Category Archives: recovery

16Apr / 2018

Moving the Dial on Preparedness: CDC’s 2018 National Snapshot

Photo of a flooded apartment complex and office building during Hurricane Harvey.

Every year, CDC’s Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response publishes the Public Health Preparedness and Response National Snapshot, an annual report that highlights the work of CDC and our partners. No matter the type, size, or cause of a public health emergency, we must work together to respond to the best of our ability.

Photo of the cover of the Public Health Preparedness and Response 2018 National Snapshot report.
Read the full 2018 National Snapshot Report.

The Snapshot includes two sections:

  • The Narrative describes CDC preparedness and response activities in 2016 and 2017 and demonstrates how investments in preparedness enhance the nation’s ability to respond to public health threats and emergencies.
  • The Public Health Emergency Preparedness (PHEP) Program Fact sheets provide information on PHEP funding from 2015 to 2017 and trends and progress related to the 15 public health preparedness capabilities defined in the PHEP Cooperative Agreement. They also feature a short story that demonstrates the impact of the PHEP program.

Here are some highlights from the Snapshot that showcase how CDC’s Office of Public Health Preparedness and Emergency Response worked to keep people safer in 2017.

Hurricane Response and Recovery

In late summer 2017, three major hurricanes—Harvey, Irma, and Maria—made landfall in the United States and territories. This was the first time the United States experienced three Category 4 or greater hurricanes during a single hurricane season. CDC activated its Emergency Operations Center (EOC) on August 31, 2017 and the response is ongoing. CDC epidemiologists, environmental health specialists, emergency managers, health communicators, and scientists with expertise in waterborne and vector-borne diseases continue to work together to monitor and address public health threats in the aftermath of the storms.

Learn more about CDC’s role in the hurricane response.

The Opioid Epidemic

From 2000 – 2015, drug overdoses killed more than half a million people in the U.S. Six out of 10 of these deaths involved an opioid. CDC’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control and the PHEP Program work together to support communities responding to the opioid epidemic. State health departments are using PHEP funds to identify communities hardest hit by the epidemic and to support the distribution of naloxone, a medical treatment to prevent death from opioid overdose.

Learn more about what states are doing to fight the opioid epidemic.

State and Local Readiness

Between 2017 and 2019, CDC and Public Health Emergency Preparedness (PHEP) program recipients will conduct nearly 500 medical countermeasure operational readiness reviews nationwide. Nearly 60% of the U.S. population resides in 72 metropolitan areas that are included in the reviews of 400 local jurisdictions. The reviews evaluate a jurisdiction’s ability to execute a large response that requires the rapid distribution and dispensing of life-saving medicines and medical supplies.

Learn more about the role of the PHEP program in state and local readiness.

Cutting-Edge Science to Find and Stop Disease

In 2017, CDC’s Federal Select Agent Program (FSAP) developed a new electronic information system to improve the efficiency of information sharing and exchange between FSAP and registered entities.

Learn more about how CDC safeguards lifesaving research with deadly pathogens and poisons through the Select Agent Program.

Read More

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If you have any feedback about the 2018 National Snapshot, please email us at preparednessreport@cdc.gov.  We welcome your suggestions and will use your feedback to improve future editions of the Snapshot.

Posted by in Federal Select Agents Program, hurricane, hurricane harvey, hurricane irma, Hurricane Maria, medical countermeasures, National Snapshot, opioid epidemic, opioid overdose, opioids, PHEP, Preparedness, public health, Public Health Emergency Preparedness Program, recovery, Response, select agents and toxins, State and Local Readiness

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26Mar / 2018

Assessing Community Needs in Real-time

Group photo of a Community Assessment for Public Health Emergency Response (CASPER) Team in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

What if there was a way to evaluate the needs of a community after a natural disaster? Or understand a community’s attitudes and beliefs about a specific public health behavior? Enter CASPER: Community Assessment for Public Health Emergency Response, a tool for health departments and public health professionals to assess community needs in real-time.

