Only a slight rant...

I suspect that many local planners are in a similar position; that the responsibility for the production of a specific document, policy or procedure is "owned" by someone else. A central office, a stakeholder in the planning process, or a jurisdiction can have a significant impact on the local planner. I have been applauded and chastised for the production of documents that are owned by another organization.

Sometimes, doing the work of others allows for the best ability to influence the process. It is more easy to sign a document and get a checkmark in the box, thus allowing the plan to move forward. In other situations, the development of conflict over turf actually produces a better or more timely result. Either way, I think the public we all serve wins.

Since I serve five jurisdictions, I volunteer to help the local jurisdiction planners by writing the health and medical annexes for their plans. With every iteration, those plans get closer and closer together, actually reflecting what the local health department can provide, what we can coordinate with central office staff or what we need a jurisdiction to provide.

Inorder for all of these things to occur. I believe local health department planners need to make sure that the jurisdictions see and feel the value of the health department planner. The professional relationship are very important. An emergency manager needs to trust the local health department....

Planning for the loss of the planner...

In discussions with the CDC consultants over the past few months, I was really disappointed that they wanted more and more details for an event, that by definition, occurs in an ambiguous environment. I had prepared a variety of plans that could aply nearly anywhere that would be convenient for the emergency managers and jurisdictional leadership; school gymnasiums, parking lots or empty strip malls. These general flow paths gave the assigned staff flexibility.

I know that many individual prefer more structure than I require in order to accomplish a task. This need for structure, although not what I need for the completion of response to the complex scenarios of the Cities Readiness Initiative, would prove difficult for some colleagues.

I have decided to address the issue as though I will never be present for an activity. For our seasonal and H1N1 campaigns I have appointed operations chiefs, and I will only provide consultation; they must move through the phases, make assignments and so on. It is a little painful for some, but others rise to the challenge.

A correction and explanation...

A colleague commented that the Project Public Health Ready has been an ongoing process for several years. This is a true statement, I should have clarified that the PPHR is a new effort here in Virginia where we intend to have all 35 health districts certified over the next three years.

I do believe that the PPHR effort will be a significant label for local health departments in the future. Any effort to document the quality of services provided by health departments is invaluable to the jurisdiction(s) served and the general public.

Back ups...

In modern times we are so dependent and reliant on rapid communications. Irecently moved into an area that cannot provide high speed net access, cell coverage is spotty and signal strength is low. We all need work arounds and I have been wireless for phone service for several years. I always have a spare hard drive that is up-to-date with the major portions of the work that is ongoing. I have a large capacity thumb drive that has all the emergency plans and all the ready reference materials for the district. I also have a thumb drive that is built for portable aqpplications since the health department has rtestricted installs of unsupported software. I use evernote, prefer firefox and need conversions and related calculators for everything from radiation dose to square footage.

Having enough back up space also alows for the movement of some nice to have things such as music, in my case about 185 gig that I take to one of the three offices that I work at...all I need now is a set of keys to the local health district office...yet to come, but I have confidence.

Ongoing saga...

Three of the regional planners are involved in the preparation of paperwork for Project Public Health Ready. I got a subscription notice from the Health Alert Network where one of them posted her documents. I really appreciate that since in a couple of years it will be my turn to apply. The continuous improvement of public programs depends on the development of good tools and techniques, and that takes the collective brain power....

So, next week I will begin the review of those documents to see how they compare to my own. There will be adjustments for local conditions, but my colleague has always had a good perspective on the needs of the environment where she lives.

Documentation always needs to be done.

So, as part of the CDC grant requirements, we actually need to complete a series of exercises and training. The real bitch about it is that you can be really good at providing the training to staff, getting the exercises done and be a benefit to the community. The hardest part is adequately documenting all the effort so that the bean counters and eggheads can say it was done.

For many years public health department have completed mass medication/vaccination efforts. With the implementation of NIMS and the needs to let everyone else speak our language and us to speak theirs, we have needed to change the way we do things. For the seasonal influenza program for this year, I have had to covince the nursing staff to use the ICS forms, to document the planning efforts toward the event and to use the EP&R materiel. We get a two-fer. They get all the vaccinations out of the way in one mass clinic and we get to count the event as an exercise. From my services day: Train the way you fight and fight the way you train....

Technical Assistance changes

For several years the CDC has utilized a document called the Local Technical Assistance Review (LTAR) for the evaluation of jurisdictions served under the Cities Readiness Initiative. We have seen continuing professionalization of the document and the proofs required to demonstrate the accomplishments.

Additionally, the National Association of City and County Health Officials (NACCHO) has developed the Project Public Health Ready program, designed to certify states or local health districts as prepared. This new program is relatively soft, but will no doubt develop some teeth as it evolves and more districts/states take the program seriously.

I have completed gap analyses for the programs and have some issues to overcome. Primarily, I believe the public health service paradigm must shift to support the changing definition of service in emergencies.

I embrace these changes. The ability to demonstrate to the public (in the final analysis) that we are providing a real return on the investment is critical. The technical aspects of the planning process may appear wasteful until the hurricane, the ice storm or the less likely anthrax attack occurs.

In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.

Dwight D. Eisenhower

A change in direction

I had started this blog in order to share thoughts on a variety of issues that interest me. I really have not paid quite so much attention to that so I thought that I would capture my work thoughts, to better remind me and perhaps be helpful to others on some problem solving related to emergency planning. I am more likely to make entries is I think of it as a requirement for my job.... we shall see.

Pirate Bay

There is no doubt that the Pirate Bay trial in Sweden has created ripples. Initially, many torrent sites closed, especially those located in Sweden. Interestingly, it has now been revealed that the judge in the matter has ties to copywrite advocacy groups and therefore may be biased in favor of copywrite holders.

Even if this verdict holds on appeal, I suspect the movement of servers into locations where similar lax copywrite laws exist. Even if the operators are located in one country and the gear is located in another, the complexities will be astounding. There will always be a movement to circumvent a product or service that is too expensive in the mind of the end user. Open source software will progressively take a larger bite of the windows market, music companies who are perceived as screwing the artist and the consumer will be involved in a running battle with a wide variety of pirates as will the film industry.

I continue to watch and hope for a balanced outcome.....

Never let your sense of morals get in the way of doing what's right.
- Isaac Asimov

By all means marry; if you get a good wife, you'll be happy. If you get a bad one, you'll become a philosopher.
- Socrates

Bailout issues

So, we have given billions of dollars to the banks and the auto companies. Why don't we just give a quarter mil to each person who paid taxes? The stupid would buy dope and drink and have fun: The purchase of goods and services. The smart would pay off debt, put some in savings and invest....