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Building on the Fly by Design
Building on the Fly By Design is a federal interagency initiative led by the National Center for Disaster Medicine and Public Health and supported by the University of Nebraska Medical Center aimed at preparing our nation for catastrophic events. The intent of this program is to develop a more effective and straight-forward process for envisioning requirements, establishing potential solutions, and developing operationally feasible plans for building capacity quickly to meet the needs of a national emergency when those needs far exceed what can be sustained under steady state operations. The initial effort involves a series of iterative meetings with key stakeholders and experts from across government, academia, and industry. During these meetings, participants will identify existing and potential capabilities, resources, personnel, and policy elements required to rapidly scale the nation’s healthcare systems under severe yet unconstrained environments where the mission trumps all else. Plans and infrastructure necessary to operationalize the requirements will be defined allowing for a more rapid and efficient scale up during times of crisis. The primary objective of this series of meetings is to set the process for ensuring systems are agile, adaptable, and can expand far beyond the boundaries of routine care/operations, especially in the most severe of circumstances. The secondary objective is to test the process by utilizing the outcome measures and recommendations produced during testing of the initial scenario of a large-scale combat operation.
Dr. Jeffrey D. Freeman serves as the Director and Special Assistant to the President for the National Center for Disaster Medicine and Public Health (NCDMPH). As Director, Dr. Freeman leads the National Joint Research and Education Program in Disaster Medicine for all executive departments and directs a nation-wide ecosystem comprised of leading medical and public health research institutions. Established in 2008 under Homeland Security Presidential Directive 21 (HSPD-21), NCDMPH is both a federal organization and component of the Uniformed Services University (USU). The National Center is governed by an interagency Board of Advisors from the Departments of Defense (DoD), State (DoS), Health and Human Services (HHS), Homeland Security (DHS), Transportation (DoT), and Veterans Affairs (VA). The mission of the National Center is to advance the Nation’s medical and public health readiness for disasters.
Dr. Freeman comes to the National Center from MIT Lincoln Laboratory where he worked in the Biotechnology and Human Systems Division Office. Prior to MIT, Dr. Freeman was a part of the senior leadership team in the National Health Mission of the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) where he established the Prevention, Preparedness, and Response Program, and created the Johns Hopkins Disaster Response Corps, which mobilizes scientists and technology in support of the Nation’s response to disasters. While at Johns Hopkins, Dr. Freeman was selected as an Emerging Leader in Biosecurity Fellow by the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. Before coming to Johns Hopkins to pursue his doctoral studies, he worked in the Emergency Response and Recovery Branch of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta and was involved in the creation of the Center for Humanitarian Emergencies at Emory University.
Throughout his career, Dr. Freeman has led hundreds of scientists in support of responses to pandemics including COVID-19, Mpox, and Ebola, as well as responses to violent conflicts, natural disasters, and other health emergencies.In March 2020, at the request of senior government officials, Dr. Freeman mobilized a team of several hundred scientists in support of the Federal COVID-19 Response. Over the next several years, he would lead more than 400 technical staff supporting work across the federal response, to include efforts related to authoritative COVID-19 data, senior leader decision-making, public health and medical operations, medical supply chain, testing and diagnostics, and medical countermeasures development and distribution. Many of these efforts have been transitioned to follow-on tasks aimed at advancing government capabilities for future health threats.
Dr. Freeman’s formal education includes advanced training and education in health, engineering, and business, including a Bachelor’s degree from West Virginia University, a Master of Public Health degree in Global Health and Infectious Diseases from Emory University, and a PhD in Environmental Health and Engineering from Johns Hopkins University. He has specialized training in Complex Humanitarian Emergencies, Biomedical Informatics, Risk Sciences, and Public Policy. In addition to his duties as NCDMPH Director, Dr. Freeman is jointly appointed as an Associate Professor in the Military and Emergency Medicine Department at the Uniformed Services University where his primary research interests include advanced training for complex environments and human performance under duress.
Lauren Sauer is an Associate Professor in the College of Public Health, Department of Environmental, Agricultural, and Occupational Health, at the University of Nebraska Medical Center and the Associate Director of Research at the UNMC Global Center for Health Security. She is an Adjunct Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine in the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, with a joint appointment in the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, department of International Health. She is also an adjunct faculty member of the Boston University Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases Policy and Research.
