Recently in Emergency Services Category

Source: Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Release Number: HQ-07-169, August 21, 2007

The Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has released a new reference guide that outlines existing legal requirements and standards relating to access for people with disabilities. A Reference Guide for Accommodating Individuals with Disabilities in the Provision of Disaster Mass Care, Housing and Human Services is the first of a series of disability-related guidelines to be produced by FEMA for disaster preparedness and response planners and service providers at all levels.

"Federal law is very clear about accommodating people with disabilities in emergencies and disasters. Everyone involved in emergency management needs to understand and know what their responsibilities are in preparedness, response and recovery operations," FEMA Administrator R. David Paulison said. "This Reference Guide is an important tool for emergency planners, responders and government agencies as they work toward meeting the needs of people affected by emergencies and disasters. FEMA is committed to ensuring that its programs and emergency operations meet the needs of people with disabilities."

The Reference Guide summarizes equal access requirements for people with disabilities within Disaster Mass Care, Housing, and Human Services functions. The Guide explains how applicable Federal laws relate to government entities and non-government, private sector and religious organizations.

Source: Richard W. Niska, and Catharine W. Burt, Division of Health Care Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Advance Data From Vital and Health Statistics, Number 391, August 20, 2007

Objective--This study presents baseline data to determine which hospital characteristics are associated with preparedness for terrorism and natural disaster in the areas of emergency response planning and availability of equipment and specialized care units.

Methods--Information from the Bioterrorism and Mass Casualty Preparedness Supplements to the 2003 and 2004 National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Surveys was used to provide national estimates of variations in hospital emergency response plans and resources by residency and medical school affiliation, hospital size, ownership, metropolitan statistical area status, and Joint Commission accreditation. Of 874 sampled hospitals with emergency or outpatient departments, 739 responded for an 84.6 percent response rate. Estimates are presented with 95 percent confidence intervals.

Results--About 92 percent of hospitals had revised their emergency response plans since September 11, 2001, but only about 63 percent had addressed natural disasters and biological, chemical, radiological, and explosive terrorism in those plans. Only about 9 percent of hospitals had provided for all 10 of the response plan components studied. Hospitals had a mean of about 14 personal protective suits, 21 critical care beds, 12 mechanical ventilators, 7 negative pressure isolation rooms, and 2 decontamination showers each. Hospital bed capacity was the factor most consistently associated with emergency response planning and availability of resources.

Source: Jeannie Thompson, RN, Vol. 60 no. 8, August 2007

Now two years and counting, we look back at lessons learned when Hurricane Katrina landed more than 300 miles away, and it became our responsibility to provide care to thousands of New Orleans' ill and injured.

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita revealed the flaws in hospital disaster-preparedness plans. Solutions include regular drills, plans to set up "surge hospitals" for mass casualties, staffing contingency plans to counter caregiver shortages, and standardized disaster-skill training.

Source: Rx Response, 8/15/2007

From press release:
Health care organizations involved in the manufacturing, distribution and dispensing of pharmaceutical products came together today to announce the creation of Rx Response – a program designed to help support the continued delivery of medicines during a severe public health emergency. The partnership includes the American Hospital Association, American Red Cross, Biotechnology Industry Organization, Healthcare Distribution Management Association, National Association of Chain Drug Stores, National Community Pharmacists Association and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America.

Source: Shawn Rhea, Modern Healthcare, Vol. 37 no. 32, August 13, 2007
(subscription required)

As hospitals plan for emergencies such as a flu pandemic, one challenge is how they’ll keep their supply shelves stocked.

Source: American Medical Association/American Public Health Association, A consensus report from the AMA/APHA Linkages Leadership Summit, July 2007

From the press release:
Today a coalition of 18 health organizations led by the American Medical Association (AMA) and American Public Health Association (APHA) released a consensus report with 53 strategic recommendations for legislators, government officials and organizational leaders to more effectively prepare for and respond to catastrophic emergencies. The recommendations, especially nine identified as “critical,” serve as a national call to action from medicine, dentistry, nursing, hospitals, emergency medical services (EMS), and public health. The recommendations seek to strengthen health system preparedness and response through increased funding, greater integration, continued education and training and ensured legal protections for responders.
…
Nine critical recommendations from the consensus report make up a call to action in four categories:

Public health systems must be appropriately funded to adequately respond to day-to-day emergencies and catastrophic mass casualty events;
Public health and disaster response systems must be fully integrated and interoperable at all government levels;
Health care and public health professionals should maintain an appropriate level of education and training; and
Health care and public health responders must be provided and assured adequate legal protections in a disaster.
+ Action Brief
+ Signed Pledge of Commitment

Source: U.S. Department of Homeland Security, 2007

From the press release:
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced today final Fiscal Year (FY) 2007 Homeland Security Grant Program (HSGP) awards totaling $1.7 billion, including a total of almost $411 million to the nation’s six urban areas at highest risk of a terrorist attack: New York City/Northern New Jersey; the National Capital Region; Los Angeles/Long Beach; the California Bay Area; Houston; and Chicago.

