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R7DHRE November Newsletter |
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In This Issue
- Featured Event
- Partner Spotlight
- Preparedness in a Minute
- R7DHRE Highlights
- Question of the Month
- Helpful Links
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Last week the R7DHRE hosted its 1st Region 7 In-Person Healthcare Coalition Conference!
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The R7DHRE team poses with the Nebraska HCC crew. |
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On the 7th of November 2023, the R7DHRE hosted a Region 7 Health Care Coalition (HCC) Coordinator Conference in Overland Park, Kansas. The two-day event brought together Coordinators from 20 HCCs representing Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska, and Missouri along with Region 7 federal partners, with a focus on regional activities and collaboration.
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Left: HCC team from Missouri.
Right:
Matt Larson shows off the new R7DHRE Chemical Medical Countermeasure poster. |
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Topics of discussion included individual HCC overviews, partnership opportunities, discussion on Health Equity in disasters, Essential Elements of Information from our federal experts, and panel discussions on the role of the Clinical Advisor in relation to the HCCs as well as a recent chemical incident in Kansas and lessons learned. The conference served as a foundation for community-building strategies, the identification of state policy variances, advocacy areas, and the acknowledgment of successes. The R7DHRE extends our gratitude to all attendees, speakers, and partners who contributed to the success of this event. Stay tuned for a more detailed summary of outcomes next month. |
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Left:
A panel discussion about a chemical mass casualty incident in Kansas.
Right:
Abbey Lowe, PhD moderates a discussion about Health Equity in Disasters. |
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Left: Kansas HCC representatives present about their coalitions.
Right: Rachel Lookadoo, JD presents on "Climate and Health in Region 7." |
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Healthcare Coalition Partners of Kansas, LLC |
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WHO WE ARE
As the company that manages the 7 Healthcare Coalition Readiness and Response Coordinators throughout Kansas, we value the independence of each HCC as well as the power that is realized when multiple organizations work together to accomplish a common goal. By bringing together our healthcare partners throughout the State, we are able to maximize lessons learned, save valuable time and effort, and build on the successes of our members and partners. One example of this is the successful completion of our first in-person KS HCC Preparedness Summit! This Summit was a 1.5 day event that took place in September of 2023. Attendees were pleased with the value of each session, the lessons learned no matter the size of their organization, and the potential application of lessons learned throughout multiple disciplines. In addition, attendees were able to build valuable state-wide relationships. As we continue to grow, we will continue to develop member enrichment opportunities. Click the map below to learn more about the Kansas Healthcare Coalitions. |
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MISSION | VISION
Mission: Serving the healthcare community to prepare, plan, mitigate, and respond to healthcare emergencies. Vision: Be the best healthcare partner for emergency preparedness in Kansas. Lastly, our core values include faith, family, professional and personal growth, mutual respect, and service to others. |
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OUR VALUES
As a woman owned business, we value the opportunities provided to us that were not available to our mothers and grandmothers. We recognize the work of others before us, and we will continue to increase opportunities for our daughters/granddaughters/upcoming women entrepreneurs. This can only be completed through inclusion of all as we all work toward the common goal of saving lives. We look forward to the continued development of partnerships throughout our Region and the Nation. |
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Continuity Planning
Healthcare facilities are systems that run 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. This means that any kind of event or disaster that interrupts normal work process must be planned for and have a continuity plan explaining how operations will recover. Each health system has a commitment to their community, their workforce and their patients to have a robust continuity plan for essential functions.
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What is a continuity plan? A Continuity of Operations Plan (COOP) ensures an individual organization can continue to perform its essential functions, provide essential services, and deliver core capabilities during a disruption to normal operations. A COOP can be for a business, a government entity, a health care facility, and much more, but its importance cannot be understated. There are 4 phases (readiness/ preparedness; activation; operations; and reconstitution/recovery) to continuity planning, each with their own nuances to consider. While continuity planning can seem like a daunting task, there are some simple steps that can be taken to start outlining your organization’s COOP.
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Identify essential functions: What functions must your organization carry out within 1 hour, 1 day, or even 1 week from the disrupting event? What functions are non-essential and can be stopped during the event?
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Identify mitigation options: Decision makers need to be able to consider the feasibility of implementing options to support continuity and how various alternatives affect and reduce risk, including the consideration of resources, capabilities, time to implement, political will, legal issues, potential impact on stakeholders, and the potential for unintentionally transferring risk.
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Identify key elements: Identifying and understanding these elements when there is no active threat or hazard is critical to the continuation of essential functions when an incident occurs.
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Plan and implement options and elements: Planning must include considering the requirements and procedures needed to perform essential functions and establishing contingency plans if needed resources are not available.
Once these things have been done you will be well on your way to having a continuity plan for your organization. As your organization changes, so too must your continuity plans, so regular review and exercise of the plan is vital to being ready for when the plan must be put into action.
Helpful Continuity Resources:
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Region VII Preparedness Webinar
On October 30th, Region 1's Paul Biddinger, MD, FACEP and Region 7's Shelly Schwedhelm hosted the "The Impact of a Regional Disaster Health Response System During Regional Planning and Response" webinar. The webinar was intended to define the role of the Regional Disaster Health Response System/Ecosystem across local, state, regional, and federal healthcare disaster planning and response, identify the current operational capabilities of the Regional Health Response System/Ecosystem network at each site, and to summarize the key initiatives and programmatic regional successes from the 2022 Pediatric Tripledemic. |
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Missouri Hospital Association Conference |
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The R7DHRE participated in the Missouri Hospital Association's (MHA) 101st Annual Convention on November 1-2, 2023. Project Manager Keke Konou shared educational and training opportunities, resources, and successes, while networking and strengthening existing partnerships. The convention offered a unique platform for the exchange of information and insights between attendees and exhibitors and exhibitor to exhibitor. Present was one of their regional partners, the Missouri Poison Center! Those that visited our booth represented healthcare institutions, critical access hospitals, hospital auxiliary organizations, healthcare professions, and various industries that support these organizations.
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How many cyber breaches have there been in Region VII healthcare facilities in the last 24 months? |
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