Lauren has been working in the field of disaster and public health emergency research and education for almost two decades and has deployed for over a dozen disaster and emergency responses, and on the US Navy’s humanitarian assistance missions Continuing Promise, and Pacific Partnership. For almost a decade, Lauren served as the Assistant Director of Operations for the Johns Hopkins Go Team, a deployable Medical Asset and has worked remotely and on the ground on several disaster responses for them including Hurricane Katrina, the 2009 California Wildfires, the Haiti earthquake, the Pakistan floods, and Hurricanes Irma and Maria in the US Virgin Islands. Lauren has advised national governments, research and response networks, and nonprofit organizations on preparedness and response efforts. She has authored over 60 journal articles in the fields of bioemergencies and disaster preparedness and response.
She is the Director of the Special Pathogens Research Network, the research arm of the National Ebola Training and Education Center and is an alumnus of the Emerging Leaders in Biosecurity program at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, where she is a contributing scholar. She also serves on the American Red Cross Scientific Advisory Committee where she sits on the Disaster Preparedness Sub Committee, supporting the Red Cross’ operations with a scientifically sound evidence base. She previously served as Director of Operations for the Johns Hopkins Office of Critical Event Preparedness and Response and the Director of Research for the Johns Hopkins Biocontainment Unit where she ran the inpatient COVID19 biobank and served on the COVID-19 research steering committee for JHU. She also previously served as the JHU focal point for their partnership with the World Health Organization’s Global Outbreak and Alert Response Network.
Lauren’s research focuses mainly on human subjects research in bio-emergencies and acute disasters, as well as immediate post-disaster and post-outbreak infrastructure, including the impact of disasters and outbreaks on healthcare systems, resource availability and access, and the impact of policy on preparedness and response capabilities. Much of her work is focused on the ethical implementation of human subjects research and navigating the regulatory environment, as well as the way policy, guidance and new science impacts disaster and outbreak affected populations. Her research has focused on providing healthcare systems tools that facilitate implementation of policy requirements and clinical trials in emergencies. Planning tools for hospital bed capacity, patient management and other disaster and outbreak related needs allow hospitals and healthcare systems to break down complex, potentially unfamiliar concepts into manageable pieces. Additionally, she has focused on appropriateness of disaster response and aid for affected populations to observe positive and negative effects of distribution of aid, implementation of response strategies such as novel therapeutics, and other resources.
I know a Guy – Leveraging Partnerships to Increase Resilience in Disasters
This presentation will share real world anecdotes of how facility and community resiliency was increased based on interpersonal relationships. Techniques on how to build and maintain these relationships will be discussed so as to meet the needs of multiple agencies. The presentation will conclude with the story of the 2023 Derecho in Northeast Missouri and how these partnerships helped a long-term care facility respond to a large-scale power outage when local responders were overwhelmed.
Chris Blomgren retired from the volunteer fire service and public emergency management service after 30 years of public service. During his tenure with Kahoka & Clark County Fire and Emergency Management Agencies, Chris created interagency training and exercise plans incorporating hundreds of participants from rural Missouri annually. As a volunteer leader with Team Rubicon, Chris designed the organization's first full-scale mobilization exercise incorporating dozens of agencies and over 100 volunteers, an event setting the standard for pre-planned events in the organization. Chris currently consults with healthcare facilities on rural healthcare preparedness, focusing on partnerships, planning, training, and exercises. Chris holds an associate degree in nursing (RN), a bachelor degree in psychology and a masters degree in emergency preparedness. He has completed the Master Exercise Practitioner Program and National Emergency Management Executive Academy and is recently received his Certified Healthcare Emergency Coordinator-II certification. When not assisting healthcare facilities in emergency preparedness activities, he resides on a 23-acre homestead in northeast Missouri, and shares his passion on facility and community resiliency and partnerships with his idiom, "I Know a Guy".
System Level Unified Command: A Case Study of a Healthcare System’s Response to the CrowdStrike Incident
The CrowdStrike incident of Feb 19, 2024 impacted many organizations, including several in the healthcare organizations disrupting the operations of many hospitals and clinics. The incident impacted many electronic health records, medical devices, and communication systems. In this presentation, you will see how our healthcare system successfully implemented a system unified command structure to manage the crisis and restore the normal functioning of our services. We will describe the key features and design of the system unified command structure including roles and responsibilities and the coordination between the local entities and the system command. We will also discuss the challenges and lessons learned from the incident and how we improved our preparedness and resilience for future technological impacts to the organization.