HSGP grants enhance the ability of states, territories, and urban areas to prevent, protect against, respond to and recover from terrorist attacks and other disasters. Including this funding, by the end of FY 2007, DHS will have invested $23 billion in local planning, organization, equipment, training, and exercises for state and local governments since September 11, 2001.

Source: Elisabeth D. Root, Jacqueline B. Amoozegar, Shulamit Bernard, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, AHRQ Publication No. 07-0029-1, May 2007

From the overview:
To date, most health care preparedness planning efforts have been focused on hospital and first responder preparedness. Nevertheless, the elderly are particularly vulnerable to bioterrorism and other public health emergencies due to their complex physical, medical, and psychological needs. The potential role and question of preparedness on the part of nursing homes has emerged in local and national preparedness discussions. However, little is known about the extent to which nursing homes have planned for and/or been incorporated into regional planning efforts
To address this issue, a series of focus groups was conducted to collect information about disaster- and bioterrorism-related planning activities among nursing homes in five States—North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Washington, and Utah—and southern California. The aims of the focus groups were to:
• Determine if nursing home administrators have prepared and trained staff on disaster plans, including bioterrorism response.
• Assess the special needs of the elderly population in nursing home settings during a public health emergency.
• Determine if nursing homes are able to accommodate patient flows from acute care hospitals or provide other resources.
• Assess the impact of State regulations on the ability of nursing homes to offer support and/or surge capacity.
Findings from this report can provide important insight into current nursing home preparedness activities as well as the potential role of nursing homes in larger local or regional preparedness efforts and the special needs of the nursing home population.

See also: Emergency Preparedness Atlas — U.S. Nursing Home and Hospital Facilities
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) sponsored preparation of this atlas to support local/regional planning and response efforts in the event of a bioterrorism or other public health emergency. In the atlas, case studies in six areas illustrate the location of nursing homes relative to population and various emergency preparedness regions. There are also maps of the location of hospitals and nursing homes in all 50 States and the District of Columbia.
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Source: Leonard Matarese, Kenneth Chelst, Gayle Fisher-Stewart, and Albert Pearsall, Public Management, Vol. 89 no. 4, May 2007
(subscription required)

More than 15 years ago, authors Kenneth Chelst and Leonard Matarese described in an ICMA report the efficiencies and successes gained by the consolidation of police and fire departments. They defined the issues surrounding a police-fire merger, identified the key decisions that had to be made, developed a process to assess and overcome environmental barriers to a merger and presented a mathematical model for predicting the impact on costs and performance of a proposed police-fire merger. Specifically, they were addressing mergers where police officers and firefighters routinely worked together, rather than just administrative consolidations. Yet, in a post-9/11 environment, does consolidation continue to make sense? Is it an efficient use of human and financial resources? As this “age of terrorism” forces local governments to assess issues of interoperability and emergency management, while still competing for scarce resources, should emergency response organizations become combined under one public safety umbrella?

Public Administration Review, December 2006, Vol. 66 supplement

These mini-case studies explore the practice of collaborative management within a variety of public sector settings, focusing on the meritorious roles played by public managers – how they performed well and why their actions mattered.

Articles include:
- Amy K. Donahue, “The Space Shuttle Columbia Recovery Operation: How Collaboration Enabled Disaster Response.”
- Mary Belefski, “Collaboration at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency: An Interview with Two Senior Managers.”
- Kurt Thurmaier, “High-Intensity Interlocal Collaboration in Three Iowa Cities
- Heather Getha-Taylor, “Preparing Leaders for High-Stakes Collaborative Action: Darrell Darnell and the Department of Homeland Security.”
- Kim Eagle and Philip Cowherd, “Collaborative Capital Planning in Charlotte-Mecklenburg County, North Carolina.”
- Tracy Yandle, “The Challenger Scallop Enhancement Company: Collaborative Management of a Natural Resource Based in the Private Sector.”
- Sharon Friedrichsen, “Collaborative Public Management in San Francisco.”
- Gerald Andrews Emison, “The EPA Bureaucrat Who Could.”
- David W. Sears and W. Robert Lovan. “Encouraging Collaboration in Rural America.”
- Brenda Bushouse, “West Virginia Collaboration for Creating Universal Prekindergarten.”
- Rob Alexander, “Kirk Emerson and the U.S. Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution.”