccho.org/Products/APC20091779|
• Describe the differences between seasonal, avian, and pandemic H1N1 influenza
• Identify steps of how to prepare a household for pandemic influenza.
• Describe the function of CERTs and potential roles during an influenza pandemic.
• Learn how to use personal protective equipment (PPE) for CERTs.
<br>Avoid congestion, crowding, and confusion by quickly creating an accurate model that will provide assistance with planning for a public health vaccination or dispensing clinic.
This tool can be used either in the advance planning stages or for immediate support during an actual event. The computer model is designed to assist in planning a clinic with improved efficiency and performance while enlightening the planners on what to expect in the event of an outbreak.<br><br>
|Montgomery County Advanced Practice Center||Mass Medical Countermeasures||Website||Reference / Guides||English||3/21/2012 5:04 PM||Susan Wherley||http://apc.naccho.org/Products/APC2008258|
• Create mathematical and simulation models of mass dispensing and vaccination clinics (also known as points of dispensing or PODs).
• Develop decision support tools to help emergency preparedness planners plan clinics that have enough capacity to serve residents quickly while avoiding unnecessary congestion.
<br>The Closed POD Partnerships: Train the Trainer website is designed for businesses, faith-based and community-based organizations, higher education institutions (colleges and universities) and federal agencies that are interested in partnering with their local health department as closed Points of Dispensing (PODs) for mass dispensing of antibiotics to employees, family members and/or clients in the event of a large scale infectious disease emergency.
This resource includes self-guided online training modules, forms, templates, fact sheets, planning resources, checklists, and information useful for staff setting up and working a closed POD. <br><br>
|San Francisco Bay Area Advanced Practice Center||Partnerships and Collaborations||Website||Reference / Guides||English||3/22/2012 1:20 PM||Susan Wherley||http://apc.naccho.org/Products/APC20101780|
• Learn how a closed point of dispensing (POD) works.
• Set up and activate a closed POD.
• Conduct just-in-time training for closed POD staff.
<br>Tabletop exercises are one of the strategies that the public health workforce can use to convene and engage their community partners. This resource provides state and local public health entities with information and guidance on the key ingredients to consider when developing and facilitating a bioterrorism tabletop exercise.
|Dekalb County Board of Health Advanced Practice Center, revised by the San Francisco Bay Area Advanced Practice Center||Workforce||PDF||Training; Reference / Guides||English||3/22/2012 1:34 PM||Susan Wherley||http://apc.naccho.org/Products/APC200567|
• Set goals.
• Select a coordinator, a facilitator, and participants.
• Develop the scenario and questions.
• Address logistical issues.
<br>Provide child care providers with the knowledge and skills to develop a continuity of operations plan (COOP) for emergency events, specifically an H1N1 influenza pandemic.
This tool includes a trainer outline, notes, handouts, and PowerPoint presentations. The training can be used by local health departments or other community service agencies to help prepare the child care community for emergency events.
|Montgomery County Advanced Practice Center||Workforce||PDF||Training||English||3/22/2012 1:57 PM||Susan Wherley||Emergency Response Planning for Child Care Providers||http://apc.naccho.org/Products/APC20091732|
• Describe the purpose and components of a continuity of operations plan (COOP).
• Recall the response sequence for children or staff with pandemic flu symptoms.
• Identify local, state, and national resources for keeping up-to-date on pandemic flu and other emergency information.
<br> This training program guides Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) volunteer candidates through various topics that conform to the MRC Core Competencies Matrix. The tool covers various topics, including disaster preparedness, universal precautions, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), and other topics essential for the proper training of volunteers.
The CD-ROM includes resource links, videos, a course map, and exercises for self-assessment.<br><br>
|Tarrant County Advanced Practice Center||Workforce||HostedVideo; PowerPoint||Training; Other; Reference / Guides||English||3/22/2012 4:44 PM||Susan Wherley||http://apc.naccho.org/Products/APC20091728|
• Domain 1: Health, Safety, and Preparedness
• Domain 2: Roles and Responsibilities of Volunteers
• Domain 3: Introduction to Public Health
• Domains 2 & 3: Shared Content
<br>This toolkit is intended to serve as a resource to help you develop a plan for family assistance services that can be applied to all hazards. It contains four sections related to developing a Family Assistance Center (FAC) plan: Prepare to Plan, Components of Plan, Role of Federal Partners, and Training Resources. <br><br>
|Seattle & King County Advanced Practice Center||Partnerships and Collaborations||Website||3/23/2012 1:58 PM||Susan Wherley||http://apc.naccho.org/Products/APC20102208|
• Understand the context and rationale for operating Family Assistance Centers (FACs) during mass-casualty or mass-fatality incidents.
• Identify the principles that should guide the operations of a FAC.
• Develop a plan for a FAC, including strategies for addressing the behavioral health needs of families.
This Crisis Communications Guide and Checklist, created by the Montgomery County Advanced Practice Center, is to assist public health planners in the preparation for a public health emergency by equipping them with the knowledge and understanding of basic crisis communications components.
