Public Health Emergency Preparedness

Goal Statement: Everyone is prepared for public health incidents and emergencies of all kinds.

“Like all communities, the Upper Valley faces many threats with the potential for large-scale health consequences, including disease outbreaks, natural and manmade disasters. Some of the impacts are short-lived and some, like the mental health impacts on survivors and the surrounding community, can be long-lasting. The public health, mental health, health care, and emergency response systems must be prepared to work with communities to build capacity and resilience.”

Upper Valley Pubic Health Council Flu Clinic October 2023

Photo by Alex Driehaus

What is Emergency Preparedness?

What are we doing to address this problem in our community?

Collaboration and Service Improvement

Provide leadership and coordination to improve regional emergency preparedness and the capacity for partner organizations to mitigate, prepare for, respond to, and recover from public health incidents and emergencies.
Ensure capacity to develop, coordinate, and disseminate information, alerts, warnings, and notifications to the public and incident management personnel.
Develop and implement emergency operation plans as needed for community-wide vaccine distribution.

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Education

Coordinate with the State(s) to complete required exercises and activities required by federal agency funding.
Coordinate and collaborate with agency and department resources to train and educate members of the public and those within the Medical Reserve Corps.

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Advocacy

Provide feedback to the States of New Hampshire and Vermont regarding resources and support needed to maintain adequate public health emergency response capacity.

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Equity

Coordinate with hospital-based health care systems, municipalities, and additional entities serving individuals with functional needs and/or providing other health and wellness services in the region to assess risk and/or vulnerabilities.
Reduce access barriers (language, mobility, transportation, vision, and hearing access, etc) to vaccination services (for COVID-19, influenza, monkey pox and other infectious vaccine preventable diseases, including, but not limited to, providing translation and interpretation services for individuals who need assistance with Vaccination and Immunization Network Interface (VINI) or other State immunization registry systems for vulnerable populations (or “target populations”).
Identify needed vaccination clinics and provide testing kits to those who are underinsured, uninsured, homebound or have other barriers or hesitancy.

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Key Partners

Upper Valley Regional Public Health Network
(New Hampshire-based public health emergency planning region)

Upper Valley public health emergency preparedness responders The Upper Valley Regional Public Health Network includes Canaan, Dorchester, Enfield, Grafton, Grantham, Hanover, Lebanon, Lyme, Orange, Orford, Piermont, and Plainfield. The Regional Public Health Network serves the approximately 44,600 people living in these communities.

The Network provides leadership through the Regional Coordinating Council and coordination to improve the readiness of partners to mount an effective response to public health emergencies and threats. This work includes the maintenance of a Regional Public Health Emergency Annex, which includes plans for response to and recovery from public health emergencies that impact communities in the region. In addition, the Network works closely with hospitals, municipal emergency management directors, and other governmental, public health, and health care entities to plan for public health emergencies and ensure the provision of public health, medical, and behavioral health services before, during, and after an incident.

NH Contact Person: Nancy Kreis
Upper Valley Public Health Emergency Preparedness Coordinator, Upper Valley Medical Reserve Corps Co-Unit Leader, Nancy.e.kreis@hitchcock.org

Emergency Planning in South Central Vermont

White River Junction Emergency Preparedness Planning The Emergency Preparedness Specialist at the Springfield and White River Junction District Offices of the Vermont Department of Health assists local emergency response and preparedness organizations plan for public health emergencies, focusing on those that support our public health and healthcare network such as hospitals, nursing homes and clinics. Vermont Department of Health works with community health partners such as the Public Health Council of the Upper Valley and the Springfield Community Health Team, its district’s Local Emergency Planning Commissions (groups composed of response organizations, regional and community partners, health and public health entities), and its school supervisory unions to ensure planning, training and exercising are robust and serve all Upper Valley residents, including our most vulnerable populations. The Vermont Department of Health also funds and helps administer the Upper Valley Medical Reserve Corps, and provides oversight of emergency operations related to public health, such as distribution of medicines or assisting in recruiting surge capacity for hospitals in times of public health emergencies.

VT Contact Person: Misha McNabb BA, NRP
Public Health Specialist III: Emergency Preparedness
Vermont Department of Health, White River Junction
Upper Valley Medical Reserve Corps Co-Coordinator
Misha.McNabb@vermont.gov

Visit the Vermont Department of Health
White River Junction Facebook page.

Visit the Vermont Department of Health
South Windsor area (Springfield District) Facebook page.

Learn about the Upper Valley Medical Reserve Corps

The Upper Valley Medical Reserve Corps is composed of medical and non-medical volunteers dedicated to community health preparedness/education and response in emergencies. We are a bi-state team for NH and VT.