|
October-December
2006
Pandemic influenza
planning in North Carolina continued to be a focus for NCCPHP
activities this past quarter. Work with the General Communicable
Disease Control Branch of the North Carolina Division of Public
Health reviewing local health departments' pandemic influenza
plans is ongoing while a new online course, Pandemic Influenza
Preparedness for Local Health Departments, was successfully
piloted with 46 North Carolina local health practitioners. NCCPHP
also co-sponsored a seminar titled "How Will Avian Influenza
Affect North Carolina" with the UNC School of Journalism
and the Triangle Center for Homeland Security. Curriculum development
in partnership with the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists
for a national training program on pandemic influenza for public
health responders also continued this quarter.
In other areas,
NCCPHP completed a proposal for the World Health Organization
(WHO) to develop training materials for field epidemiologists
in the South Pacific nation of Fiji. We are proud of our ongoing
partnerships at the local, state, national and international level.
One particular
partnership, between NCCPHP and NC Public Health Regional Surveillance
Team 5 (PHRST 5), recently won the UNC Office of Research's monthly
poster contest. Steven Ramsey and Mark Smith (PHRST 5) and Jen
Horney (NCCPHP) were the authors of the poster titled "The
Rapid Response Project: Using Handheld Computers for Rapid Needs
Assessment During Outbreaks and Disasters."
We look forward
to continued collaboration with existing and new partners in 2007.
---Pia
MacDonald, NCCPHP Director
Surveillance
& Epidemiology
Team
Epi-Aid (SPH student volunteers to assist urgent public health
response)
This quarter,
10 Team Epi-Aid students assisted the Alamance County Community
Health Assessment task force, a coalition of governmental and
non-governmental organizations, to collect data as part of the
county's community health assessment process. Team Epi-Aid volunteers
interviewed community residents to gain a better understanding
of the county's health issues. Team Epi-Aid also participated
in conducting a survey [led by the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention and the NC Division of Public Health] of Yancey
County school parents after Yancey County shut down schools following
an influenza outbreak. Volunteers called parents of children in
Yancey County schools and interviewed them to assess how disruptive
it is to a community to use school closure as a public health
control measure.
Technical
Assistance to North Carolina
This quarter,
NCCPHP worked with several Public Health Regional Surveillance
Teams (PHRSTs) on their county-level surveillance reports. Final
reports for PHRST Regions 1, 2, and 6 were completed in October.
NCCPHP staff
continued to provide technical assistance to local health departments
around pandemic influenza planning. During the final quarter of
2006, the pandemic influenza project team made planning visits
to 29 health departments/districts and received 25 pandemic influenza
plans for review. A new electronic pan flu resource center was
developed on UNC's BlackBoard platform in November 2006 and has
been made available to all 86 health departments/districts in
North Carolina. In addition, a pandemic influenza planning listserv
was established to enable planners to exchange information and
resources with each other. These resources and databases seek
to inform and expedite the plan writing process at the local level.
All local health departments that submit pan flu plans to NCCPHP
will receive oral and/or written feedback on the content of their
plans in the first quarter of 2007.
In the past
3 months, NCCPHP has conducted Epi Info software trainings for
public health educators in Winston-Salem and Charlotte and provided
Epi Info technical support for several PHRST regions (PHRSTs 2
and 5) and counties (Forsyth, Rowan) as well as assisting with
data analysis for a community health assessment in Johnston County.
Research
Grant to Examine Evacuation Response During Hurricanes
NCCPHP Assistant
Director Jen Horney has received a grant from the Natural Hazards
Center at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Using funds from
the National Science Foundation, the Quick Response Grant Program
at the Natural Hazards Center offers small grants to gather information
at the site of a disaster soon after it occurs. Jen's project
is titled, "Explaining Hurricane Evacuation: The Role of
Social Networks and Social Cohesion." She will use the funds
to examine how community ties impact a person's decision to evacuate
immediately after a hurricane.
