|
The Advanced Practice Center at the Cambridge Public Health Department coordinates planning and response activities for Emergency Preparedness Region 4b, which comprises 27 communities in the Greater Boston area.
Recent preparedness activities include:
In May 2005, the Advanced Practice Center organized a conference on the essential role of public health in local emergency preparedness, which featured an pandemic flu tabletop exercise.
In this fictional scenario, a man arrived at a Boston-area hospital with flu-like symptoms. The man had recently returned from a business trip to Asia, and had potentially infected several hundred passengers on his flight home. He had also attended a large awards dinner in Cambridge directly following his trip. Over the next 11 days, hospitals were flooded with patients, including their own medical staff.
During the exercise, public health officials, town administrators, fire, police, EMS, hospital staff, and public works staff from 13 communities in Region 4B worked collaboratively to respond to the crisis.
Due to its popularity, a second pandemic flu exercise was organized in September 2005. More than 200 people from Cambridge, Boston, Somerville, Everett, Chelsea, Revere, Winthrop, Brookline, Quincy, and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health participated.
During a major public health emergency, it is essential that people who are at risk for illness have access to life-saving medicines and vaccines. Emergency dispensing sites are temporary clinics set up in schools, churches, and other community locations to provide medication and vaccines to a large number of people in a short amount of time.
In 2005, the Advanced Practice Center produced an “Emergency Dispensing Site Action Plan” for use by municipal health officials and other public health workers in the 27 Massachusetts communities in Region 4b. This action plan serves as the regional standard for opening, operating, and closing emergency dispensing sites.
The emergency dispensing plan has been incorporated into the comprehensive emergency management plans of all Region 4b communities. The Advanced Practice Center conducts ongoing regional trainings and facilitates exercises for public health staff on implementing the plan.
A major public health threat—such as a chemical spill or disease outbreak—could quickly overwhelm the resources of a single community. A public health mutual aid agreement is a legal document that addresses issues of liability, authority, and finances that often arise when one community's public health department requests help from another.
In December 2005, the Advanced Practice Center released a model public health mutual aid agreement for Massachusetts communities. The agreement was drafted by a team of attorneys and emergency preparedness professionals. In 2006, the agreement was submitted to the 27 Region 4b communities for approval. As of May 2006,18 cities and towns in Region 4b had approved the agreement.
In summer 2005, the Advanced Practice Center drafted a proposal for 24-hour notification of local health departments in the event of a public health emergency, which was approved by the health directors of the 27 communities in Region 4b and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.
The 24/7 emergency notification system went live in September 2005. Since then the Advanced Practice Center has organized several “off hours” drills for communities in Region 4b and regional on-call staff.
In 2006, APC staff began working with the Bureau of Communicable Disease Control at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health to develop a protocol for responding to off-hour emergencies.
Disasters such as Hurricane Katrina and the Southeast Asia tsunami have demonstrated the need for an organized group of qualified volunteers who are prepared to help.
With this in mind, the Advanced Practice Center in 2006 began working with health directors in Region 4b to recruit and train volunteers for a Medical Reserve Corps that would serve the region. In a disaster situation, volunteers could be called upon to deliver medical care, interpret for individuals who do not speak English, or provide administrative support. Volunteers would also have the opportunity to assist local health departments in the region with routine activities, such as flu clinics and health screenings.
|
Overview
Regional
