Welcome to the Connecticut Health Care Coalition Newsletter
OUR MISSION
The mission of the Connecticut Health Care Coalition (CT HCC) is to promote collaboration, education, and joint exercises during the planning and preparedness phases of emergency management. During real-world operations, the mission of the CT HCC is to help identify resources at the state and sub-state levels, and to collect, analyze, validate, and disseminate essential elements of information (EEIs) to partner agencies.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF THE BP5 MEDICAL RESPONSE AND SURGE EXERCISE
The Connecticut Health Care Coalition’s (CT HCC) Medical Response & Surge Exercise (MRSE) was a 3-hour functional exercise held on November 8, 2023. This exercise provided participants an opportunity to assess the ability of the region to manage a large-scale medical surge involving a chemical incident. Participants discussed the roles and responsibilities of their respective organizations as a train derailment incident unfolded in the community. The objectives of this exercise were to:
- Evaluate CT HCC’s ability to engage coalition members and their executives to participate in the exercise and the After-Action Review within the Hospital Preparedness Program (HPP) budget period.
- Evaluate CT HCC’s ability to effectively notify Coalition members of an incident and facilitate ongoing information sharing during a community-wide emergency or disaster.
- Participants will demonstrate their ability to assess and meet the critical personnel and resource needs (supplies, equipment, etc.) to manage patient surge during a community-wide emergency or disaster by the end of the MRSE.
- Participants will demonstrate their ability to assess and meet the critical Emergency Medical Services (EMS) personnel and resource needs to manage patient surge during a community-wide emergency or disaster by the end of the MRSE.
- Participants will demonstrate their ability to reduce patient morbidity and mortality through appropriate patient placement during a large patient surge by assisting with the identification and coordination of available patient care resources by the end of the MRSE.
- Participants will demonstrate their ability to successfully coordinate and execute the CT HCC Emergency Response Plan during a community-wide emergency or disaster.
- Assess the CT HCC’s ability to perform hospital decontamination by ensuring the Coalition and members have access to appropriate resources.
During the exercise, participants worked with their respective organizations and skilled exercise facilitators engaged participants to answer a series of discussion questions and complete assigned tasks, including responding to requests for essential elements of information (EEI), The exercise discussion focused on the roles and responsibilities of participating organizations and identifying resources that could support CT HCC members during a chemical incident.
Major Strengths
- Collaboration with new partners who are not members of the CT HCC
- Identified critical personnel and resources were sufficient to manage patient surge
- Hospitals have an emergency credentialing process in place to share personnel resources
Major Areas for Improvement
- Defining the role of the CT HCC during a response
- Lack of Information sharing protocols
- Limited decontamination capability
Participating Organization Types
- Acute Care Hospitals - 18
- Long Term Acute Care Hospitals - 1
- Public health departments or districts - 8
- Emergency Medical Services Agencies/Centralized Medical Emergency Direction (CMED) - 4
- Emergency Support Function (ESF) 8 regions - 3
- CT Department of Public Health (DPH) Office of EMS
- CT DPH Public Health Preparedness and Response (PHPR)
- CT DPH
- CT DPH EMS for Children
- CT Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services
| MRSE Performance Measures | ||
| PM 14: Percent of contacted HCC members acknowledging initial emergency notification. | Performance Measure 14 | 45% |
| PM 15: Percent of contacted HCC members who responded to the initial information request. | Performance Measure 15 | 42% |
| PM 16: Percent of all pre-identified, critical required personnel types that were met by participating HCC members to manage patient surge. | Performance Measure 16 | 100% |
| PM 17: Percent of all pre-identified, critical resources that were met to manage patient surge. | Performance Measure 17 | 100% |
| PM 18: Percent of all pre-identified, critical EMS resources that were met to safely respond to triage and transportation needs. | Performance Measure 18 | 67% |
| PM 19 (previously PM 18): Percent of patients requiring inpatient care who were placed at a receiving facility with an appropriate staffed bed by the end of the exercise. | Performance Measure 19 | 93% |
| PM 20: Percent of HCC core members with at least one executive participating in the exercise After-Action Review (AAR). | Performance Measure 20 | 80% |
| PM 21 (previously PM 23): Percent of all pre-identified, critical HCC members that participated in the exercise. | Performance Measure 21 | 100% |
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CISA PUBLISHES CYBERSECURITY MITIGATION GUIDE
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has published Mitigation Guide: Health and Public Health (HPH) Sector, a new cybersecurity resource that provides recommendations and best practices to combat pervasive cyber threats affecting this critical infrastructure sector.