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Dr. Bulson currently serves as Corewell Health’s Director, Business Assurance. Dr. Bulson is instrumental in the development of a comprehensive system level healthcare emergency preparedness and response program. She is responsible for program design, development, implementation, operational readiness and resilience, situation management, and business continuity for Corewell Health – a large integrated health system in Michigan. She represents healthcare emergency preparedness on many federal, state, and regional healthcare preparedness planning committees. Dr. Bulson has also been a guest lecturer for healthcare emergency preparedness for multiple local nursing programs as well as several healthcare emergency preparedness conferences and has co-authored several articles related to healthcare emergency preparedness and response. Her research interests continue to be related to impact and outcomes of emergency preparedness education on healthcare workers and organizational resiliency.
Critical Infrastructure Failure:
When Standing Water Brings Surgeries to a Standstill
Over Memorial Day Weekend 2024, what started as a weather-related leak in the OR suite, grew exponentially after a second round of storms. All ten ORs were completely flooded with a projected downtime of months. New equipment was damaged and supplies ruined; this was a devasting loss no one saw coming. Learn how the hospital pivoted quickly to provide life saving services, integrated with the health system for creative solutions and overcome the challenges of utilizing mobile OR units to sustain surgical services.
Donnie began his healthcare career in 1994 as a dietary aide. He then went on to earn his nursing license and spent over 20 years as a nurse in trauma, critical care, and the emergency department. He has served in a variety of additional roles throughout his time in healthcare, including as the Medical Examiner for Berkeley and Jefferson Counties, Emergency Medical Technician for the Berkeley County Emergency Ambulance Authority, and Business Development Coordinator for HealthNet Aeromedical. Currently, Donnie is the Trauma and Emergency Manager for WVU Medicine East, which is comprised of Berkeley Medical Center, a 200-licensed-bed acute care facility with level III trauma designation, Jefferson Medical Center, a 25-licensed-bed critical access facility with level IV trauma designation and 31 outpatient facilities, made up of an outpatient surgical center, Heart and Vascular Institute regional site, Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute regional site, Cancer Institute regional site, and multiple physician practices. In this position, he played a vital part in West Virginia’s eastern panhandle Covid response as the Operations Section Chief over the development and coordination of the regional testing site and vaccination clinic. He was recognized for his efforts as a recipient of the Distinguished Civilian Citizen Award by the WV National Guard, Citizen of the Year Award by the American Fraternal Order of the Elks, and Distinguished Healthcare Provider Honor Award by the city of Martinsburg. Donnie holds a bachelor’s degree in public health with a minor in emergency management and is a Certified Healthcare Emergency Professional. He currently resides in Martinsburg, WV.
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Elizabeth received her bachelor’s degree in public relations and criminal justice from Taylor University. Following college, Elizabeth graduated from the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy and served as a deputy with the Grant County Sheriff’s Department in Marion, Indiana where she maintained several key programs for the department as a certified active shooter instructor, fatal crash scene investigator, Project Lifesaver team member, hostage/crisis negotiator and school safety officer. Elizabeth moved to healthcare in 2015, joining Marion Health as the Director of Protective Services, Emergency Management, Emergency Medical Dispatch and Hospital Police Chief. Elizabeth worked to transition the security department into a police force and graduated from the Indiana Executive Police Chief School in 2018. She continued her career in healthcare joining West Virginia University Medicine as the Emergency Management Director for JW Ruby Memorial Hospital in 2020. She chairs the WVU Medicine Emergency Preparedness Council and West Virginia Health Care Coalition Region 6/7. In 2023, Elizabeth earned the role of Enterprise Director of Emergency Management and Business Continuity for WVU Medicine, supporting all 24 hospitals throughout West Virginia and surrounding states. Elizabeth has presented alongside her public health colleagues at the NACCHO Preparedness Summit and national webinars on their collaborative radiological incident preparedness initiatives. Elizabeth holds a MS in Communications from Purdue University and is a member of the Association of Healthcare Emergency Preparedness Professionals, the International Association for Healthcare Security and Safety, and the International Association of Emergency Managers. She is also a Certified Healthcare Emergency Professional, Certified Emergency Disaster Professional and Certified Healthcare Emergency Manager.
