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Learning from Real Life: Alaska Edition
Christina Tuomi, Eugene Wiseman, Nathan Wormington, Travis Cruse, and Lindsey Sprinkle
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Emerging Special Pathogen C4I: Readiness is Achieved Through Commitment, Collaboration, Coordination, Cooperation, and Innovation
Darrell Ruby, Christa Arguinchona, Lindsey Bandow, David Brett-Major, Barb Dunham, Heather M. Flavell, Jake Lacore, James Lawler, Patti Lord, Brian Rogge, Mark Vazquez, and Jana Broadhurst
High Consequence Infectious Disease preparedness in Alaska, a partnership. This presentation will detail how civilian and military stakeholders worked together to enhance readiness for management of an emerged special pathogen. Providence, as the Region 10 Emerging Special Pathogen Treatment Center (RESPTC), leveraged regional relationships and partnered with the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) to integrate frontline special pathogen preparedness training in Alaska with an operational exercise to test interoperability of local high consequence infection prevention and control and case management workflows with the Isolation System for Treatment and Agile Response for High-Risk Infections (ISTARI). Providence led detailed frontline training in Fairbanks and Anchorage, each session leading into an operational exercise incorporating two ISTARI devices, a prototype patient transport isolation tent and the recently FDA-approved isolation tent, the CareCube. Beginning with patient presentation and moving through triage, initial assessment, and then ground and air transport, the exercise immediately reinforced facets of the training at each location, providing critical opportunities for mentored self-review of onsite processes for IPC and case management accomplished through simulation and the need to challenge workflows with and without use of the novel devices. Activities traced the regional high consequence infectious disease medevac chain: Fairbanks Memorial Hospital, a frontline facility to Providence Alaska Medical Center, the Assessment Center, and then to the regional biocontainment unit, Providence Sacred Heart/Region 10 RESPTC in Spokane, WA. Hospitals, academia, public health, emergency management, Native Alaskan, ground and aeromedical EMS agencies from Alaska and Washington worked together to make the operation a success.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this presentation are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the U.S. Government or any other agency. The activities described were funded in part by the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response NETEC award and CDC Project Firstline.
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