Uniting stakeholders in rural communities to engage in pandemic influenza response planning process

To effectively plan for and respond to public health emergencies in rural communities, public health and other health professionals must engage the community at large in the planning process by integrating a broader group of local stakeholders to participate in infrastructure building and rural emergency response planning.

Over the course of a year and a half, the USA Center for Rural Public Health Preparedness, in partnership with the Texas Department of State Health Services, assisted thirty-three rural North Texas counties with limited or non-existent local public health services in pandemic influenza preparedness planning activities. This project has completed Phases I and II and is currently completing its third and final phase.

Phase I consisted of Rural Preparedness Roundtables, preparedness planning technical assistance, and table top exercises conducted within county clusters. Phase I results determined further training opportunities were necessary to improve counties' preparedness and awareness. Additionally, counties who had not yet completed pandemic influenza response plans required continued support and assistance to review and exercise their plans in the future.

As a result, Phase II of the project was developed to address the unique challenges rural counties face when planning for a pandemic response, focusing on the importance of developing public health infrastructure with limited availability of resources. Sub-regional conferences with culminating table top exercises complemented the education and planning process for these rural counties. The conferences provided counties that were further along in the planning process the opportunity to display best practices and new ideas with adjacent rural counties.