March 2023 Newsletter
WELCOME TO THE HEALTHCARE COALITION OF MAINE NEWSLETTER
OUR MISSION
The mission of the Healthcare Coalition of Maine (HCCME) is to develop and sustain a powerful coalition of health care organizations, first responders, and other key partners united to save lives and improve health outcomes during disasters through preparedness, planning, response, and recovery efforts.
March Coalition Events
PLEASE REMEMBER THAT PRE-REGISTRATION IS NECESSARY TO RECEIVE DOCUMENTS
IN ADVANCE AND FOR HCC TO TRACK member PARTICIPATION
Radiation ttx on March 8th, 1-4pm
1:00-1:30pm Nathan Saunders and Jay Hyland of Maine CDC’s Radiation Control Program present on “Responding to a Nuclear Detonation (a Nuclear Bomb) or a Radiological Dispersal Device (a Dirty Bomb)”.
1:30-4:00pm Radiation TTX
Please register HERE.
May coalition events
Check back at the HCCME website home page conference banner for updates!
HHS emPOwer program
emPOWER in Action
Since 2013, the HHS emPOWER Program has emPOWERed communities in all 50 states, 5 territories, and the District of Columbia to strengthen emergency preparedness and take action to protect at-risk populations prior to, during, and after emergencies, incidents, and disasters. Nationwide emPOWER data and tools have been used for over 220 events, and over 85,000 users have accessed the HHS emPOWER Map. Click HERE to learn more about how communities are advancing emergency preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation activities.
Before, During, & After: Focus on Equity, Engaging Persons with Disabilities in Emergency Response and Recovery
On the most recent episode of the Before, During & After podcast from FEMA, we catch up with Director Sherman Gillums, Jr. to explore his first hundred days in office, discuss the improvements that are being made in our program delivery, raise awareness for how to engage persons with disabilities, and lay out a plan on how to make the disaster response and recovery process more effective.
Responding to Patient Surge: Information Sharing Proves Instrumental in Protecting Patient Health
In October, two phone calls sparked one of ASPR’s Regional Disaster Health Response System (RDHRS ) sites, managed by Nebraska Medicine in partnership with University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC), to become deeply involved in the RSV-driven patient surges hospitals faced in Region 7 (Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri and Kansas). The calls came from a hospital in Nebraska and one in Missouri because their facilities were out of pediatric beds, and as a result healthcare providers had to add alternative spaces and board pediatric patients in the hospitals’ emergency departments. Could the RDHRS help? Yes.
Learn more in the recent blog post from ASPR on the critical importance of ASPR's RDHRS sites.
Partner Trainings and Webinars
MEMA
ACEMA
SCEMA
united way
ALL Clear
MEMA Mass Care is offering a 2-Hour Virtual Sheltering Identification and Surveying Course for Local, County, and Tribal Emergency Management Agencies utilizing the Microsoft Teams Platform.
The objective of this course is to ensure Local, County, and Tribal Emergency Management Agencies and Municipal Officials can Review and Identity Primary and Secondary Disaster Emergency Shelter Sites in their respective Communities by covering the following topics:
Understand the purpose of Pre-Disaster Shelter Surveys.
Understand how to determine the capacity of an Evacuation Center and Disaster Emergency Shelter.
Understand the importance of Access and Functional needs and ADA Compliance in a Disaster Emergency Shelter.
Identify potential facility resources and limitations for sheltering.
Understand the Shelter Survey Form and its terminology.
Learn how to conduct a Shelter Survey and what partners should participate in the Survey.
Identify resources available to support Shelter Surveying efforts.
Identify how to prepare a Shelter Plan using a Shelter Planning Worksheet.
There are still plenty of slots available for the remaining course sessions in March 2023. To enroll in a course offering, complete this registration form before the registration deadline.
March 9, 2023- Time: 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
March 22, 2023- Time: 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
March 22, 2023- Time: 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Androscoggin County Emergency Management Agency announces TEEX Infrastructure Disaster Management Certificate Program is scheduled for in person delivery in Lewiston
The TEEX Infrastructure Disaster Management certificate is designed for professionals who wish to enrich their personal knowledge and skills related to critical infrastructure disaster management and resilience while earning International Association for Continuing Education and Training (IACET) Continuing Education Units (CEUs). This certificate program combines a broad understanding of homeland security infrastructure disaster management doctrine with an in-depth examination of key critical infrastructure sector concepts and practices in integrated risk management, capabilities-based and community-focused planning, and whole community resilience strategies focused on four critical sectors of the community infrastructure.
