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July-September 2005
Welcome!
to new APC Conference coordinator Carol Gunther-Mohr,
and new graduate research assistants Andrew Edmonds, Cindi Snider,
and Phillip Summers.
NCCPHP's Response
to Hurricane Katrina
NCCPHP offered
a wide range of support to the response to Hurricane Katrina,
providing expert advice and training, coordinating volunteers,
and helping public health students displaced from Tulane and other
universities.
Assistant Director
Jennifer Horney directed the expertise and capacity working group
at the University of North Carolina School of Public Health. NCCPHP
provided the School with hurricane response resources for its
website, and worked to coordinate School response efforts with
those of other public health partners such as the Carolina Center
for Public Service, NC Public Health Regional Surveillance Teams,
the NC Office of Public Health Preparedness & Response, the
Association of Schools of Public Health, the CDC, and other Centers
for Public Health Preparedness across the nation.
NCCPHP recruited
32 student volunteers through Team Epi-Aid, who worked with Wake
County shelters and the North Carolina state health department.
NCCPHP leadership also worked to ease the transition for students
displaced by the hurricane by agreeing to serve as the advisor
for a Humphrey Fellow displaced from Tulane and arranging volunteer
housing for five students now attending the UNC School of Public
Health.
Radio interviews
with Horney on the public health impacts of flooding and hurricanes
were broadcast on WCHL and XM Satellite Radio 169. NCCPHP representatives
also attended a Hurricane Katrina Forum hosted by the UNC General
Alumni Association and presented Team Epi-Aid and the School's
response to Katrina at the Frank Porter Graham Student Union.
Surveillance
& Epidemiology
Team
Epi-Aid (SPH student volunteers to assist the state with outbreak
investigations)
The new school
year is off to a good start, with 22 new student volunteers attending
the fall Team Epi-Aid orientation on September 1 at the School
of Public Health.
Team Epi-Aid
activities this quarter included training and conducting interviews
for the North Carolina Division of Public Health's Falls Lake
recreational water study, conducting interviews for a Salmonella
outbreak in Mitchell County, and participation in the North Carolina
AIDS stakeholders meeting. In addition, 5 students prepared to
travel to the North Carolina coast as volunteers for a later-cancelled
Hurricane Ophelia rapid needs assessment coordinated with the
North Carolina Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response
and Public Health Rapid Surveillance Teams 3 and 6.
NACCHO
Foodborne Illness Grant
NCCPHP is coordinating
a NACCHO-funded grant project titled "Foodborne Illness Systems
Demonstration Project: Improving reporting of foodborne diseases
for the passive surveillance system in North Carolina." NCCPHP
will be working in partnership with North Carolina PHRST Region
6 to develop training modules and analyze survey results. Four
other centers across the nation are funded by this grant, including
2 in Connecticut, 1 in Minnesota, and 1 in Illinois.
Training
& Education
Training
Web Site
In the second
quarter of 2005, the NCCPHP Training Web Site had 1115 new registered
users and 2312 new completed trainings. So far this year, NCCPHP
has developed 15 new Web-based distance learning modules that
allow users to receive free continuing education units. In addition,
8 new resources were added to the catalog of trainings from all
providers, and 4 new items were added to materials for trainers
FOCUS
on Field Epidemiology periodical
A new issue
of FOCUS was published this quarter:
- Volume 2,
Issue 5: Introduction to Forensic Epidemiology
NCCPHP created
a print version of FOCUS Volume I: The Whole First Season
that contains the first six issues of FOCUS originally published
from November 2003 through October 2004. FOCUS Volume I
was mailed to approximately 2800 public health agencies nationwide,
and distributed in person at several public health conferences.
E
is for Epi training CD-ROM and facilitator's guide
This quarter,
NCCPHP completed production of E is for Epi: Epidemiology basics
for non-epidemiologists, which provides an overview to epidemiology
through 5 training modules. The E is for Epi modules are
available for self-study as audio lectures on the NCCPHP Training
Web Site with free continuing education credits.
E is for
Epi is also available as a resource for trainers, with a CD-ROM
and facilitator's guide that contains PowerPoint slides with speaker
notes, slide handouts, and guided discussion questions for each
module. Approximately
3000 copies of the E is for Epi CD-ROM and facilitator's
guide have been distributed to state partners, North Carolina
PHRSTs and local bioterrorism planners, and public health agencies
nationwide.
