MDH EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS & RESPONSE NEWS
NOVEMBER 2015
From the Director
Since the last issue of the EPR News a lot has been happening here in our Section. For starters, we are pleased to
announce that a new emergency preparedness planner, SNS/MCM coordinator, and Medical Surge Planning Coordinator have joined the EPR team. Other highlights of activities and upcoming events include the news that:

MDH incident managers and 183 leaders from local and tribal public health participated in Public Health Incident Leadership
Training led by EPR staff. For access to the training curriculum see Public Health Incident Leadership Training (http://
www.health.state.mn.us/oep/training/useee)

Planning is well underway for the Joint Health Care Preparedness and Public Health Preparedness Statewide Full Scale exercise that will be held on March 29, 2016.

Judy Marchetti, Deb Burns, and I will be attending the 11th Annual Directors of Public Health Preparedness Meeting. Sessions
are scheduled to discuss the next project period with ASPR and CDC.

The Senior Advisory Committee Meeting will be held on January 12, 2016. Questions or comments to convey at that meeting
should be directed to PHEP or HPP representatives to the Advisory Committee.
As always, none of this activity could happen without the staff here at MDH, and you, our partners. I thank you all for your contributions and hard work. Minnesotans have many reasons to be grateful for the hardworking and creative staff throughout Minnesota who continually prepare for and respond to emergencies that affect people’s health . Cheryl
Public Health Partners Develop FAC Toolkit
The University of Minnesota Medical Reserve Corps and the Hennepin County Medical Reserve Corps (MRC), in collaboration with
Masa Consulting LLC and with funding from the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO), have developed a Family Assistance Center (FAC) training toolkit for first responders. This toolkit is designed to help emergency responders
enhance their knowledge of behavioral health roles during a mass casualty event. It includes descriptions of basic terminology,
position checklists, and a training guide for developing your agency’s FAC planning.
Efforts to develop a standardized Family Assistance Center toolkit emerged after the I-35 bridge collapse, as first responders were
inundated with requests for information about loved ones who had been traveling across the bridge that day. Public health agencies stood up a FAC and provided help, but it was clear from that event that additional training and support was needed, both for
community members and public health staff. Jonathan Bundt, one of creators of the toolkit, notes that “Over the past 8 years the
metro area has worked very hard to better understand how we can support and serve those impacted by disaster events. Putting
the needs of those persons traumatized must be a priority, and that work may not be easily understood. Mental health professionals can play a critical role when trained to work in these very unique environments.”
Continued on page 2
Inside this Edition
From the Director, Public Health Partners Develop FAC Toolkit, National Preparedness Month Highlights,
Preparedness Apps for Mobile Devices, Meet the Staff, Important Dates
PHONE: 651-201-5700
FAX: 651-201-5720
[email protected]
Continued from page 1
FAC Toolkit
The Family Assistance Center training toolkit will support you in developing your own disaster behavioral health trainings for staff,
volunteers, and community members – we hope you will review it and adapt it to meet your jurisdiction’s needs.
For an electronic copy of the toolkit, contact your region’s Public Health Preparedness Consultant (PHPC).
National Preparedness Month Highlights
September was National Preparedness Month, and EPR hosted many events! We kicked off the month with a Survival of the Fittest
Cube Contest, where 15 individuals from MDH created a preparedness kit out of items from their cubicle/ office and submitted a
picture for a prize drawing. In a lunchtime session, Katie Haugen discussed her month-long deployment to the Movement and
Monitoring Unit of the CDC EOC in Atlanta, GA for the federal Ebola response. EPR hosted a Health Partnerships division-wide potluck with emergency preparedness trivia and games. A MDH Department Operations Center (DOC) Open House allowed others to
learn more about the DOC and what MDH does for exercises and incident responses. September ended on a high note with
“Remembering Hurricanes Katrina/ Rita,” a panel of three Louisiana public health professionals and one Minnesota doctor who all
responded to Hurricane Katrina. The panel discussed their responses and the lessons learned for this 10 th anniversary of Hurricane
Katrina. To learn more, see Disaster Planning, “Remembering Hurricane Katrina/Rita” (http://www.health.state.mn.us/oep/
responsesystems/behavioral.html). Thanks to everyone who participated in preparedness month activities!
Meet the Staff
Angie Koch — Medical Surge Coordinator
Preparedness
Apps for
Mobile Devices
ASPCA
Pet Safety App
The ASPCA Pet Safety
app shows pet owners
what to do in case of a
natural disaster. Store
vital medical records,
browse preparedness
tips, and personalize a
lost pet recovery kit .
Download this free
app:
http://www.aspca.org/
pet-care/disasterpreparedness/aspcalaunches-mobile-apppet-parents
Angie is responsible for medical surge planning that supports the development of healthcare
coalitions, and its associated capacity and capabilities. She has a Master’s in Public Health
and over 12 years of project and program management experience working with partners
from many disciplines. Her past experience includes building a grassroots free medical clinic, designing
and implementing regional and state disaster initiatives, and educating partners around the world on
leveraging electronic systems aimed at impacting health outcomes.
Emily Ward—Strategic National Stockpile & Medical Countermeasures Coordinator
Emily is the new coordinator of SNS/MCM and CHEMPACK planning, and comes to MDH
from 14 plus years with the U.S. Coast Guard. Most recently, she worked on pandemic preparedness and medical countermeasure (MCM) / strategic national stockpile (SNS) closed
points of dispensing program development. She continues as a contingency planner with the USCG
Reserve in Seattle, WA. She completed her Master’s degree at the University of Minnesota in 2013.
Chad Ostlund—Emergency Preparedness Planner
Chad’s work is focused on planning exercises and helping the EPR team in whatever way he
can. He comes to MDH after 5 years at Minnesota Homeland Security and Emergency Management (HSEM). He held roles including all-hazard planner, recovery planner and mass care
coordinator. Chad had the opportunity to deploy to NYC during Hurricane Sandy as a member of the
EMAC team. He also spent a year working for a non-profit called Nechama – Jewish Response to Disaster prior to starting his state job. Chad plans to receive his MPA from the University of Minnesota next
winter.
Important Dates
December 1-2, 2015
M-STEP Conference: Protecting the Protectors
March 29, 2016
HPP-PHEP Statewide Full Scale Exercise
https://hennepintech.edu/cts/pages/1243
For information, contact: [email protected]