Critical Infrastructure: When Things go Boom in the Basement
In May 2024, a steam pipe exploded at JW Ruby Memorial Hospital that was felt throughout the building. Initially called in as a possible bomb, the immediate response was delayed causing further damage to patient care areas. The incident was a multi-million dollar loss yet could have been prevented with proper maintenance and training. The presentation highlights the value of emergency management collaborating with facilities engineering and risk management to implement cost effective solutions to resolve threats to a hospital's critical infrastructure and demonstrates the ROI of an effective emergency management program.
Rich Howlett began career serving five years in the United States Navy specializing in nuclear power systems. After the Navy, Rich transitioned to the hospitality field, where he led facilities, engineering and security teams for Marriott and Hyatt hotels and convention centers. During that time, he implemented new training programs and developed career pathways in engineering for the teams he led. Before joining healthcare, Rich spent time as a project manager for land grant surveyors where he had oversight of Unmanned Aerial Aircraft systems, enforcing requirements and certification standards. He joined the facilities department at WVU Medicine J.W. Ruby Memorial in 2016. While in that role, Rich served as the Emergency Management Liaison and was responsible for hazmat team operations, coordinating mass casualty drills, developing training, and assisting in building evacuation plans. He had an active role in exercises, improvement plans and the annual Hazard Vulnerability Analysis for the organization. In 2024, Rich was promoted to the Enterprise Disaster Response Coordinator for the WVU Medicine Health System. In his current role, Rich provides emergency preparedness trainings for 24 hospitals, plans drills and exercises, and deploys at sites throughout the system in response to emergencies. He is a certified workplace violence instructor, an active shooter trainer and holds memberships with the American Society of Healthcare Engineers and the Association of Healthcare Emergency Preparedness Professionals.
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Joshua is an Accredited Emergency Manager through West Virginia and Certified Healthcare Emergency Professional with extensive experience in developing and implementing comprehensive emergency preparedness and response programs. Currently serving as the Emergency Management Director at WVU Medicine JW Ruby Memorial Hospital, WVU Medicine Children’s Emergency Manager and Chestnut Ridge Behavioral Health Hospital, Joshua directs the planning and coordination of all facets of the WVU Medicine Emergency Preparedness Program. His role involves developing all-hazard emergency action and operational plans, ensuring regulatory compliance, and leading various emergency exercises.
Joshua’s career in law enforcement began in 2005 as a Police Patrolman, and he has since held positions of increasing responsibility, including Police Sergeant and leader of the Explosives Canine readiness program, and eventually as the Emergency Manager and Police Lieutenant at West Virginia University. He worked on several exercises, threat mitigation plans, major incidents, active shooter preparedness and security assessments in conjunction with state and federal partners. His dedication to community safety and emergency preparedness has earned him numerous awards and recognitions, including commendations from the U.S. House of Representatives and the Governor of West Virginia.
Joshua holds a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice from Fairmont State University and multiple certifications from the FBI, FEMA, and DHS. He is an active member of the Monongalia County Local Emergency Planning Committee and the West Virginia Emergency Management Council. He and his family reside in Morgantown.
An EF-4 Tornado and the Resolve of a Critical Access Hospital
This presentation will cover the response to a tornado that impacted healthcare services in a rural community of Marietta, OK (population 2,700). We will review the teams' successes, opportunities for improvement, and the ongoing journey of preparedness, loss, growth and rebuilding for a community.
Erica McAllister currently services as the Executive Director of Environmental Safety & Emergency Management for Mercy. In this role she oversees and leads the strategic direction of Life Safety, Environment of Care/ Environmental Safety, Environmental Engineering, and Emergency Management programs across Mercy’s four state geographical footprint.
Erica is passionate about improving healthcare safety and sharing knowledge with others. As such, Erica maintains multiple safety, emergency management, and facilities management certifications including the Certified Healthcare Facility Manager (CHFM), Certified Healthcare Safety Professional (CHSP) Certified Healthcare Emergency Professional (CHEP), and the Certified Life Safety Specialist for Health Care (CLSS-HC) certifications.
Erica earned her Master of Public Health (MPH) degree from Saint Louis University (SLU) with concentrations in Biosecurity and Disaster Planning and Environmental and Occupational Health and has been in the healthcare safety field for over 10 years. In her free time Erica enjoys spending time outdoors camping and four wheeling with her husband, 3-year-old daughter, and 1-year old son.
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Megan Stephens has spent much of her 20+ year nursing career serving the small, rural community of Love County, Oklahoma. She began her career in the OR then spent many years as an ED nurse, and finally in 2016, Megan became the Quality Leader for Mercy Health Love County (MHLC) hospital which is the role she continues to hold today.
