ORAU has been awarded a contract to provide communications and videography support for the development of a video series on best practices in infection prevention and control in high-risk facilities implemented by local health departments around the country. The contract was awarded by the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO).
NACCHO, with support from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Division of Healthcare Quality and Promotion, last year awarded 25 local health departments funding to enhance infectious disease prevention and control in high-risk facilities through the Building Local Operational Capacity for COVID-19 (BLOC COVID-19) demonstration site project.
Through interviews with local health department personnel, the ORAU team will capture best practices implemented during the demonstration project, which was designed to enhance local capacity to prevent and respond to COVID-19 by building health department capacity in infection prevention and control (IPC), supporting identified high-risk facilities by conducting in-person or virtual IPC assessments, and expanding collaboration and coordination between health departments and community infection prevention partners. The BLOC COVID-19 project supports health departments in their work to prevent outbreaks of infectious diseases in healthcare settings, including COVID-19, by increasing capacity to identify and address gaps in IPC practices, such as hand hygiene, use of personal protective equipment and proper environmental cleaning.
“ORAU boasts a long history of proven past performance in the public health and preparedness space, including health communication projects like this one,” said Freddy Gray, ORAU’s director of public health and healthcare programs, specializing in preparedness, health communication and program evaluation. “We are excited to have been selected for this work and look forward to our continued support to NACCHO and our nation’s health departments.”