Empowering public health to prepare: The Harvard School of Public Health Exercise Toolkit

Emergency public health interventions such as mass prophylaxis are complex activities that require advance planning, strategic decision-making regarding resource allocation, and regular practice to be effectively implemented during a disaster. The Harvard School of Public Health Center for Public Health Preparedness (HSPH-CPHP) has established a toolkit to enable local public health officials to conduct standardized preparedness exercises without draining excessive resources from critical daily responsibilities. The HSPH-CPHP Exercise Toolkit is comprised of an introduction to the value and purpose of tabletop exercises; detailed instructions on how to implement an exercise; and guidelines and tools to facilitate the exercise evaluation process, such that challenges are readily identified and can be concretely addressed. Accompanying exercise modules covering a range of scenarios have been created such that communities can engage in exercises focused on the most likely hazards they expect to encounter. Each is designed to test the critical actions of local public health as part of a community emergency response, and to allow for the inclusion of local partners such as public safety, municipal government, and hospitals. This design serves to highlight the essential role of public health in community disaster planning, and allows for an improved understanding of the key responsibilities of each partner agency during a catastrophic event. The HSPH-CPHP Exercise Toolkit is unique in that it is modeled after the Department of Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program, widely utilized by public safety and emergency management, yet adapted to address the unique strengths and challenges experienced by public health.