Communication and Alerting Ten Years Later: Implementation Case Studies

In 2008, there were 75 FEMA declared disasters, 19 emergency declarations, and 50 fire management assistance declarations, in addition to state declarations that did not meet the FEMA criteria, outbreaks of infectious disease, contaminated drinking water and food, infrastructure collapses, and chemical spills. The Health Alert Network (HAN) was an effective part of the public health response to many of these events. Initially funded in 1999 as a way to bring computers, Internet connections, and computer literacy to public health agencies, HAN has become an integral part of state public health emergency response plans. In the last 10 years HAN systems have grown beyond a basic alerting tool and become embedded in state all hazard plans. At this ten year anniversary of HAN, we have formed the creation of the PHIN Communication and Alerting Community of Practice (CACoP) and it is appropriate to look at how HAN is utilized today and to look forward to opportunities and issues in the future. HAN is a key component of disaster management and critical to the communication and alerting of health responders Each of the presenters in this session will briefly describe the system their jurisdiction uses for communication and alerting with health response partners, present a case study of how the system was used during a 2008-09 emergency, and identify the opportunities and issues illustrated by the event response.