The guide lists key vulnerabilities and threats to the HPH sector that, if left unmitigated, increase the likelihood of threat actors successfully employing malicious tactics, techniques, and procedures to compromise networks and systems. Web application vulnerabilities, encryption weaknesses, unsupported software, known exploited vulnerabilities, and vulnerable (exploitable) services are some of the vulnerabilities and weaknesses listed in the guide that should be mitigated.
For more information and resources, HPH entities can visit CISA’s Healthcare and Public Health Cybersecurity Toolkit and Healthcare and Public Health Sector webpages.
HEALTHCARE SAFETY WORKSHOP
WEBINAR: HOSPITAL AND HEALTHCARE CONSIDERATIONS FOR CHEMICAL INCIDENT RESPONSE
AWR 232: MASS FATALITIES PLANNING AND RESPONSE FOR RURAL COMMUNITIES
PARTNER TRAININGS AND WEBINARS
ICS-300: Intermediate ICS for Expanding Incidents
The DEMHS Region 2 Regional Emergency Planning Team is offering a delivery of ICS-300: Intermediate ICS for Expanding Incidents. This course is scheduled for delivery on December 11 - 13, 2023 at the New Haven Fire Training Academy. This course is designed for those emergency response personnel who would function in a Command or General Staff position during a large, complex incident or event, or personnel who are or would likely be part of a local or regional Incident Management Team during a major incident, whether single agency, multiagency or Unified Command.
To register, contact Rick Fontana
Location: The New Haven Fire Training Academy, 230 Ella T. Grasso Blvd., New Haven CT
Date: December 11-13, 2023
AWR 232-V: Mass Fatalities Planning & Response for Rural Communities
The Center for Rural Development is offering a virtual delivery of AWR 232-V: Mass Fatalities Planning & Response for Rural Communities. This course is scheduled for delivery on December 12 and 13, 2023. The instructor-led awareness level course is designed to prepare rural first responders and officials with the basic knowledge, skills and abilities to manage a mass fatality incident impacting their jurisdiction. Target audience includes first responders, coroners/medical examiners, public health officials, and others with responsibilities during a mass fatality incident. Issues addressed include establishing roles and responsibilities, assets management, remains processing and identification, diversity issues and development of a mass fatality plan that affect the construct of a mass fatality response.
See the Training Announcement and Registration HERE
Location: Virtual via Zoom
Date: December 12 and and 13, 2023, from 8:30 AM - 12:30 PM EST
Register By: December 6, 2023
ICS-400: Advanced ICS Command and General Staff-Complex Incidents
The DEMHS Region 2 Regional Emergency Planning Team is offering a delivery of ICS-400: Advanced ICS Command and General Staff-Complex Incidents. This course is scheduled for delivery on December 18 - 19, 2023 at the New Haven Fire Training Academy. This course is designed for those emergency response personnel who would function as part of an Area Command, Emergency Operations Center, or Multiagency Coordination System during a large, complex incident or event, or those personnel who are or would likely be part of a local or regional Incident Management Team during a major incident, whether single agency, multiagency or Unified Command.
To register, contact Rick Fontana
Location: The New Haven Fire Training Academy, 230 Ella T. Grasso Blvd., New Haven CT
Date: December 18 and and 19, 2023
MGT319: Medical Countermeasures: Point of Dispensing (POD), Planning and Response
TEEX is offering a virtual delivery of MGT319: Medical Countermeasures: Point of Dispensing (POD), Planning and Response This course is scheduled for delivery on January 18 and 19, 2024, and will take place in Glastonbury, CT. This course is a guide for local health officials and their partners to coordinate plans to provide mass distribution of medical countermeasures in response to a large-scale public health incident. This course focuses on planning considerations, recommendation to achieve the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) 48-hour standard for Mass Prophylaxis, and the local community’s Mass Prophylaxis and Point of Dispensing (POD) site preparedness. The course material is applicable to pandemic influenza, bio-terrorism, and other public health emergencies.
See the course description HERE
Register HERE
Location: The Glastonbury Boathouse
252 Welles Street
Glastonbury, CT 06033
Date: January 18 and 19, 2024, at 8 AM EST
For more information, contact Judie Threatt, the Glastonbury Public Health Coordinator.
Judie.threatt@glastonbury-ct.gov
860-539-0250
All Clear Emergency Management Group has the following upcoming free webinars:
CONTACT US
Email your coalition coordinators at Coordinator@CTHCC.org with questions, comments, or to assist you with any of your preparedness needs.