Emergency Preparedness
Mohawk Area Public Health Coalition
A recent Emergency Dispensing Site drill served over 200 Ashfield residents.
Project Overview
The Mohawk Area Public Health Coalition represents 64,671 people across Franklin and Hampshire Counties. In 2008, it served more than 78 percent of its residents with its planning and exercise program. This work was funded primarily by grant funds distributed through the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, but because these events were fully compliant with all applicable State and Federal guidelines, including the Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program (HSEEP), MAPHCO secured more than $22,000 in additional funding from the Department of Homeland Security, for its efforts.
Current Activities
Frontier (Conway, Deerfield, Sunderland, and Whately representing 18 percent of the region’s population) was the most active district in the MAPHCO Region in 2008. The Towns of Conway and Sunderland ran full-scale Door2Door Exercises demonstrating that they could each serve more than 80 percent of their communities in a 12-hour period, while the Town of Deerfield developed a scaled down “test,” delivering only to a select set of neighborhoods. Deerfield also ran a traditional EDS exercise, held in conjunction with a flu-clinic distributing nearly 900 vaccines to a wide cross section of its residents. The Town of Whately has an exercise scheduled for early 2009. The Town of Deerfield also executed an alert/call-down drill using CDC metrics, and participated in the first (anticipated) quarterly test of the HHAN network.
Montague (Montague, Wendell, Erving, and Gill, representing 19 percent of the region’s population) served more than 250 residents using a flu vaccine clinic to test its EDS plans.
The Town of Shutesbury (representing two percent of the region’s population) distributed vaccinations in its own EDS exercise and flu clinic.
The City of Greenfield (representing 28 percent of the region’s population) facilitated five workshops to update its EDS plan and prepare for a series of exercises in 2009.
Williamsburg and Goshen (representing five percent of the region’s population) are drafting an updated EDS plan as well with publication set for 2009.
Hawlemont (Charlemont, Hawley, Rowe, Monroe, and Heath, representing four percent of the region’s population) renewed its EDS planning with a “Jump-Start” program that convened its planning team and established a timeline for publication.
MAPHCO also participated in a regional public health emergency communications drill. This drill involved all the Public Health Coalitions in the four counties of Western Massachusetts and tested 24/7 communication systems.
Conferences and Training
During FY ’08, MAPHCO offered or sponsored attendance at multiple conferences and training events. In addition to Incident Command System (ICS) and National Incident Management System (NIMS) training, members attended training on:
Public Information Officer (PIO) (sponsored by FRCOG with an eye toward building a regional crisis communications plan)
- The Strategic National Stockpile
- Infectious disease reporting (MAVEN)
- American Red Cross sheltering
- The Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program (HSEEP)
Additionally, MAPHCO staff presented different components of the Region’s preparedness program at regional and national conferences.
Supplies and Equipment
In 2008, MAPHCO awarded more than $26,000 in mini-grants to its member cities and towns to enhance local public health capacity. Award amounts were based on population size. Projects ranged from technology purchases to hiring part-time public health nurses:
Ashfield |
$881.39 |
|
VHF Radios |
Bernardston |
$920.44 |
|
Laptop computer |
Buckland |
$921.86 |
|
VHF Radios |
Colrain |
$884.15 |
|
Internet Service |
Conway |
$883.30 |
|
Connect CTY |
Deerfield |
$1,506.45 |
|
“Crank” FM radios |
Erving |
$810.83 |
|
EDS supplies |
Gill |
$788.80 |
|
Laptop computer |
Greenfield |
$4,349.51 |
|
Temporary Public Health Nurse |
Hawley |
$571.19 |
|
Internet Service |
Heath |
$670.57 |
|
Internet Service |
Leverett |
$852.36 |
|
Laptop computer |
Montague |
$2,298.68 |
|
Temporary Public Health Nurse |
Northfield |
$1,125.27 |
|
Software and Internet Service |
Shelburne |
$766.55 |
|
ICS Vests & HazMat Suits |
Shutesbury |
$883.51 |
|
Handheld scanner and computer |
Sunderland |
$1,300.29 |
|
Connect CTY |
Wendell |
$708.92 |
|
Emergency (med and non-med) supplies |
Whately |
$833.29 |
|
EDS Supplies |
Williamsburg |
$1,015.73 |
|
“Crank” FM radios and water filters |
Planning for Vulnerable Populations
Under funding provided by the National Association of City and County health Officials (NACCHO) and now the Western Massachusetts Homeland Security Advisory Council, the Coalition continued its Vulnerable Populations Emergency Preparedness Project in 2008. This project includes the development of a database of service agencies with can assist individuals requiring special assistance during times of emergencies, and develops/conducts personal preparedness trainings for service agency staff and consumers, as well as developing a training curriculum to educate emergency responders on the specific needs of differing populations.
Future Plans
In the coming year we hope to continue our progress of working with towns to get them farther along the path of preparedness. This will include a series of discussion-based exercises and operations-based exercises, including continued testing of plans for delivering medications door-to-door.
MAPHCO is funded with federal funds through the Massachusetts Dept. of Public Health (DPH).
Contact: Nina Martin-Anzuoni, Glenn Johnson, or Thomas Williams.
This page was last updated on 12/23/2009 .