The Express: July 2018

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

The Express

July 2018

We hope you have been able to enjoy your summer thus far, while simultaneously preparing for and responding to the hazards this season brings. As wildfires, heat waves, and flooding continue to affect multiple areas of the nation, and as hurricane season unfolds, we encourage you to visit our ASPR TRACIE-Developed Resources page. Resources like our Natural Disasters Topic Collection and Select Hurricane-Related Resources page can help.

This issue of The Express highlights a newly released webinar, new ASPR TRACIE resources, upcoming events, and domain updates.

Now Available: Healthcare Challenges after Radiological Incidents

While there is an abundance of resources geared towards healthcare, public health, and emergency management professionals planning for a large-scale radiological release or nuclear detonation incident, concrete planning remains challenging and few jurisdictions have detailed plans. Learn more about assessing, triaging, treating, and following-up with patients after radiological and nuclear emergencies in this webinar. This document includes responses to questions webinar speakers were unable to respond to due to time constraints.

New: Durable Medical Equipment and Disasters

This ASPR TRACIE fact sheet provides information on general durable medical equipment (DME) categories and focuses on electricity-dependent DME that may be affected by disasters and emergencies, including power failures. It also includes information to assist healthcare system preparedness stakeholders plan for medically vulnerable populations who rely on DME.

Just Released: Blood and Blood Products Topic Collection and FAQ

Traditional mass casualty incidents (MCIs) rarely place significant stress on the blood bank or require community blood drives. However, victims of blast and penetrating trauma may require massive transfusions; multiple victims presenting at once may create challenges for local blood banks, including problems with unidentified patients (and the risk of transfusion reactions), the need to run multiple massive transfusion protocols at once, and the need to perform many crossmatches on numerous patients in a short period of time. The Blood and Blood Products Topic Collection and accompanying fact sheet Blood and Disasters: Frequently Asked Questions can help stakeholders plan, exercise, and respond together in the event of an MCI.

Just Added: No-Notice Events: Emergency Medical Systems Considerations

This tip sheet, part of a series, can help emergency medical systems planners incorporate issues related to pre-event, initial response, and support for hospitals into their no-notice incident plans. Check out the rest of the series and other helpful documents on our Select Mass Violence Resources page.

Upcoming Events

On September 12, 2018, the Uniformed Services University National Center for Disaster Medicine and Public Health is hosting the 2018 Disaster Education Symposium. Learn about current and future education initiatives in disaster medicine and public health education and enjoy the opportunity to network with your colleagues at this free one-day event. Register today!

The National Ebola Training and Education Center (NETEC) is offering several upcoming workshops on emerging infectious diseases. Visit their education and training webpage to learn more and register for their next free course. (Travel costs are not included; the next course is September 19-20.)

The Association of Healthcare Emergency Preparedness Professionals (AHEPP) is hosting their annual conference in November. Registration and a preview of sessions are now available. Check out the ASPR TRACIE session on Wednesday, November 7, 2018 from 12:45pm-1:45pm.

Registration for the National Healthcare Coalition Preparedness Conference is now open! Register now to take advantage of the early bird rate.

Domain Updates

Technical Resources
There are currently 56 comprehensively developed Topic Collections in the Technical Resources domain, including our most recently published Blood and Blood Products Collection. We have also updated our Radiological and Nuclear Topic Collection with recent publications. Our next Collection will focus on bioterrorism and high consequence biological threats. We invite you to consider sharing resources you have used in your healthcare organization or facility for potential inclusion in the TRACIE Resource Library to assist others in planning and responding.

Assistance Center
The Assistance Center has processed over 3,800 technical assistance (TA) requests from a variety of stakeholders (including over 750 related to the CMS Emergency Preparedness Rule). Recently released responses to TA requests include: Pediatric Policy Resources, Drive-Through Points of Dispensing Resources, Long-term Care Emergency Preparedness Workgroup Information, and Naming Conventions for Unidentified Patient Materials. Access the updated, categorized summary of many of the requests we have received, and please reach out if you need assistance.

Information Exchange
Over 4,900 of your colleagues use the Information Exchangedo you? Register now to join the conversation and learn more about setting up private topic areas. You can customize your experience even further by checking Notify Me of All Activity on each topic or thread of interest to you. You will then receive an email when there is an update. Need help navigating the IE? Check out this quick how-to video.