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In last month’s newsletter, we highlighted National Emerging Special Pathogen Training and Education Center (NETEC) as our Partner Spotlight. This month, we focus on the National Special Pathogen System (NSPS), a “system of care” coordinated by NETEC. In March 2020, as COVID-19 began to surge across the country, the Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR) asked NETEC to develop a strategy for a National Special Pathogen System. The NSPS was built by and with health care leaders and other across various industries, ranging from health care facilities to public health and payers. Healthcare organizations from RESPTCs and Level 2,3 and 4 facilities have shaped the System of Care. To date, over 150 partners across government, EMS, hospital associations, public health, academic institutions, medical centers, and payers have been engaged.

NSPS SYSTEM OF CARE

NETEC, as the Coordinating Body of NSPS, supports and operationalizes the NSPS System of Care. The NSPS System of Care is designed as a hub-and-spoke model where regional ‘hubs’ Level 1 RESPTCs will provide guidance and provide technical assistance to the tier spokes. 

• Join us and the Region VII Emerging Special Pathogen Treatment Center on April 29th at 11AM CST via ZOOM for a webinar on the current outbreak of HPAI H5N1 (Avian Influenza). This webinar will discuss characteristics and origins of HPAI outbreaks, modes of transmissions of HPAI, high risk populations, and where to find resources and information for responding to and managing HPAI outbreaks. If you are unable to attend the webinar, it will be available to view on the R7DHRE website  within 24 hours.

R7DHRE members present at American Burn Association Meeting 

• R7DHRE Training Specialist Lauryn Burbridge and Judy Placek, R7DHRE Burn Team Lead, attended the 2024 American Burn Association Annual Meeting in Chicago, Illinois, on April 9, 2024. As part of burn preparedness efforts, they co-presented the Midwest Burn Region Disaster Plan to identify movement of burn patients during a mass casualty incident from the field to the hospital setting. The Midwest Burn Region encompasses 12 states from Kansas to Michigan.  

NACCHO Preparedness Summit (March 2024)

• The R7DHRE was represented at the annual NACCHO Preparedness Summit in Cleveland, OH by our Chemical Team lead Kathy Jacobitz, MHA, BSN, RN, CSPI. Kathy, along with representatives from the other RDHRS sites, gave a presentation titled, “Planning for a Medical Response to a Chemical Incident,” where they discussed the chemical and toxicologic resources and infrastructure across the United States. They also highlighted opportunities for the RDHRS sites to augment and support chemical responses during catastrophic events.

• The National Infection Control Strengthening (NICS) team recently launched their  "Behind the Mask" Webinar Series. Funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the University Nebraska Medical Center, in partnership with Nebraska Medicine, NICS was selected as an innovation partner as part of Project Firstline with a focus on strengthening infection prevention and control programs in healthcare facilities in underserved areas to develop innovative programs, services, and product development strategies to strengthen IPC nationally and globally. To learn more about their upcoming webinars and to view their most recent one, click the button below. 

• Register for our upcoming AHLS Provider/Instructor courses which will be held from June 19-21 in Salina, KS and July 10-12 in Lincoln, NE. Learn more on our events calendar. 

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