What is CASPER?

CASPER is a type of rapid needs assessment that allows you to gather information about households in a community. It can be used to gather information during all phases of a disaster or to learn about household health status in a community. It is a quick, inexpensive, and flexible method of data collection that helps to guide response and recovery efforts after a disaster when needs may be changing and there are a lot of unknowns.

CASPER uses two-stage cluster sampling, which is a valid and reliable survey methodology. The first stage of sampling identifies 30 U.S. Census blocks. The second stage selects seven households from each block. Volunteers conduct face-to-face interviews with the household. The survey asks questions about household demographics, status (e.g. utilities, damage, etc.), communications, knowledge and beliefs, and physical and behavioral health. The interview concludes with an open-ended item asking about the household’s greatest need at the time of the interview.

CASPER data is typically collected over the course of two weekday afternoons. Information from a CASPER can be used to allocate resources, target programs, and meet the needs of community. Results have also been used to target communication messages and community education programs. The methodology also allows health and safety information to be disseminated during the interview process, so you can gather information about a community while also providing them with information.

How has CASPER been used?

Interactive CASPER map
Click on this interactive map to learn about CASPERS conducted in different states.

CASPER has been used over 150 times across the United States in the past 10 years. Every CASPER is unique and questions are written based on a community and their specific needs. However, there is a question bank, so you can use questions that have already been tested in the field. Examples include the following:

  • 2017 Hurricane Response and Recovery: U.S. Virgin Islands conducted two CASPERs after Hurricanes Maria and Irma to help guide the response efforts. A follow up CASPER was conducted 4 months later to determine if the community’s needs were being met and help guide continued recovery efforts.
  • Zika Virus Response: U.S. Virgin Islands also used CASPER to understand household knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs about Zika virus transmission and prevention. Results from the CASPER informed awareness campaigns, community workshops, and online materials about Zika prevention, particularly related to the sexual transmission of Zika and the use of mosquito repellent.
  • Flint Michigan Water Crisis: Public health officials and community leaders used CASPER in Flint, Michigan to understand behavioral and physical health concerns for households and the impact of the water crisis on the community. Results from the CASPER were used to focus behavioral health interventions and communication messages, as well as continued support for mental health services in the Flint community.

You can find where CASPER has been used across the U.S. using this interactive map. If you have conducted a CASPER be sure to use the CASPER Map Request Form to have it added to the map.

How can I do a CASPER?

You can conduct a CASPER any time you need to collect population-representative data, as  long as the sampling frame has at least 800 households. A response CASPER may be initiated when at least one of the following conditions occurs:Volunteers are an important part of CASPER CASPER interviews are conducted almost entirely by volunteers – health department staff, students, and volunteers from organizations like Medical Reserve Corps. Volunteers conduct interviews in pairs and are able to make a direct and immediate impact on their communities. The data collected by CASPER volunteers is analyzed and results are presented to key decision makers and leaders within 36 hours.

  • the effect of the disaster on the population is unknown,
  • the health status and basics needs of the affected population are unknown, or
  • when response and recovery efforts need to be evaluated.

If you work in a state or local health department and are interested in conducting a CASPER you can download the CASPER toolkit or email ghu5@cdc.gov to discuss if it is the appropriate tool for your needs. The Disaster Epidemiology and Response Team will provide technical assistance and training to help you identify objectives, provide expertise about sampling and mapping, and review questionnaires.

Amy Helene Schnall is an Epidemiologist on the Disaster Epidemiology and Response Team in the National Center for Environmental Health. She started her career at CDC in adolescent and school health, and took over the CASPER training program in 2010. Amy’s background in behavioral science and health education makes her a natural fit to lead disaster epidemiology trainings and work with state and local partners. Her work with the CASPER program has given the opportunity to travel around the country to conduct trainings and participate in response and recovery efforts.

