Delaware SNS Exercise

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Avian Influenza Symposium January 13, 2006
What Can Healthcare Institutions Do? Focusing on
the Fundamentals
Matthew Payne Senior Advisor, Public Health The
CNA Corporation
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The Overwhelming Consequences

• Similar to preparing for the consequences of
  terrorism, preparing for a potential influenza
  pandemic creates challenges that can seem almost
  too hard to consider.
• How do I plan for an influenza pandemic, while
  also preparing for terrorism and general
  increases in demand not attributed to either
  cause?

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Lessons from the 2005 Hurricanes

• The Hurricane season of 2005 clearly demonstrated
  the challenges of responding to large-scale
  disasters affecting multiple jurisdictions.
• Many of the challenges encountered surrounded the
  management of resources rather than the technical
  challenges of the response.
• While the clinical consequences of the storm were
  limited (e.g., injuries / illness directly
  attributed to the storm), the strain placed on
  all levels of the system was unprecedented.

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Fundamental Questions / Issues

• How to manage, within a single system, the
  diverse public health and medical entities in
  incident response?
• How to maximize resources in the time
• of need?
• How to obtain additional resources if
• existing sources are overwhelmed or
• not available?

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First Steps Roles Relationships

• Understand your role as a facility and as a
  contributor to the greater community response.
• Know and maintain a close working relationship
  with your public and private counterparts.
• Use any emergency situation to build
  relationships and share information.
• Know and understand the roles / capabilities of
  non-traditional partners in the response (e.g.,
  public utility, local vendors).

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Next Steps Planning Logistics

• Regularly update and test your emergency
  operations plan.
• Understand the resources that are available to
  you both internally and externally.
• Personnel resources within the facility /
  community
• IT systems and redundant communication tools
• Materiel resources within the facility /
  community
• Resources within the State and
• Federal resources (e.g., SNS).
• Know how long you can sustain your services with
  the resources on-hand.

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Next Steps Administrative and Legal

• Make sure you have the necessary documentation to
  assure access to the resources you need (e.g.,
  mutual aid agreements, emergency hiring
  mechanisms).
• Understand your legal obligations for care during
  an emergency and when waivers are applicable.
• Understand the liability concerns of using
  volunteers and out of State providers.

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For More Information
Matthew Payne [phone] paynem_at_cna.org www.cn
a.org