Megan’s time working as a Critical Access Hospital nurse and quality leader has taught her to be creative and resourceful in how she manages both daily hurdles and unanticipated tragedies. Over the course of her career, Megan and her Critical Access Hospital team have tackled various challenges including the COVID pandemic, the H1N1 epidemic, Ebola preparedness, HIPAA security breach, community tragedies, and countless weather-related disasters.
In her free time Megan enjoys thrifting, traveling and spending time with her family.
Armed Intruder Spot Drills: A beneficial way to engage front line workers
Conducting exercises are not only a requirement for healthcare facilities to test current plans, but a necessity to ensure staff are prepared for such an event. Getting large amounts of nursing and other clinical roles away from the bedside to attend even just a 4-hour tabletop is nearly impossible. Full scale armed intruder exercises require a large amount of planning, cost, and space. Hospital and clinic staff participate in various relatively quick spot fire drills, so why not armed intruder? Our team has found that in addition to traditional exercise formats for an armed intruder event, we can reach more staff through surprise, spot armed intruder drills. This session will review these dilemmas and how our team has incorporated spot armed intruder drills into our normal workflow. We will discuss the components of these drills including the planning, exercise, and feedback provided by participating staff.
Kim Eischeid is currently the Emergency Preparedness Manager for Nebraska Medicine. She started her career in EMS as a paramedic and later EMS Chief, later also becoming a respiratory therapist. She has an avid interest in healthcare and first responder emergency preparedness. She is a Certified Healthcare Emergency Professional (CHEP).
Ms. Eischeid is a 2002 graduate of Creighton University with a Bachelor of Science in EMS as well as Columbia Southern University with a master's in public administration in Emergency Services Management. Her team covers emergency preparedness for over 9000 employees between two hospitals and 70 care clinics within the HealthSystem.
Joel is a long-time Emergency Management Professional, working in the field before it was acknowledged and established in professional circles like it is today. After responding to incidents in college, learning the basics of Hospital Incident Command and DECON response as an Emergency Department technician and part of the Incident Command team, he was tapped to pursue Emergency Management for Cargill, and later Three Rivers Public Health Department. He was later asked to join Nebraska Medicine and help grow their Emergency Management department. Given his experience in a wide spectrum from private, public health, and healthcare settings, Joel has a wide perspective into the varying needs and differences of all sectors.
Limited Resource Healthcare Facility Considerations for Disaster Preparedness
A look at the considerations needed for limited resource healthcare facilities (free-standing emergency departments, critical access hospitals, rural hospitals) for disaster preparedness. This presentation takes into consideration the unique challenges associated with limited resource facilities and addresses the barriers to emergency preparedness through the development of a crisis action plan.
Dr. Caren Herring is an emergency room nurse in Virginia. Caren has been in healthcare for 20 years and a nurse for 15 years. She has a doctorate in nursing practice (DNP) and master's degree in nursing with an emphasis in education. Caren is a board-certified national healthcare disaster professional and certified hospital emergency coordinator. Caren is a nurse specialist for the department of health and human services on the VA-1 DMAT (disaster medical assistance team) and has responded to multiple disasters to support medical operations. Caren is also a lead instructor
for the Department of Homeland Security's Center for Domestic Preparedness where she trains the nation's first responders and receivers for CBRNE and highly infectious disease mass casualty events.
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Dr. Joel Evans is a board-certified emergency room physician at the University of Alabama. Joel is also a physician for the NASCAR Talladega National Speedway and an air-evac physician. Joel is an instructor for the Department of Homeland Security's Center for Domestic Preparedness where he trains the nation's first responders and receivers for CBRNE and highly infectious disease mass casualty events.
An AED for your EM Program: Rebuilding an Emergency Management Program from the Ground Up
What do you do when an emergency management program has been dormant for over a year. This presentation will discuss the issues, pitfalls and tried solutions that were used during a total restart of an Emergency Management Program at 5 Hospitals ranging from critical access to a level III Trauma Center. Open sharing from participants will be sought regarding issues they have identified in their efforts as well as best practices.