The Communication Research and Evaluation blog series highlights innovative research and evaluation methods used at CDC to improve behavior change campaigns.

Posted by in CASPER, Communication Research and Evaluation Series, Community Assessment for Public Health Emergency Response, community needs assessment, data collection, needs assessment, public health, recovery, Response

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25Nov / 2015

When Biology and Policy are Moving Targets: The complex case of a potential success story

Listing and delisting of species under the endangered species act (ESA) is a delicate political and scientific dance that can play out over decades. Anyone who has paid attention to the listing, reintroduction, and delisting

Posted by in Behavior, conservation, ecology, endangered species, Evolution, featured, fish, Jens Hegg, plasticity, recovery

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13Aug / 2014

Mental Health and Recovery

 

Hospital Damage in Joplin

By: Dennis Cooley, MD, FAAP

Joplin, Missouri was devastated by an F5 tornado in 2011. Heart to Heart International set up a clinic in a Walgreens parking lot near the hardest hit area to care for injured volunteers.  The clinic provided medical care on a walk-in basis. Dr. Dennis Cooley worked in the clinic three weeks after the storm hit the town.

Many of the patients who came to the clinic were volunteers injured during cleanup efforts. The clinic’s staff also provided follow up care of wounds from victims of the tornado, as well as other patients with chronic illnesses who needed refills for medications that had run out or been lost in the chaos of the storm.

Managing patient care was a challenge. Clinic staff was unable to access primary care physicians, medical records, or prescription information. Post-storm, many patients were homeless and living in tents in the Joplin area with no money. “Trying to manage these patients without medical records, without homes, and without money was extremely difficult as you can imagine,” said Dr. Cooley.

Home damaged in JoplinAmidst all the chaos, Dr. Cooley recalls one patient experience that stands out most clearly.. A woman walked into the reception area minutes before the clinic closed for the day. She didn’t have an injury or illness.  Across the street from the clinic parking-lot was a residential district that had suffered significant damage. A close friend of the woman had died in a home within view of the clinic. When she had driven by her friend’s destroyed house she was overwhelmed by emotions and became distraught. She didn’t know what to do or where to go. When she saw the clinic, she pulled in and stopped.  One of nurses took her inside, gave her a cup of coffee and just listened. For forty five minutes, she listened. Eventually, after the woman calmed down, she was able to drive home.

“Did we help this woman? Yes, I think so. Did we do all we could have done? Yes and no. Just by listening and letting her verbalize her feelings, we were able to help her.  However, I can’t help but think that we could have done more for this woman, if we had the training and been prepared for the psychological first aid for the survivors,” Cooley reflects.

Being well versed in the psychological effects of a disaster is critical for first responders and caregivers.  Rarely will someone walk into a clinic looking for help like the woman in Joplin. Instead, health professionals must watch for the signs of post-traumatic stress in adults and children, just as they look for the physical injuries.

Dr. Cooley’s experience reminds us that disaster management is more than taking care of children and families during the first 48 hours, or even the first week after the event. “Patient care extends after the news cameras have left”, says Cooley. “It is performing follow up services, it is providing care to volunteers who have come to the area to work on clean up, and it is taking care of the psychological aftermath of the disaster.” Although these are not glamorous roles, they are definitely just as important.

Read more about psychological first aid and coping with disaster.

This blog post was provided courtesy of the American Academy of Pediatrics and Dr. Dennis Cooley. Dennis M. Cooley MD is a general pediatrician who has been in private practice in Topeka, Kansas for over 30 years. He is on staff at Stormant Vail Regional Health Center and is a volunteer Clinical Instructor with the University of Kansas School of Medicine. Dr. Cooley is active in the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and is the Disaster Preparedness Coordinator for the AAP’s Kansas Chapter.

Posted by in General, Joplin, Mental health, Natural Disasters, Preparedness, public health, recovery, Response, tornado

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