Public health Responding to public health emergencies
Over the past decade, community engagement has become a central tenet of U.S. federal approach to public health emergency preparedness. Little is known, however, about how the vision of a ready, aware, and involved populace has translated into local practice.
Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) during rescue drill // Source: fema.gov
Over the past decade, community engagement has become a central tenet of U.S. federal approach to public health emergency preparedness. Little is known, however, about how the vision of a ready, aware, and involved populace has translated into local practice, or which conditions thus far have advanced community involvement in what is typically considered the province of government authorities and emergency professionals. In 2011-12, to help close this knowledge gap, investigators carried out semistructured qualitative interviews with practitioners (N=25) from seven local health departments about which conditions have advanced or inhibited community engagement in public health emergency preparedness. Among the organizational factors identified as enabling local health departments’ involvement of community residents and groups in emergency preparedness were:
- a supportive agency leadership and culture
- sufficient staffing and programmatic funding
- interested and willing partners
- and external triggers such as federal grants and disaster experiences that spotlighted the importance of community relationships to effective response
The authors of the study say that local health departments, facing budget and staff cuts, feel increasingly constrained in efforts to build trusted and lasting preparedness ties with community partners. At the same time, some progress in preparedness partnerships may be possible in the context of agency leadership, culture, and climate that affirms the value of collaboration with the community.
— Read more in Monica Schoch-Spana et al., “Local Health Department Capacity for Community Engagement and Its Implications for Disaster Resilience,” Biosecurity and Bioterrorism: Biodefense Strategy, Practice, and Science (29 May 2013) (doi:10.1089/bsp.2013.0027)
