2008 Advanced Practice Centers Training Resources

The links below provide attendees of the 2008 APC Training Conference with useful resources, including conference presentation slides and handouts.

Public Health in a Joint Information Center (JIC) --- Santa Clara County Advanced Practice Center, San Jose, CA

Overview: Public health emergencies such as Hurricane Katrina and the southern California wildfires have shown the increased need for coordinated emergency risk communications through the use of joint information centers (JIC). This training is designed to prepare public health professionals with PIO and risk communication responsibilities on how to establish and organize a JIC, how to determine appropriate staffing roles and responsibilities for the JIC, and how to work within the ICS structure.

Master The Disaster! The Next Generation Of Emergency Preparedness Tabletop Exercises For Public Health --- DeKalb County Advanced Practice Center, Decatur, GA

Overview: Tabletop exercises are one of the most convenient and affordable ways for public health agencies to test their ability to respond to an emergency and satisfy state and federal requirements. This session will introduce participants to Master the Disaster!, an interactive, customizable and easy-to-use tabletop exercise builder designed specifically for public health agencies. "Master the Disaster!" includes seven scenarios, complete instructions for planning, designing, conducting and evaluating an exercise, plus a host of resources, including an extensive photo library for creating interesting and realistic exercises. During the session, participants will create an actual tabletop exercise. All participants will receive a complimentary copy of the "Master the Disaster!" CD-ROM.

Pandemic Flu & You: Public Health Can Not Do It Alone! --- Montgomery, Silver Spring, MD

Overview: An influenza pandemic will affect all sectors of society. As a result, it is important that local health departments engage community partners in preparedness and response activities for an influenza pandemic. All sectors share a responsibility to prepare for and respond to a pandemic in an effort to reduce its impact. Montgomery County, Maryland APC will share innovative strategies, tools and resources for businesses and organizations to help preserve community function and to limit the impact of a pandemic on health, society, and the economy.

Preparing Medical Reserve Corps for Points of Distribution (POD) Operations --- Cambridge Advanced Practice Center, Cambridge, MA

Overview: Cambridge APC will describe a training curriculum that they have used with regional Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) volunteers on Points of Distribution (POD) operations to gain fundamental knowledge and skills that enhance the capacity and quality of POD services within an ICS structure. The training curriculum is divided into two parts. In part one, MRC volunteers master the use of Job Action Sheets, gain a functional understanding of incident command, and learn to identify, trouble shoot, and resolve bottle necks or obstructions to POD flow. In part two, volunteers examine client case studies and explore issues and potential solutions to language, physical, cognitive, and cultural barriers to service. Both trainings use a peer-to-peer, experiential teaching methodology that builds team work and strengthens relationships among MRC volunteers.

Disaster Strikes – Do You Have an Environmental Health Emergency Response Plan? --- Twin, Hopkins, MN

Overview: The session will focus on building environmental health emergency response capacity at your health department. The speaker will describe potential roles and responsibilities for environmental health professionals reflecting traditional and non-traditional functions. In addition, two environmental health emergency response plans from local public health departments in Minnesota will be shared and discussed. Group activities will complement and reinforce lecture materials.

Strategies and Resources for Emergency Preparedness and Response in Rural USA --- Western New York Advanced Practice Center, Buffalo, NY

Overview: The WNYPHA APC is developing a web-based tool to predict rural population surge following urban disasters. Trainers will describe development of the tool, including qualitative and quantitative background research conducted to populate modeling algorithms, and provide a demonstration of the tool's functionalities. The WNYPHA APC has conducted an assessment to capture the best practices associated with multi-jurisdictional collaborations. The applicability of this resource, “A Guide to Multi-Jurisdictional Collaboration,” will be discussed as it relates to strengthening planning and preparedness in rural communities.

Building a Public Health Community of Practice: How to Take Biosurveillance to the Next Level and Reap its Broad Benefits --- Tarrant, Fort Worth, TX

Overview: Participants will gain familiarity with the concept of a public health community of practice in which biosurveillance data is gathered and shared between key stakeholders and public health in a comprehensive, collaborative, rigorous manner with benefits accruing across multiple functional areas. The training session will provide examples of disciplined epidemiological investigation processes (a.k.a. response protocols) now being used at the national, state and local levels to support enhanced, rapid decision-making in communities of practice across various jurisdictions. Participants will apply lessons learned from the training in interactive exercises that involve both defining a response protocol and responding to surveillance signals reflecting a simulated public health threat.

Equity in Emergency Response: Public Health Planning for --- Seattle/King, Seattle, WA

Overview: Planning and responding to the needs of vulnerable populations during an emergency offers challenges and opportunities for local public health, including relationship building with key organizations that serve vulnerable populations and identifying appropriate communication networks during a response. This session will describe strategies and methods to engage community based organizations, such as technical assistance, training and capacity building, in order reach vulnerable populations during an emergency.

For information on the NACCHO Advanced Practice Centers program, visit www.naccho.org/topics/emergency/APC.cfm