Pandemic Preparedness and Response: A Training Program for the Whole Community

DESCRIPTION: Pandemic, biological, natural, and human caused disaster-related public health emergencies have caused thousands of U.S. deaths and illnesses, while also severely reducing the economic livelihood of impacted residents. Although occurring infrequently, such events require highly advanced preparation and training to adequately mitigate. The ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic, which has resulted in more than 600,000 U.S. deaths, underscores the importance of continual training efforts in relation to emergency management and public health/medical coordination, mental and behavioral health and multilateral risk communication. However, there is currently a lack of State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial (SLTT) training, and few educational resources available to assist in such preparedness efforts. As noted in FEMA's COVID-19 Pandemic Operational Guidance, there is a pressing need for high-quality, validated instruction that is understandable and easily retained about emergency management and public health/medical coordination, mental and behavioral health, and multilateral risk communication.

To address these needs, NCDP proposes to develop in-person and virtual trainings to increase the competency and capability of our nation's disaster planners and responders. This includes developing 1 in-person instructor-led course (Management level, 7 hours, to be delivered 10 times), 1 synchronous, virtual instructor-led course (Management level, 7 hours, to be delivered 10 times), and 1 asynchronous, virtual instructor-led course (Awareness level, 2 hours, available online for the duration of the project). All courses will be driven by a scenario-based curriculum designed to generate new communication with emergency management and health care coalitions, joint field offices, joint information centers, and regional disaster healthcare response system participants.