Deb Teske, HcEM-M, CEM is a Principal Emergency Management Coordinator for Mayo Clinic, Rochester MN and has worked for Mayo Clinic Emergency Management since 2010. She has over twenty-three years of prior management and leadership experience as a Naval Officer and County Emergency Management Director. Ms. Teske has personally responded to and managed disasters ranging from small house fires to earthquakes and hurricanes gaining valuable incident management experience. Deb has conducted numerous courses including teaching for the University of Alaska, City Colleges of Chicago, and University of Phoenix and NIMS classes for FEMA. Deb’s additional qualification include Certified Health Care Continuity Professional (CHPCP), certified FEMA trainer and Master Exercise Practitioner.
Mass Casualty Incident Response Planning Considerations Workshop
Whether it is an active assailant incident, a train derailment, motor vehicle accident, building collapse, wildfire, or weather event a trending theme behind recent mass casualty incidents is that they are no longer “big city” and “trauma center” problems. From Las Vegas to Perry Iowa all along Tornado alley or the East Coast and beyond, hospitals and Emergency Departments ranging from Critical Access to Level 1 Trauma Centers are facing an increasing number of patient-generating incidents. In most cases, these facilities are attempting to apply pre-hospital triage, patient care, and incident management concepts on an in-hospital setting with mixed and inconsistent results. This workshop builds upon last year’s presentation “Creating Throughput During Chaos: The Evolution of Emergency Department Mass Casualty Response to introduce developed MCI documents as well as triage and management tools to assist planners in preparing their Emergency Department to mitigate, respond to, and recover from mass casualty incidents while continuing to provide care to their routine patients. Through overviews of components and review of established practices, participants will discuss how their facilities would address each aspect of a response (incident command, department setup, triage, treatment, communication, training, etc.) and share their thoughts on additional considerations.
Often referred to as a “master of disaster”, Paul Mikita is currently the Assistant Director of Corporate Office of Emergency Management for the RWJBarnabas Health System where he has worked as an Emergency Department Technician and Nurse as well as an Emergency Preparedness Educator and Specialist during his employment. He received his Master’s Degree in Emergency and Disaster Management from American Military University, a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Cook College – Rutgers University and an Associated Degree in Nursing from Raritan Valley Community College. Paul holds multiple emergency management and nursing certifications including being a Certified Emergency Nursing from the Boards of Certification for Emergency Nurses, a Certified Emergency Manager from the International Association of Emergency Managers, and a certification as a National Healthcare Disaster Professional from the American Nurse Credentialing Center.
Paul is a healthcare emergency management expert who has developed an interest in applying the concepts and principles of emergency and disaster to the healthcare sector. His ability to develop practical strategies towards not only emergency and disaster response but also education and training, relies on his over 29 years of pre-hospital, nursing, and emergency management expertise. Known as a straight shooter, Paul prides himself on being able to rely on his own knowledge and experiences to translate the often foreign and sometimes confusing principles of emergency and disaster response for the healthcare provider.
Minimizing the RISC to your Healthcare Facility
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response’s (ASPR), Risk Identification and Site Criticality Toolkit (RISC) 2.0 is a web-based, objective, data-driven all-hazards risk assessment with self-assessment modules allowing healthcare and public health organizations to identify threats and hazards, assess vulnerabilities, determine potential impact and consequences, and aggregate results and share data. ASPR’s Office of Health Care Readiness is encouraging recipients of the Hospital Preparedness Program cooperative agreements to use RISC 2.0 in assessing their readiness. Once you’ve determined your system/community vulnerabilities/risks, resources from ASPR’s Technical Resources, Assistance Center, and Information Exchange (TRACIE) can help planners fill those gaps and strengthen healthcare system infrastructure (e.g., cyber, utilities, patient surge management). Join this session to see a live demo of RISC 2.0 and an overview of new ASPR TRACIE tools which can assist healthcare planners with addressing commonly identified threats, hazards, and vulnerabilities.
Rachel Lehman is the Acting Director of the US Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR) Technical Resources, Assistance Center, and Information Exchange (TRACIE) program. ASPR TRACIE is a healthcare emergency preparedness information gateway that serves the informational and technical assistance needs of those working in disaster medicine, healthcare system preparedness, and public health emergency preparedness. In her role as Acting Director, she oversees the day-to-day operations of the program, provides guidance on emerging issues and gaps/challenges, and acts as a liaison for the program. Previously Rachel was an analyst in ASPRs Office of Critical Infrastructure Protection where she held multiple roles including leading communications, helping manage the Healthcare and Public Health Sector Partnership, working on all-hazards risk assessment for healthcare facilities, and assisting with the development of the 2.0 version of ASPRs Risk Identification and Site Criticality (RISC) Toolkit. Prior to joining ASPR, she supported the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of Research and Development (ORD) working on chemical risk assessment.
