From 2008-2015, ORAU in partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Healthcare Preparedness and Response Team (formerly known as the Healthcare Preparedness Activity, HPA), conducted a series of community workshops aimed at improving healthcare responses during a pandemic or other public health emergency.

These collaborative community efforts brought together representatives from healthcare agencies and organizations, public health departments, emergency management agencies, and community support organizations to focus on healthcare surge in frontier, rural, and urban settings.

During these workshops, ORAU and CDC-HPA observed that many communities' resources were limited during a public health emergency. Moreover, ORAU and CDC-HPA observed that many of these communities had not coordinated among organizations not previously involved in preparedness planning. In particular, many communities had not identified resources in non-healthcare related organizations that may be able to support a response, such as schools, faith-based organizations, and businesses.

These community engagements helped identify pressing healthcare preparedness planning needs at the local level and subsequently informed the collaborative development of several preparedness resources. The co-developed resources are listed below, organized by setting.

Communities

• Community Assessment Tool
• Community Planning Framework for Healthcare Preparedness
• Discussion Guide for Emergency Management
• Discussion Guide for Hospitals
• Discussion Guide for Public Health
• Healthcare Organization and Hospital Cyber Discussion Guide
• How to Develop Medical Surge Planning Workshops
• The Ebola Concept of Operations (ConOps) Template
  • The Discussion Guide of Ebola (ConOps) Planning
  • The Exercise Guide for Ebola (ConOps) Planning
• Pandemic Influenza Electronic Exercise Tool
• Pandemic Influenza Triage Tools
• Pan Flu Scramble
• Space, Staff, Stuff: Identifying Your Community’s Resources

Healthcare Systems

• Hospital All-Hazards Assessment Interactive Tool
• Long-Term, Home Health, and Hospice Care Planning Guide for Public Health Emergencies
• Medical Office Preparedness Planner
• The Supply Chain Disaster Preparedness Manual

Pediatric Offices and Hospitals

• Coordinating Pediatric Medical Care During an Influenza Pandemic Workbook
• Pandemic Influenza Pediatric Office Plan Template
• Pediatric Stakeholders Meeting – Communications Tool

Emergency Responders

• Coordinating Call Centers for Responding to Pandemic Influenza and Other Public Health Emergencies: A Workbook for State and Local Planners
• Emergency Medical Services & Medical Surge: Essential Legal Issues
• Managing Calls and Call Centers during a Large-Scale Influenza Outbreak: Implementation Tool
• The Framework for Expanding EMS Capacity during Medical Surge