Protecting Americans against natural, manmade, and accidental public health threats
About
ASTHO helps state and territorial public health agencies anticipate, prepare for, recognize, and respond to terrorist attacks and other public health threats and emergencies through the development of comprehensive, coordinated public health preparedness programs and plans through collaboration with local, state and federal partners.Hurricane Sandy Situational Awareness
In support of public health officials engaged in response and recovery efforts following Hurricane Sandy, ASTHO is actively monitoring scheduled federal conference calls and briefings and collecting situation reports from the impacted states and sharing information as appropriate. The following reports have been gathered by ASTHO staff and made available to state health officials in recent days.
States of Preparedness
ASTHO maintains a continually updated collection of documents detailing promising practices in public health and health system preparedness from across the United States.
Strategic National Stockpile
ASTHO provides tools, information and technical assistance to support state and territorial health agencies in achieving SNS readiness.
Presentations from Past Annual DPHP Meetings
Each year, ASTHO hosts the Directors of Public Health Preparedness Meeting, which brings together representatives from the states, directly funded cities, and territories, as well as partner organizations federal partners. For the past two years, the meeting has been co-located with the ASTHO Annual State Environmental Health Directors Meeting to allow for joint sessions and networking opportunities. This tradition of networking, information sharing, and collaboration has been the hallmark of past DPHP meetings.
Preparedness Policy Committee
The Public Health Preparedness Policy Committee analyzes public health and health system preparedness issues to produce recommendations for state-based public health policy. Mission Statement (pdf)
Public Health Emergency Law
The Law can be a powerful tool to help accelerate and enhance responses to public health emergencies such as bioterrorism or pandemic influenza. ASTHO, in conjunction with CDC, has developed resources for public health practitioners, legal counsel, and government officials to assist in education, training, and planning activities on the effective use of relevant laws, regulations, and other legal doctrines in responding to public health emergencies to achieve greater protection of the public’s health and safety. Legal Barriers Project
ASTHO Social Distancing Law Project Meeting Template (pdf)
The ASTHO Social Distancing Law Project has produced two practical, field-tested tools to assess jurisdictional legal preparedness for pandemic influenza.
ASTHO Social Distancing Law Project Assessment Template (pdf)
Publications and Other Resources
Coping with and Mitigating the Effects of Shortages of Emergency Medications (pdf)
Public health, emergency medical services personnel, and emergency/trauma care providers must work collaboratively to identify and apply reasonable coping strategies and tactics to mitigate the impact of the emergency care drug shortage on patient care. This document attempts to capture and summarize the current best thinking of national thought leaders in these fields and is intended to serve as a guide to actionable options for consideration; it is not a consensus or guidance document.
NHSC White Paper: Protecting Americans in the 21st Century: 2012 Update (pdf)
This document builds upon the findings and recommendations of the Consortium’s 2008 and 2010 white papers, which raised awareness of a number of policy challenges and offered many potential solutions and recommendations. This paper also highlights the success, and future potential, of collaborative policy discussions.
PHEP 101- Introduction to the Public Health Preparedness Capabilities (external site)
An overview of the rationale for and components of the 2011-2016 PHEP program announcement, including the PHEP program framework and its capabilities – based approach.
PHEP 102 - Overview of the Capabilities-based Approach to Public Health Preparedness (external site)
A high-level overview of the structure of the PHEP capabilities; including the relationship between the capabilities, and their functions, tasks, resource elements, and associated performance measures.
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Staff
James Blumenstock, MA, Chief Program Officer, Public Health Practice
Gerrit Bakker, Senior Director, Public Health Preparedness
Meredith Allen;DrPH, MS, Director, Preparedness and Strategic Partnerships
Heather Misner, MPP, Director of Preparedness and Clinical Outreach
Jennifer Sinibaldi, MPH, Director, Public Health Preparedness
Lisa Peterson, MPH, MPA, Senior Analyst, Public Health Preparedness
Geetika Nadkarni, MPH, Senior Analyst, Public Health Preparedness
Afeke Kambui, Senior Analyst, Preparedness and Community Inclusion
Lindsi LoVerde, MPH, Analyst, Public Health Preparedness