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CDR TJ Christl is the Director of the Office of Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) within the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR). CIP executes the Sector Risk Management Agency (SRMA) responsibilities for the Healthcare and Public Health (HPH) Sector on behalf of HHS, promoting resilience of the nation’s health infrastructure by leading a dynamic public-private partnership, drawing from all aspects of the Sector, to prepare for future threats, manage risks, and coordinate effective response. As the Director of CIP, CDR Christl leads the SRMA activities and serves as the permanent Co-Chair of the HPH Sector’s Government Coordinating Council. Prior to joining CIP in 2019, CDR Christl spent 16 years with the Food and Drug Administration as a project manager, emergency coordinator, and most recently the Director of the Office of Drug Security, Integrity and Response where he oversaw strategic and operational activities supporting global pharmaceutical supply chain integrity including imports, exports, recalls and the detection and prevention of and response to counterfeit or otherwise illegitimate drugs in the U.S. pharmaceutical supply chain. In his capacity within the Commissioned Corps of the US Public Health Service, CDR Christl had deployed to public health disaster responses on numerous occasions including COVID-19, Hurricanes Irma and Maria, and to the Monrovia Medical Unit Ebola Treatment Unit outside of Monrovia, Liberia. CDR Christl earned Bachelors in Science in Biology and Marine Science from the University of Miami, his M.S. in Biomedical Sciences from the Medical University of South Carolina and his M.S. in Organizational Leadership at Johns Hopkins University.
Enhancing Objectivity of the HVA: Lessons Learned in HVA Strategy, Data Management and Execution
The Hazard Vulnerability Analysis (HVA) is a fundamental strategic asset for all healthcare emergency managers; the analysis should set the foundations for strategic preparedness planning by detailing the hazard landscape and assessing risk and vulnerabilities. In 2022, the Emergency Management team at NYU Langone Health set a goal to improve their internal HVA process through increasing the use of unbiased data to combat media bias and better assess risk and vulnerability, as driven by quantitative and qualitative research methods. Using a general three-step process to identify, assess and prioritize key hazards, the team built the foundations of a data-driven HVA that continues to be refined. Ongoing work to streamline data collection and analysis, enhance the effectiveness of stakeholder engagement and partnerships, and better connect programs internally have driven departmental strategic planning to focus efforts more rooted in objective data. This presentation details NYU Langone Health’s past HVA revamp strategy (development process, approach, methodology, results and lessons learned) and how, through fostering a more objective analysis, it increased the HVA’s tangible utility. From identifying hazards to data collection and synthesis, to dissecting lessons learned, the presentation will delve into how the Kaiser Permanente tool can be utilized in tandem with objective datasets and targeted stakeholder engagement to generate a more objective and nuanced risk assessment.
Leanna is the Emergency Management Analyst within Emergency Management and Enterprise Resilience at NYU Langone Health, currently focused on hazard vulnerability; data collection, management and analysis; stakeholder engagement strategy; and response operations/coordination within the healthcare setting. She is also the Program Manager and a Steering Committee member for the Academic Healthcare Emergency Management Consortium (AHEM). Previously, she worked at the New York City Office of Emergency Management (NYCEM) in the Risk Reduction and Recovery Bureau, aiding in the development of hazard mitigation plans and research. She also holds her Masters of Science in City and Regional Planning from Pratt Institute and is interested in all forms of emergency management planning, climate resiliency and adaptations for hazard mitigation. ​
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Caitlin Flynn is an experienced Emergency Management and Safety professional with over twelve years of experience in healthcare. She is a Certified Healthcare Safety Professional (CHSP) and Certified Healthcare Provider Continuity Professional (CHPCP). Caitlin convenes the Manhattan emergency management coalition (EPCOM) and is the Chair of the Academic Healthcare Emergency Management Consortium (AHEM). She also serves on the Metropolitan Healthcare Security Directors Association board as the Emergency Management liaison.
Caitlin is currently the Senior Director of Emergency Management and Enterprise Resilience at NYU Langone Health. Prior to holding this position, Caitlin worked at NYU Langone Hospital – Brooklyn (formerly Lutheran Medical Center) since 2010. Caitlin graduated from Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania.