PUBLIC HEALTH PREPAREDNESS: MOBILIZING STATE BY STATE
Section 2: Snapshots of Public Health Preparedness in States and Directly Funded Localities: California
Related Website: California Department of Public Health
California’s Response to Life-Threatening High Temperatures Strong emergency operation capacity maintains high-level response for extended emergencies.
July 2006 was the hottest July on record for California. When temperatures climbed well above 100 degrees and stayed there for weeks, the health and safety of the public was threatened. At least 100 deaths were attributed to extreme heat.
Many of the early heat-related fatalities were elderly people or those living alone. To target this high-risk group, California Department of Health Services (CDHS) staff contacted all long-term care facilities in the state to check temperatures inside the facilities and provide advice to those without air conditioning. Local health department workers contacted single-room occupancy hotels to inquire about frail and elderly residents who needed assistance. Seventy-five cooling centers were opened at fairgrounds and other locations to provide safe shelter for residents without access to air conditioning. Information on how to avoid heat-related illnesses was disseminated through news conferences and releases and posted on state agency websites.
To coordinate these activities, the CDHS activated its Joint Emergency Operations Center (JEOC). Unlike some emergency events, heat waves last for extended periods of time. The activation of the JEOC allowed CDHS to successfully coordinate intra- and interagency response activities for the duration of the heat wave. Both the physical structure of the JEOC and previous staff training ensured that a consistent high-level response was maintained. Following the summer heat wave, a task force of state and local partners convened and developed an interim contingency plan for future heat emergencies.
Snapshot of Public Health Preparedness
Below are activities conducted by California in the area of public health preparedness. They support CDC preparedness goals in the areas of detection and reporting, control, and improvement; crosscutting activities help prepare for all stages of an event. These data are not comprehensive and do not cover all preparedness activities.
Disease Detection and Investigation
The sooner public health professionals can detect diseases or other health threats and investigate their causes and effects in the community, the more quickly they can minimize population exposure.
Category of Activities | Specific Activity | Response |
---|---|---|
Detect & Report | Could receive and investigate urgent disease reports 24/7/3651 | Yes |
|
Telephone | |
Linked state and local health personnel to share information about disease outbreaks across state lines (through the CDC Epi-X system)3 | Yes | |
Conducted year-round surveillance for seasonal influenza4 | Yes | |
* Telephone, fax, and electronic reporting are all viable options for urgent disease reporting, as long as the public health department has someone assigned to receive the reports 24/7/365. 1 CDC, DSLR; 2005 2 CDC, DSLR; 2006 3 CDC, Epi-X; 2007 4 HHS, OIG; 2007 |
Public Health Laboratories
Public health laboratories test and confirm agents that can threaten health. For example, advanced DNA “fingerprinting” techniques and subsequent reporting to the CDC database (PulseNet) are critical to recognize nationwide outbreaks from bacteria that can cause severe illness, such as E. coli O157:H7 and Listeria monocytogenes.
Category of Activities | Specific Activity | Response |
---|---|---|
Detect & Report | Number of California laboratories in the Laboratory Response Network1 | 21 |
Rapidly identified E. coli O157:H7 using advanced DNA “fingerprinting” techniques (PFGE):2 | ||
|
257 | |
|
91% | |
Rapidly identified Listeria monocytogenes using advanced DNA “fingerprinting” techniques (PFGE):2 | ||
|
3 |
|
|
33% | |
Had a laboratory information management system that could create, send, and receive messages3 (8/05 – 8/06) | Yes | |
|
Yes | |
Had a rapid method to send urgent messages to frontline laboratories that perform initial screening of clinical specimens3 (8/05 – 8/06) | Yes | |
Crosscutting | Conducted bioterrorism exercise that met CDC criteria4 (8/05 – 8/06) | No |
Conducted exercise to test chemical readiness that met CDC criteria4 (8/05 – 8/06) | Yes | |
1 CDC, DBPR; 2007 2 CDC, DSLR; 2007 3 APHL, Public Health Laboratory Issues in Brief: Bioterrorism Capacity; May 2007 4 CDC, DSLR; 2006 |
Response
Planning provides a framework for how a public health department will respond during an emergency. The plans can be tested through external reviews, exercises, and real events. After-action reports assess what worked well during an exercise or real event and how the department can improve.
Category of Activities | Specific Activity | Response |
---|---|---|
Control | Developed a public health response plan, including pandemic influenza response, crisis and emergency risk communication, and Strategic National Stockpile (SNS)1, 2 | Yes |
California SNS plan reviewed by CDC2 | Yes | |
|
97 | |
Number of California cities in the Cities Readiness Initiative3 | 7 | |
Crosscutting | Developed roles and responsibilities for a multi-jurisdictional response (ICS) with:1 (8/05 – 8/06) | |
|
Yes | |
|
Yes | |
|
Yes | |
Public health department staff participated in training to support cooperative agreement activities4 | Yes | |
Public health laboratories conducted training for first responders5 (8/05 – 8/06) | Yes | |
Activated public health emergency operations center as part of a drill, exercise, or real event*†6 (partial year, 9/06 – 2/07) | Yes | |
Conducted a drill or exercise for key response partners to test communications when power and land lines were unavailable†6 (partial year, 9/06 – 2/07) | No | |
Improve | Finalized at least one after-action report with an improvement plan following an exercise or real event†6 (partial year, 9/06 – 2/07) | Yes |
* Activation means rapidly staffing all eight core ICS functional roles in the public health emergency operations center with one person per position. This capability is critical to maintain in case of large-scale or complex incidents, even though not every incident requires full staffing of the ICS. † States were expected to perform these activities from 9/1/2006 to 8/30/2007. These data represent results from the first half of this period only. 1 CDC, DSLR; 2006 2 CDC, DSNS; 2007 3 CDC, DSNS CRI; 2007 4 CDC, DSLR; 1999-2005 5 APHL, Chemical Terrorism Preparedness; May 2007 6 CDC, DSLR; 2007 |
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