January 2026 CT HCC Newsletter

One of the most valuable aspects of attending NHCPC was the opportunity to spend meaningful time with our own coalition members. Stepping away from day-to-day operations allowed for thoughtful conversations, relationship-building, and shared reflection on our collective work. These interactions reinforced the strength of our coalition and the importance of maintaining strong connections before an incident occurs.

In addition, networking with other Health Care Coalition (HCC) staff and members from across the country was an especially beneficial experience. Hearing how peers are addressing similar challenges, implementing innovative solutions, and adapting to evolving preparedness requirements provided useful perspective and ideas that we can consider bringing back to our region.

I also found several of the coalition leadership-focused presentations to be particularly impactful. These sessions offered practical insights into governance, engagement, and sustainability, and served as strong learning opportunities for strengthening coalition operations and leadership practices moving forward.

Mary Beth Skarote

CT HCC

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The Connecticut Healthcare Coalition was well represented at the National Healthcare Coalition Preparedness Conference in Grapevine, Texas this year. Representatives from both hospital and public health services were able to choose from 4 tracks of interest. This year my chosen track focused on “Executive Coalition Leadership” due to my new role as coalition co-chair. By attending these courses, my objective was to increase my knowledge of coalition strategy, collaboration and effective executive leadership for continued success.

The first course entitled “Empowering Leaders in Crisis: Novel Training Strategies for Executive Success” with Roger Glick; focused on strengthening executive engagement in emergency management by enhancing situational awareness, focusing on core concepts and principles and streamlining communication by using “heuristics”.

Heuristics are mental shortcuts or rules of thumb to help with quick decision-making. Mr. Glick emphasized the importance of emergency managers being the navigators in the storm to provide executives (the pilots) with directions to steer the plane. These directions include executive briefings that are specific and to the point, checklists that tell them what to do and strategic alignment to deal with reputation, financial and legal concerns during an emergency.

Another course entitled “Anchoring Success: Leadership Models to Strengthen Healthcare Coalitions” was presented by Richard Lippert; focusing on leadership models and strategies to foster collaboration, planning and decision-making. Mr. Lippert identifies four types of leadership models:

• Adaptive Leadership is leading people through challenges where there is no clear playbook.
• Servant Leadership is the leader who exists to serve the coalition, not control it.
• Systems Leadership is leading with awareness that everything is connected.
• Distributed Leadership is shared, not centralized.

He recognized many challenges to these leadership models including when the rules aren’t clear, the politics take over; when the vision is not aligned, or the decision-making process is too complicated; how to handle the quiet members or the dominant members in the room; and finally establishing the trustworthiness and credibility of the leaders. Mr. Lippert concluded with a picture of the future coalition leader who must lead with intention and be skilled at translating systems, mediating personalities, stabilizing uncertainty and driving uncomfortable progress. Strong, effective coalitions are not built on funding, but on courage, clarity, and difficult conversations.

Overall, the National Healthcare Coalition Preparedness Conference is a wonderful opportunity to learn, share best practices and meet peers from across the country. The Executive Coalition Leadership track taught me new ways to adapt to adversity while moving forward and ultimately promote the health and safety for the communities we serve. It is highly recommended for all coalition members to take advantage of this conference scholarship program offered by the Connecticut Healthcare Coalition.

Pat Srenaski, BSN, RN, NHDP-BC

Hartford HealthCare

Co-Chair CT Healthcare Coalition

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The National Health Care Preparedness Conference in Grapevine TX was a great opportunity to learn what events healthcare coalitions throughout the country are participating in as well as their best practices.

One of the lectures I attended was The Hotel to Hospital Project: A Solution for Medical Surge. The University of Colorado Denver (UCD) was selected as one of three national sites to receive a grant to provide a solution for A Modular, Scalable Alternate Care Facility for Patient Surge. This initiative seeks to bolster medical surge capabilities and enhance our capacity to manage combat casualties while also providing national improvements to the National Disaster Medical System (NDMS). The Department of Defense (DoD) has outlined the following planning scenario: A medical surge of 1,000 combat casualties per day for 100 days returning to the US from overseas conflict. https://www.hotel2hospital.info/

What made this lecture so interesting was that UCD proved the concept of converting a hotel into a hospital with a 2–4-week turnaround time. UCD converted one floor of a presently operating hotel of a National Hotel chain into an ICU and Medical Surgical floor. They were able to staff the facility with clinicians from the University of Colorado Hospital, who worked in the converted space, and upon conclusion of the full scale exercise they obtained positive feedback. Upon conclusion the ACF was converted back to a fully operating hotel.