The 2001 anthrax crisis is used to illustrate key components of the ideas discussed.
Approximately 30 pages long and available in PDF format, this guide is divided into three sections:
a literature review;
a quick guide that summarizes key points from the relevant literature; and,
a checklist for message development/evaluation.
|Montgomery County Advanced Practice Center||Risk Communication||PDF||Reference / Guides||English||5/20/2011 11:05 AM||Ian Goldstein|
The Crisis, Emergency, and Risk (CERC) Toolkit evolved from Santa Clara County's increased understanding and recognition of the need to build a strong operational framework for emergency public communication activities. Toolkit materials are predicated on "lessons learned" from actual events and best practices from the numerous trainings, drills, tabletops and exercises in which we have been participants and/or facilitators. The goal of the CERC Toolkit is to provide information and materials to other public health departments and assist in the development and organization of public information activities. The ultimate goal is for all public health departments to be better prepared in order to communicate efficiently and effectively in a public health emergency.
|Santa Clara County Advanced Practice Center||Risk Communication||Website||Reference / Guides||English||5/20/2011 11:05 AM||Ian Goldstein|
The Guide to Multi-jurisdictional Collaborations is a resource for leaders in Public Health Emergency Preparedness who seek answers about their community's capacity to respond to disasters. This Guide provides examples of laws, inter-jurisdictional cooperation agreements, collaborations, policies, practices, and procedures. Additionally, the Guide addresses various formal and informal means to develop agreements, potential legal issues these agreements may generate, and the benefits and liabilities governments and their agents may reasonably expect when entering into such agreements.
|Western New York Public Health Alliance Advanced Practice Center||Partnerships and Collaborations||PDF||Reference / Guides||English||1/10/2011 9:47 AM||Ian Goldstein||http://apc.naccho.org/Products/APC20091690|
<br> This module provides an engaging educational experience that simulates field-based decisions related to environmental health issues for two scenarios: a major flood and a chemical spill caused by a train derailment.<br><br>
|Twin Cities Metro Advanced Practice Center, revised by the Mesa County Advanced Practice Center||Environmental Health Emergency Preparedness||CD; Podcast||Training; Reference / Guides||English||3/23/2012 4:41 PM||Susan Wherley||http://apc.naccho.org/Products/APC20091722|
After reading the background information, choose which scenario you want to complete. Playing the role of an environmental health professional, answer questions about how you would address a variety of issues that you encounter during the disaster. After answering each question, you earn points based on the relative correctness of your decision, given the three choices available in each situation. You also receive feedback explaining the merits or drawbacks of the possible answer answers. At the end of each scenario, you obtain your final score and can review the questions and feedback.
<br>Design and conduct a full-scale disaster exercise using a DVD-based interactive training course designed to assist public health and emergency management professionals.
The DVD includes video footage that details Tarrant County's full-scale dirty bomb disaster drill. The tool also includes an interactive training manual as well as a chapter-based lecture series focused on the design and evaluation components of a public health exercise.<br><br>
|Tarrant County Advanced Practice Center||Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and Explosive Preparedness||DVD; HostedVideo; PDF||Exercises; Training||English||3/26/2012 2:29 PM||Susan Wherley||http://apc.naccho.org/Products/APC2005272|
• Identify the basic components of a field functional exercise for public health.
• Compare a field functional exercise to drills, tabletops, full-scale exercises, and top offs.
• Set performance expectations and scale the exercise to include budget considerations.
• Plan a field functional exercise.
• Define key collaboration and partnerships including required expertise and level of experience.
<br>Discover the process for utilizing pharmacies as medication dispensing and vaccination sites during emergencies by building effective partnerships between local health departments and community pharmacists.
This toolkit contains four sections related to Developing Effective and Sustainable Medication Dispensing Strategies: Background, Planning, Activation & Operation, and Policy & Legal. A user guide and table top exercise are also available on the website.<br><br>
|Seattle & King County Advanced Practice Center ||Partnerships and Collaborations; Mass Medical Countermeasures||Website||3/26/2012 2:53 PM||Susan Wherley||A Prescription for Preparedness: An Online Community for Local Health Departments and Pharmacists to Help Ready America for Emergencies||http://apc.naccho.org/Products/APC20102206|
• Document the process for developing collaborative drug therapy agreements and memoranda of understanding between local health departments (LHDs) and pharmacists/their organizations to utilize pharmacies as medication dispensing and vaccination sites during emergency events.
• Document a medication and vaccine distribution strategy that involves partnering between LHDs and pharmacy organizations for responding to emergency events.
• Identify opportunities and challenges in working with community pharmacists for emergency preparedness and response.
