Building Community Resilience By Engaging Health Department Employees in Emergency Preparedness Activities

Background:  Engaging employees in emergency preparedness can be challenging for health departments. With the focus on providing resources to partner agencies and the public, health department employees can be overlooked. This increases the vulnerability to emergencies of employees and decreases the resiliency of the health department. The Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene's (DHMH) Office of Preparedness and Response (OPR) chose to celebrate National Preparedness Month (NPM) 2015 by working to engage the department's own employees.

Program background:  During NPM, OPR conducted a series of preparedness initiatives targeting DHMH employees. The objectives were to (1) assess employee perception of personal preparedness for emergencies; (2) familiarize employees with public health emergency operations; (3) increase knowledge on personal preparedness and the role state employees play during an emergency and (4) identify gaps in emergency preparedness training among employees.  

Evaluation Methods and Results:  Over a 4-week period, OPR conducted a Preparedness Challenge via email for DHMH employees. OPR sent out weekly challenges requesting employees to demonstrate their preparedness by completing activities ranging from social media use to identifying items they would need during an emergency. Employees submitted 257 Preparedness Challenge activities that highlighted the actions they took to prepare. On September 30, 2015, OPR hosted a DHMH-wide exercise. OPR engaged employees throughout the day through a “Pledge to Prepare” poster signing, a photo booth, informational tables and by recruiting new emergency response volunteers. To familiarize state employees on public health emergency operations, OPR conducted a functional closed Point of Dispensing (POD) exercise. Employees entered the POD and completed a screening form designed to capture their perception of their personal preparedness and training needs. Upon completion of the form, participants were "dispensed" either a DHMH backpack or water bottle. In two hours, nearly 600 state employees transitioned through the POD and received their "medical countermeasure." The exercise was also streamed live on Periscope to engage over 120 other participants in the event. When employees were asked about their own emergency preparedness, 80% of DHMH participants indicated they were “Somewhat Prepared” or “Prepared” while 20% indicated they were “Not Prepared.” However, only 34% of DHMH participants had emergency supply kits, 49% had identified an out of town contact and 28% had training in emergency preparedness. For all participants, the most frequently desired topic for training was personal emergency preparedness. 

Conclusions:  The NPM 2015 initiative demonstrated the willingness of health department employees to engage in preparedness activities if such activities are offered. This presents an opportunity to design better preparedness activities to engage employees further and to improve personal preparedness and therefore resiliency among the staff. The exercise also raised staff awareness about DHMH emergency operations and how the Department may respond during an outbreak emergency.  

Implications for research and/or practice:  To address the gaps identified, OPR is developing a training plan to focus on personal preparedness training and development for DHMH employees. Other states can employ DHMH's employee engagement activities to increase interest and build community resilience among state and local workforces.