Emergency Preparedness

Mohawk Area Public Health Coalition

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A recent Emergency Dispensing Site drill served over 200 Ashfield residents.

Project Overview

The FRCOG is the host agency to the Mohawk Area Public Health Coalition (MAPHCO). In November of 2003, Western Massachusetts Boards of Health were invited to a regional meeting to discuss the new bioterrorism funding for the State. BOHs were asked to form regional coalitions and choose host agencies. The MAPHCO coalition (including all towns in Franklin County minus Orange and New Salem and including the Hampshire County towns of Williamsburg and Goshen) is responsible for public health emergency planning as mandated by the State Department of Public Health. An elected steering committee guides the work of the coalition and in turn guides the work of FRCOG staff.  Current Steering Committee members include Board of Health representatives from Bernardston, Charlemont, Conway, Greenfield, Heath, Montague, Shutesbury and Williamsburg.

In 2005 MAPHCO also sponsored two exercises that simulated public health emergencies: a Deerfield tabletop exercise to understand current BOH capability in responding to an outbreak of a highly infectious and deadly disease, and a full-scale drill of the Emergency Dispensing Site Plan for the town of Ashfield.

In 2006, MAPHCO worked with boards of health to develop Continuity of Operations plans that can be implemented in the case of any major emergency, such as a flu pandemic or major flood. These COOP plans are created to make sure that the essential tasks of the board are identified, and a plan for succession of leadership is in place.  Twenty-two towns successfully created Board of Health COOP plans.

We also held the first successful multi-town EDS functional drill, serving over 200 residents of Conway, Deerfield, Sunderland, and Whately.

Current Activities

For the past two years, MAPHCO has been working on several high-priority objectives such as ensuring each BOH is online (by purchasing laptops for each and through a high-speed internet project) and registered on the HHAN (Health and Homeland Alert Network). Other areas of concentration have been on training and capacity building (e.g. National Incident Management Strategy/Incident Command System (NIMS/ICS) training, risk communication, ongoing capacity building workshops), developing emergency dispensing sites (EDS), and protocols for 24/7 response to public health threats.  In April of 2007, MAPHCO participated in a first for the state – a western Massachusetts-wide emergency call out of all board of health across the region.  The MAPHCO towns’ careful planning for a redundant communication system paid off, with a very impressive result.  

We are also continuing our work to make sure every resident of the region is covered by an Emergency Dispensing Site (EDS). An EDS can provide mass vaccination in the case of a Hepatitis A or mumps outbreak, a bio-terrorist event, or a flu pandemic. Nine sites have been identified across the region, and groups of local officials are busy creating plans for everything from notification to parking to sharps disposal. The sites are:

Future Plans

Over the Fall & Winter of 2007/2008 MAPHCO will be continuing its work to assist Boards of Health in planning and testing their Emergency Dispensing Sites, 24/7 Communication systems, and disease response capacity. In all projects, MAPHCO will continue to integrate all of its plans with other threats using an all-hazards model of planning.

Thanks to funding from the National Assn of City and County Health Officials (NACCHO) and the Western Mass Homeland Security Advisory Council, we will also be entering the second phase of our exciting work on emergency preparedness for vulnerable populations. This project is led by a working committee made up of individuals who either represent or work with vulnerable populations. The projects include developing a training on personal preparedness that can be tailored to the different needs of different groups of people, a website for the public, and education for emergency responders on the specific needs of differing populations in the case of an emergency.  We will also be providing information to town Emergency Management Directors on how they can better serve their residents with special needs or vulnerabilities.

Contact: Nina Martin-Anzuoni or John Peterson

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