Training
& Education
This quarter,
NCCPHP continued its work with the Council of State and Territorial
Epidemiologists on curriculum development for upcoming training
conferences on avian influenza. We also hosted several sessions
in our popular online preparedness symposium series. More details
on these and other training programs are below.
Low
Literacy Influenza Educational Materials
In conjunction
with staff at the Duplin County Health Department and their community
partners, NCCPHP staff developed low literacy educational materials
on both seasonal and avian influenza. These materials, available
in both English and Spanish, are being distributed at influenza
immunization clinics and throughout the county.
Training
Web Site
In the 4th quarter
of 2006, the NCCPHP Training Web Site had 4,107 newly completed
trainings and 1,932 new registered users, for a total of 15,843
users. There were 4 new NCCPHP-developed trainings added to the
site, for a total of 163 available NCCPHP trainings.
FOCUS
on Field Epidemiology
Two new issues
in Volume 3 of FOCUS on Field Epidemiology were published
this quarter. Conducting
Traceback Investigations covers the basics of carrying out
a traceback investigation, a process used to determine the production
and distribution chain of an item implicated as the source of
an outbreak. Conducting
Environmental Health Investigations discusses how to conduct
an environmental health assessment, a type of environmental health
investigation used to identify the practices or conditions that
may have resulted in contamination of an item implicated in an
outbreak.
Two issues of
FOCUS on Field Epidemiology were also translated and published
in Spanish this quarter. The newly available Spanish issues are
Volume 1, Issue 6: Hypothesis Generation During Outbreaks (Generación
de Hipótesis Durante Brotes Epidémicos) and
Volume 2, Issue 1: Hypothesis-Generating Interviews (Entrevistas
para la Generación de Hipótesis).
Field
Epidemiology Training Program, Guatemala
NCCPHP staff
continued their work to develop a curriculum in field epidemiology
in Guatemala. This project is being carried out in partnership
with the CDC and international partners in Guatemala including
Guatemala's Ministry of Public Health and the Universidad del
Valle de Guatemala.
Preparedness
Training Series
The 2006 Preparedness
Training Series wrapped up in December with a total of 106 participants
completing all 12 monthly preparedness trainings. The 2007 series
began enrolling participants in late December 2006.
Online
Certificate in Field Epidemiology
The Certificate
in Field Epidemiology is a 12-credit hour graduate level program
offered entirely over the Internet. The curriculum addresses the
core functions of outbreak investigation, surveillance systems
and methods, infectious disease epidemiology, and field epidemiology
methods. Thirty-five students admitted to the program in fall
2005 completed the certificate in December 2006.
Introduction
to Communicable Disease Surveillance and Investigation training
course
In partnership
with the General Communicable Disease Control Branch at the NC
Division of Public Health, NCCPHP provided technical support for
a new session of the 15-week Introduction to Communicable Disease
Surveillance and Investigation training course. A total of 38
public health staff from 31 North Carolina counties completed
the fall 2006 course.
Pandemic
Influenza Preparedness Training for North Carolina Local Health
Departments
In conjunction
with the General Communicable Disease Control Branch in the NC
Division of Public Health, NCCPHP successfully completed the pilot
of a new short online course about pandemic influenza preparedness
for North Carolina local health departments. The course is designed
to increase knowledge and build skills relevant to the essential
and unique elements of an influenza pandemic response at the local
level. A total of 46 people from 43 different North Carolina health
departments enrolled in the course. More than 80% of enrolled
students in the pilot completed the course and 97% of completers
reported that the course was excellent. The course will be repeated
in spring 2007.
Mental
Health Preparedness Training Curriculum
At the request
of the Tennessee Department of Health, NCCPHP developed an introductory
training program designed for local health department staff and
community volunteers to build awareness of the psychosocial consequences
of disasters. The self-paced or small group training can be completed
in approximately 3.5 hours using the program video (in DVD or
VHS format) and the participant workbook, including five learning
activities. These materials will be distributed to local health
departments across Tennessee this fall. In addition, NCCPHP staff
are working on plans to pilot the curriculum in the PHRST 1 region
of North Carolina.
Symposium
Series on Public Health Preparedness
NCCPHP continued
its 2006-07 Symposium Series on Public Health Preparedness by
hosting three online symposia titled "Legal Preparedness:
Building New Bridges with the Private Sector," "Non-Pharmacological
Interventions for Pandemic Influenza," and "Hospital-based
Public Health Epidemiologist Program: A Novel Approach to Public
Health in North Carolina." Each symposium is broadcast in
a "webinar" presentation format with audiovisuals delivered
via a combination of phone and computer technology. Archived versions
of these presentations and information about upcoming events in
the series are available on the NCCPHP
Symposium Series page.
Lifelong
Learning
In the month
of November NCCPHP collaborated to administer a workforce development
survey to all employees of the North Carolina Divisions of Public
Health and Environmental Health. This survey is part of an accreditation
process for these state agencies.
NCCPHP staff
have provided training and assistance to Yadkin and Buncombe counties
on various issues related to lifelong learning and the online
workforce development system.
Project
Public Health Ready
NCCPHP assisted
the 25 northeastern North Carolina counties in the PHRST 1 region
to apply for Project Public Health Ready certification from the
National Association of City and County Health Officials (NACCHO).
After final documents were submitted early in the fall, NCCPHP
staff worked with PHRST 1 counties this past quarter to respond
to NACCHO reviews of the application.
|
|
|
Have you seen us?
Publications
Snider C,
MacDonald PDM, Salyers M, Wolf L, Maillard JM. Reporting
communicable diseases: online trainings can help. North Carolina
Medical Board Forum Newsletter. October 2006;3:3-4.
Presentations
Presented
at the NC Public Health Association's 2006 Annual Educational
Conference. October 10-13, 2006. New Bern, NC:
Brunette
K, Padgett P. Simple data analysis for local health departments.
Harrison,
LM. Are we ready for the aging workforce?
Presented
at the American Public Health Association 2006 Annual Meeting;
November 4-8, 2006; Boston, MA:
Alexander
LK, Horney JA, Wallace JW, Davis M, Wilfert
RA, and MacDonald PDM. Guiding principles of a comprehensive
Internet-based public health preparedness training program.
Harrison
LM, Rothney E, Horney JA, MacDonald PDM. Implementing
an academic/practice partnership model in local health departments
across North Carolina: Promoting a lifelong learning initiative
for a better prepared public health workforce.
Harrison
LM, Rothney E, Horney JA, MacDonald PDM. Using
technology and partnerships across academic and practice agencies
to promote a lifelong learning infrastructure in public health.
Horney JA,
Wilfert RA. Evaluation of the Certificate Program in Community
Preparedness and Disaster Management.
Horney JA,
Wilfert RA. Public health emergency law: planning, implementation
and evaluation of the foundational course developed by the CDC
Public Health Law Program.
North Carolina
Center for Public Health Preparedness, North Carolina Division
of Public Health - General Communicable Disease Control Branch.
Follow-up evaluation of a hybrid Internet/classroom-based continuing
education communicable disease course for North Carolina public
health nurses.
American Evaluation
Association's 2006 Annual Conference. November 1-4, 2006. Portland,
OR:
Davis M.
Creating and implementing a new evaluation preparedness framework.
Davis M.
Needs assessment in Centers for Public Health Preparedness: strategies
and Issues. Panel discussion.
NCCPHP
in the News
A pandemic influenza
stakeholders' meeting featuring sessions hosted by NCCPHP staff
was featured on Metro 3, the staff educational television network
for the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County,
Tennessee.
Molly McKnight,
a graduate research assistant with NCCPHP is featured in the latest
issue of Carolina
Public Health. She and her fellow students are featured for
their work as part of an 'Action Oriented Community Diagnosis
team' looking at challenges faced by the Latino community in Johnston
County.
|
|
