Public Health Practices

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health created a visual tool for two-way conversations between emergency shelter staff and people with communication needs. The booklet allows shelter staff to ensure residents know how the shelter operates and residents to use images to express their needs and concerns.

Four Armenian schools in the Los Angeles area created earthquake response training and held exercises with students in grades 1-8. Training covered Incident Command System roles, search and rescue, and general school preparedness issues.

Due to growing concern over the specific needs of children during an emergency, public health agencies and hospitals are seeking to enhance clinical readiness for all hospitals that may see children during a mass casualty event. In response to this issue, the King County Healthcare Coalition developed a pediatric medical management toolkit and evacuation plan for regional hospitals.

Public health agencies can vary greatly in the degree to which they partner with schools to track influenza-related illness (ILI) and its effects on the health of children and the community. In response to this need, a Texas public health agency developed a toolkit that walks agencies through the steps of creating, using, and evaluating a system for tracking ILI-related absences in public schools as well as in childcare facilities.

During pandemic planning efforts, emergency planners in Arizona prioritized Child Protective Services as an essential department and conducted a variety of preparedness activities to ensure that it could meet the needs of allegedly abused and neglected children. Preparedness activities included cross-training staff, identifying options for holding hearings and family visits while maintaining social distancing, and planning for alternate handling of hotline calls.

Volcanic activity can cause widespread public health problems, including respiratory illness, water contamination, and issues with eye safety. The state of Washington, with five active volcanoes in its borders, faces serious volcanic threats from such post-eruption events as mudslides and ash fall.

When news of the first cases of novel H1N1 influenza surfaced in April 2009, mass immunization became part of regular emergency preparedness discussions around the country. In Yamhill County, Ore., the heart of the state's wine industry with more than 95,000 residents, public health planners began to plan how it would work in their county.

As part of Maine's efforts to evaluate H1N1 response, the University of Southern Maine (USM) Muskie School of Public Service and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) collaborated to conduct a evaluation of school-based vaccination clinics in Maine. USM focused on qualitative evaluation. The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Maine CDC), the state public health agency, chose school-based vaccination as its primary mode for distributing H1N1 vaccine.

When disease incidence peaked last fall, and before vaccine was available, Public Health – Seattle & King County employees noticed that it was experiencing some messaging challenges. Although public health staff had been communicating the importance of staying home with flu-like symptoms, it became apparent that people were not following the guidance. For example, school officials reported that many students were coming to school sick.