Videoconference
Training
NCCPHP staff
broadcast the following videoconference trainings this quarter:
- "Writing
an Outbreak Investigation Report" on August 9 via North
Carolina PHTIN
- "Risk
Communication" on July 7 via Virginia PHIN
- "Study
Design" on August 4 via Virginia PHIN
- "Designing
Questionnaires" on September 1 via Virginia PHIN
Online
Certificate in Field Epidemiology
A cohort of
70 students enrolled in the Certificate this fall, from . NCCPHP
is coordinating 5 scholarships for public health epidemiologists
in the fall surveillance course.
Introduction
to Communicable Disease Surveillance and Investigation training
course
A total of 29
communicable disease nurses completed the spring 2005 course.
To date, 87 nurses from local health departments across North
Carolina have completed this training course.
Epi
Info Software Training
NCCPHP conducted
training sessions on the Epi Info Software program to 43 public
health workers in 2 local health departments this quarter.
Lifelong
Learning
Planning is
underway for a Lifelong Learning Conference scheduled for April
27, 2006. This date will coordinate with the State Partners Conference
planned for April 26, 2006. In addition, we have been working
with the senior assistant to the state health director on Health
Disparities and Workforce Development and the Vital Records section
chief to determine training needs for state public health workers.
NCCPHP staff
continued their assistance in lifelong learning and workforce
development. This quarter, agency-wide training plans were been
completed for Alamance, Chatham, Cherokee, Craven, Dare, Harnett,
Hertford, Pamlico,and Yadkin counties.
NCCPHP staff
presented lifelong learning training sessions to the following
groups:
- Alamance
County health department staff (N=100)
- Cabarrus
Health Alliance Workforce Development Team (N=12)
- Craven County
health director and nurse supervisor/bioterrorism coordinator
- Harnett County
health department management and emergency management staff
(N=5)
- Pamlico
County health department staff (n=18)
NCCPHP also
added 20 new trainings and a new training provider to the System's
training catalog. Staff provided technical assistance to users
in Alamance and Northampton counties in North Carolina, as well
as the Virginia Department of Health and Butte County, California.
Work
with Partner States
This quarter,
we have worked with 9 states (California, Massachusetts, Kansas,
North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and
West Virginia), offering technical expertise and training assistance.
Planning is
already underway for the third annual State Public Health Preparedness
Partners' Annual Workshop to be held April 26, 2006. In
addition to other state partners who received this information
last quarter, we sent information to
North Carolina state partners, PHRSTs, and local bioterrorism
planners about our Lifelong Learning Initiatives, the NCCPHP
Training Web Site, FOCUS on Field Epidemiology periodical,
and Online Certificate in Field Epidemiology, as well as an 11x17"
poster to promote the Training Web Site.
We are working
with Tennessee and South Carolina to create statewide public health
preparedness training plans for each of these states, and is helping
West Virginia develop an implementation plan for their statewide
training plan at local and regional levels. NCCPHP staff
also delivered training sessions on chemical agents to Metro Health
Department of Nashville/Davidson County, Tennessee, and presented
field epidemiology training for El Paso City-County Health Department,
Texas.
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Have you seen us?
Publications
Lesneski
CD,
Upshaw VM, Pullen NC, Terrell AL. "The MAPP Training Program
Evaluation." J Public Health Manage Practice. Sep/Oct 2005;
11(5):448-452.
Pfau S,
et al. Academic Health Department Report Executive Summary.
2005. Chapel Hill: UNC Printing Services.
Presentations
"Using
a learning management system to develop public health and preparedness
training." Poster presented at NACCHO/ASTHO Annual Conference.
July 13, 2005.
Exhibit of NCCPHP
resources. Presented at Tennessee Public Health Association Annual
Meeting, Nashville, TN. September 14-15, 2005.
Exhibit of NCCPHP
resources. Presented at West Virginia Public Health Association
Annual Meeting. Wheeling, WV. September 21-22, 2005.
Alexander
LA. "Development of a Training Web Site for Public Health
Professionals, a Continuing Education Internet/Classroom Course
for Public Health Nurses, and an Online Certificate Program in
Field Epidemiology." Presented at Public Health Training
Network Distance Learning Summit. Atlanta, Ga. September 21-23,
2005.
Exhibit of NCCPHP
Training Web Site and Team Epi-Aid. Presented at Department of
Homeland Security SAFE (Security Alliance for Emergency Preparedness)
site visit.
NCCPHP
in the News
Torok M,
MacDonald PDM, Maillard JM. "Surveillance
of Foodborne Diseases in NC: A study of testing and reporting
practices of laboratories statewide and of clinicians and infection
control practitioners in western NC." Epi Notes. (North
Carolina Division of Public Health, Epidemiology Section quarterly
newsletter). June-August 2005: 1, 9.
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