<br> For this training module, environmental health professionals from around the country shared how they dealt with actual disasters and emergencies. Their real-world stories – through which they share valuable tips, techniques, and lessons learned – will guide you through the preparation, response, and recovery stages of emergencies and disasters.
|Twin Cities Metro Advanced Practice Center||Environmental Health Emergency Preparedness||Website||Reference / Guides||English||4/17/2012 3:52 PM||Susan Wherley||http://apc.naccho.org/Products/APC2007968|
After completing this module, you will be able to apply the eight Environmental Health Core Competencies based on the insights gained and lessons learned by environmental health professionals in dealing with actual emergences and disasters.
<br>During a public health emergency, time, accuracy, and data collection are essential in medical clinics. One way to improve results is through the use of an electronic medical screening tool.
eMedCheck, an ongoing project with the University of Maryland, is a medical screening tool used on iPhone/iPad, Blackberry, or Palm PDA. Two medical screening tools have been developed: one for a Cities Readiness Initiative (CRI) anthrax scenario and a second for a hepatitis A outbreak.<br><br>
|Montgomery County Advanced Practice Center||Partnerships and Collaborations||Website||3/26/2012 4:20 PM||Susan Wherley||A Prescription for Preparedness: An Online Community for Local Health Departments and Pharmacists to Help Ready America for Emergencies; Developing Effective and Sustainable Medication Dispensing Strategies||http://apc.naccho.org/Products/APC20101004|
• Decrease the amount of time spent on patient registration and screening.
• Improve the accuracy of medication allocation to patients.
• Serve as a data collection system.
The Santa Clara County Public Health Department Advanced Practice Center created The Emergency Dark Site Toolkit: A Toolkit on How to Build, Use and Maintain an Emergency Dark Site for Public Health Emergencies. This toolkit is intended to serve local health departments in setting up a public health department emergency dark site -- a static Web page used to post critical public health emergency messages when a server goes down. The Santa Clara County APC, in conjunction with Stanford University and Google, tested their newly created Dark Site during the April 2009 H1N1 outbreak. Due to an overwhelming number of web hits, the Santa Clara County Public Health Department's server went down, resulting in the activation of their Dark Site. When the site was activated, the Public Information Officer had a new tool to manage the public demand for H1N1 information.
The Emergency Dark Site Toolkit: A Toolkit on How to Build, Use and Maintain an Emergency Dark Site for Public Health Emergencies includes step-by-step instructions to build your own emergency dark site for public health emergencies. Insert the CD into your computer or download the program and follow the interactive menus to view the simple instructions.
|Santa Clara County Advanced Practice Center||Risk Communication||CD||Reference / Guides||English||3/8/2012 5:01 PM||Susan Wherley||http://apc.naccho.org/Products/APC20091949|
The Emergency Dispensing Site Action Plan Template (version 1.5) is an all-hazards post-exposure prophylaxis response plan capable of addressing a range of public health threats. This planning template lays out a process for planning, opening, operating, and closing an emergency dispensing site (EDS) or dispensing vaccination center (DVC). It also includes critical plan elements, such as job action sheets and incident response forms.
|Cambridge Advanced Practice Center||Mass Medical Countermeasures||Word; PDF||Reference / Guides; Templates||English||5/20/2011 11:00 AM||Ian Goldstein|
<br> This tool includes a series of pictograms designed to facilitate communication and promote universal access to emergency dispensing site services and other mass care services. Please note that this tool is currently being revised and a new version will be released in 2012.
|Cambridge Advanced Practice Center, revised by the Multnomah County Advanced Practice Center||Mass Medical Countermeasures||CD||Templates; Training||English||4/16/2012 4:50 PM||Susan Wherley||http://apc.naccho.org/Products/APC20071675|
The signs were developed in collaboration with local and state public health professionals, and experts in universal design and accessibility. The signs are large, high contrast pictograms of station activities, accompanied by simple, one-word descriptions in English and Spanish.
This tool has been created to help participants gain knowledge and skills to work at a Emergency Dispensing Site (EDS) in order to increase the efficiency, effectiveness and speed of a universally accessible emergency mass prophylaxis operation. This training approach is well suited for an audience of local public health and MRC volunteers who are leaders either within their departments or in their communities.
Teach your volunteers how to use job action sheets, work within the chain of command, trouble-shoot bottle necks, and identify client barriers to service. The two complementary trainings included in this PDF tool are:
1. EDS 1: The Mechanics of an EDS
2. EDS 2: Facilitating Clients through an EDS
|Cambridge Advanced Practice Center||Mass Medical Countermeasures||PDF||Training; Reference / Guides||English||5/20/2011 11:01 AM||Ian Goldstein|
<br>Download 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.
|Twin Cities Metro Advanced Practice Center, revised by the Mesa County Advanced Practice Center||Environmental Health Emergency Preparedness||PDF||Reference / Guides; Checklists||English||3/26/2012 4:52 PM||Susan Wherley||http://apc.naccho.org/Products/APC2005268|
• Provides prompts for whom to call, first steps to take, and subsequent recovery actions after an emergency occurs.
• Offers tips for managing longer-term emergencies caused by disruption of utilities and municipal services.
• Provides ongoing food security and emergency preparedness advice.