Once all four courses have been completed, participants must complete the Infrastructure Disaster Management Certificate Request Form and return it to the TEEX Infrastructure Training and Safety Institute division to receive their Certificate. Participants MUST have a FEMA SID to register for courses, if you do not have one a FEMA SID can be obtained here.
Training: Infrastructure Disaster Management Certificate ProgramLocation: 4
5 Oak St., Lewiston, ME 04240
Date: Course dates in 2023-2024, see below
Register Date: 2 weeks prior to course date, see below
Required Courses:
Participants must successfully complete all four DHS-certified courses listed below:
MGT317 Disaster Management for Public Services REGISTER: May 2-3, 2023 8AM-5:00PM Lewiston, Maine
MGT341 Disaster Preparedness for Hospitals and Healthcare Organizations within the Community Infrastructure REGISTER: July 25-26, 2023 8:00AM-5:00PM Lewiston, Maine
MGT345 Disaster Management for Electric Power Systems REGISTER: October 24-25, 2023 8:00AM-5:00PM Lewiston, Maine
MGT343 Disaster Management for Water and Wastewater Utilities REGISTER: January 9-10, 2024 8:00AM-5:00PM Lewiston, Maine
Androscoggin County Emergency Management Agency is pleased to announce that the Rural Domestic Preparedness Consortium (RDPC) is scheduled to host AWR 302 Pipeline Security for Rural Communities in Lewiston, Maine.
Details of the course are as follows:
Location: 45 Oak St., Lewiston, ME 04240
Date: March 15th 2023 8AM – 5PM
Register HERE by March 1st, 2023 5PM
SCEMA to offer MGT-403V – Underserved Populations Preparedness Planning for Rural Responders and Volunteers
MGT-403 is an 8-hour, DHS/FEMA-certified, tuition-free, management-level course. This course helps ensure the safety of underserved populations during a crisis event by increasing knowledge among community emergency planners in the area of preparedness. It encourages outreach to the whole community so that everyone considers what these individuals may require in terms of personalize care, transportation, shelter, and medical assistance before the crisis occurs. This course focuses on the preparedness phase of emergency management.
WHAT: MGT-403V – Underserved Populations Preparedness Planning for Rural Responders and Volunteers
WHEN: April 4th and 5th, 2023
TIME: 8:30AM-12:30PM (both days)
WHERE: Virtual Delivery
Registration is required, by March 27, 2023 through the RDPC website. FEMA S.I.D. REQUIRED. Register for your FEMA Student Identification Number HERE.
Upcoming Mental Health First Aid trainings with UWSM
United Way of Southern Maine is partnering with NAMI ME to provide free Mental Health First Aid trainings to community members. As rates of depression, anxiety, suicide, and overdose deaths increase in our community, these training opportunities are more necessary than ever. Together, we can take action to help more people live longer, better lives.
Mental Health First Aid teaches individuals how to identify if someone is experiencing increased symptoms of mental illness and substance use and if they are at risk of or in crisis. Participants learn a 5-step action plan to respond and provide initial help to the individual in crisis. Research shows that individuals who are trained in Mental Health First Aid:
· Grow their knowledge of signs, symptoms and risk factors of mental illnesses and addictions.
· Can identify multiple types of professional and self-help resources for individuals with a mental health or substance use challenge.
· Increase their confidence in and likelihood to help an individual in distress.
· Show increased mental wellness themselves.
Upcoming training sessions will be held March 23, April 13, and May 18. The training is approximately 6 hours over Zoom. If you are interested in attending, please fill out this form or email me directly at nmisra@uwsme.org.
All Clear Emergency Management Group has the following upcoming free webinars:
who
ASPR
FEMA
barda
rdhrs
Partner Resources
A Clinician's Reference Guide to Marburg Virus Disease
Reports of Marburg virus disease (MVD) outbreaks in Equatorial Guinea on February 13, 2023, and in Ghana last August are just the latest in the 50-year history of this deadly viral hemorrhagic fever. Beginning with the first reports of infection in laboratory workers in 1967, MVD has re-emerged repeatedly. Yet there are no medical countermeasures (e.g., vaccines or therapeutics) licensed to fight MVD, which has a case fatality of up to 88 percent.