As we continue to have a critical shortage of bed availability daily throughout the country, with the State of Connecticut being no exception, this could be a viable alternative in the event of a large-scale combat operation receiving a surge of war wounded, or in the event of the next pandemic. https://www.hotel2hospital.info/ to learn more about this concept

Lynn Hayes RN BSN EMTP

Clinical Advisor CTHCC

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The National Health Care Preparedness Conference featured multiple tracks designed to accommodate its diverse audience. Though hospital personnel comprised the majority of attendees, public health preparedness professionals were well represented. Several sessions proved both informative and practical. One particularly compelling presentation examined Hurricane Helene's impact on western North Carolina in September 2024. The historic storm devastated the Appalachian region, with unprecedented rainfall causing rivers to overflow and destroying critical infrastructure. Countless families found themselves without access to clean water, electricity, or healthcare services. In response, the North Carolina Breastfeeding Coalition (NCBFC) mobilized quickly to support new and expectant mothers facing the crisis. Coalition leaders partnered with other family-focused organizations to launch SAFE (Support and Advocate for Feeding Emergencies). This initiative provided crucial education on breastfeeding as the safest feeding method for infants during the emergency. The coalition also assembled and distributed infant feeding sanitation kits to affected families and established breastfeeding friendly spaces within emergency shelters. This response demonstrated how communities can unite during crises to address critical needs among vulnerable populations. The presentation resonated with me given Connecticut's own rural areas and recent infrastructure challenges, such as the Waterbury water main break. It reinforced the importance of planning for and protecting vulnerable populations, particularly infants and new mothers, to ensure their health and safety during emergencies.

Maura Esposito

Public Health Coordinator

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While having attended the NHCPC conference in December, a few of the breakout sessions and keynote speakers were incredible to listen and observe. In particular, a session on day one titled “Enhancing Special Pathogen Preparedness and Response through Regional Relationships” presented by Angela Vasa and Jackson Gruber, Region 7 Regional Emerging Special Pathogens Treatment Center. I had the pleasure to speak with Angela and Jackson following the session. While the objectives of this presentation were centered around regional emerging special pathogen treatment centers (RESPTCs), the insights shared regarding high consequence infectious diseases along with the key actions that Region 7 RESPTC took during a Lassa Fever case made this presentation very interesting and engaging for myself at the health system level and on behalf of Region 2 ESF 8.

The key takeaways from this session regarding the Iowa Lassa Fever case included the significant distance between a level 2 treatment facility, the index case presentation hospital and other level 3 assessment hospitals in one state which brought coordination challenges despite having quarterly calls between the level 2 and 3 facilities. They also had significant issues regarding waste management, decedent management and had a number of healthcare workers exposed. Angela and Jackson strongly suggested reviewing memorandums of understanding with the local medical examiners or morgues for your facility as local funeral homes will not accept a viral hemorrhagic fever decedent. This case is the one of two recorded high consequence infectious disease deaths in the United States at a hospital and therefore was fascinating to listen to areas of improvement and successes.

I intend to bring these learning lessons back to not only the Yale New Haven Health System and Region 2 ESF 8, however also to the CT HCC and CHA HEMD meetings to share with the rest of the teams.

Thank you again for the opportunity to attend this conference and I look forward to reading additional showcases from those who attended.

Jordan Rose Swenson

Manager, System Office of Emergency Preparedness

Yale New Haven Health

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Thank you for the opportunity to attend the 2025 National Healthcare Coalition Preparedness Conference in Grapevine, TX. I was honored to be chosen and attend with our CT HCC colleagues. There were so many wonderful sessions on the agenda. There were two that stood out and were very timely to attend.

The first was The Hotel2Hospital Project, offered by Jason Persoff from The University of Colorado School of Medicine. Jason and his multidisciplinary team were tasked to see if a hotel space could be converted into hospital surge space within a short timeframe and then be converted back without significant delay. Through multiple meetings, exercises and demonstrations, they were able to convert hotel space into two ICU rooms, med/surge space and all the allied health departments to support patient care. They were also able to use hotel staff and services to support critical hospital functions. The team was able to integrate hospital IT systems into the spaces and staff were able to function as if they were on their main hospital campus. They have documented all the processes on a website as well as a book available through their site. Once the demonstrations were completed, they were able to return the hotel spaces within two weeks. As part of a large health system, this brough great insight into thinking outside the box to find easily accessible surge space for our patients.

Another great session was Scaling Disaster Preparedness: Implementing the 15 til 50 Initiative Through Coalitions, presented by Kelli McCarthy and Franklin Riddle. 15 til 50 is a “plug and play” model that empowers healthcare facilities to quickly and effectively scale up for mass casualty surges—saving critical time and enhancing readiness. As part of the Southern Regional Disaster Response System (SRDRS), Kelli and Franklin discussed how they were able to tailor this initiative to their specific region and using coalition focused strategy, working to create a unified and resilient disaster response system. My team at YNHH is in the process of updating our Mass Casualty Incident training, and this session provided some additional ideas and details for our planning.

My intent is to bring these learning lessons back to Yale New Haven Health and Yale New Haven Hospital as well as our HCC and CHA groups. Thank you again for the opportunity to attend this conference and I look forward to reading additional showcases from those who attended.

Sincerely,
Michael R. Granoth, BS, EMT-P, AEM
Office of Emergency Preparedness
Yale New Haven Health