Global health care and public health systems need to boost preparedness: improving surveillance, expanding diagnostic capacity, implementing infection prevention and control measures, as well as intensifying efforts to identify effective medical countermeasures.
Read a summary of ten key takeaways from "Marburg Virus Disease: A Summary for Clinicians" and updated on MVD therapeutics and vaccine candidates.
FEMA is accepting applications for the Youth Preparedness Council, a program that brings teens together from across the nation who are interested and engaged in community preparedness. Council members are selected based on their dedication to public service, their efforts in making a difference in their communities, and their potential to expand their impact as national leaders for emergency preparedness. Students in grades eight through 11 are eligible to apply.
During this one-year term, council members will collaborate virtually with each other to develop projects that promote preparedness on a local and a national scale. Members will also attend the council summit in July and engage with top leaders within FEMA, the federal government, and national nonprofit organizations.
Youths interested in applying to the council must complete and submit application forms and provide two letters of recommendation. All applications and supporting materials must be submitted by 11:59 PM PT on March 6. New council members will be announced in June.
Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) Announces the 67th FDA Approval/Licensure/Clearance for Medical Countermeasures Supported by BARDA Under Novel Public-Private Partnerships
BARDA has made key strategic investments in a portfolio of host-based diagnostics to further aid pandemic preparedness to complement more traditional pathogen-targeted approaches. Host-based diagnostics encompass a broad range of technologies capable of leveraging various data types from an individual, such as genomic biomarkers, cellular responses and physiological data, which may be analyzed by integrated algorithms. These diagnostics can aid clinical decision making by providing insight into a patient's current immune state, infection severity, or even trajectory of deterioration to severe outcomes like sepsis.
This milestone contributes to the goals set in the BARDA 2022-2026 Strategic Plan, which emphasizes the importance of laboratory and point-of-care testing that can be adapted rapidly for emerging threats, through accelerating existing platforms and emerging threat-agnostic technologies. Threat-agnostic approaches also position the U.S. to respond to future unidentified threats.
From investing in early innovation to late-stage development through FDA approval, licensure, or clearance, with each partnership BARDA focuses on the end goal: ensuring products are available for the American people and the global community to protect health and save lives from a national security threat or other public health emergency. Number 67 illustrates what government and industry can accomplish together though public and private partnerships. With novel diagnostics, vaccines, and medicines, we can save lives, protect the American people and enhance national and global health security.
Responding to Patient Surge: Information Sharing Proves Instrumental in Protecting Patient Health
In October, two phone calls sparked one of ASPR’s Regional Disaster Health Response System (RDHRS ) sites, managed by Nebraska Medicine in partnership with University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC), to become deeply involved in the RSV-driven patient surges hospitals faced in Region 7 (Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri and Kansas). The calls came from a hospital in Nebraska and one in Missouri because their facilities were out of pediatric beds, and as a result healthcare providers had to add alternative spaces and board pediatric patients in the hospitals’ emergency departments. Could the RDHRS help? Yes.
Learn more in the recent blog post from ASPR on the critical importance of ASPR's RDHRS sites.
Three POSITIONS AVAILABLE!
All Clear Emergency Management Group is searching for TWO detail oriented, highly skilled and motivated Healthcare Coalition Coordinators to join our growing team! These positions will provide coverage to the Northern and Southern Chapters by planning, implementing, and evaluating activities associated with the Coalition. Additionally, this position will recruit and maintain a diverse coalition membership with hospital, public health, emergency management, emergency medical services and other healthcare partners.
For more information, see the full job description located here. Cover letters and resumes should be submitted by email to jobs_HCCME@AllClearEMG.com.
We also continue to search for a detail oriented, highly skilled and motivated Contract Clinical Advisor to join our team! This position will serve the HCCME, by providing clinical leadership and serving as a liaison between the Coalition and medical directors/medical leadership at health care facilities, supporting entities (e.g., blood banks), and Emergency Medical Services (EMS) agencies.
For more information, see the full job description located here. Cover letters and resumes should be submitted by email to jobs+clinical@AllClearEMG.com.
CONTACT US
Email your coalition coordinators at HCCME@AllClearEMG.com to assist you with any of your preparedness needs.
As a reminder, we recommend that you bookmark our website MaineHCCs.com and check in often as we are continually updating the calendar with meetings, trainings, and exercises!