Oral

The terror attacks of 9/11/01 in New York City revealed some of the complexities of appropriate planning for an appropriate response to a mega-disaster. We will present information from New York on ways to meet the needs of vulnerable populations following a disaster, including immigrants and the uninsured, through development of a hospital-community partnership. To help facilitate improved disaster planning, the National Library of Medicine of the National Institute of Health is developing a Disaster Information Management Research Center, and working with its regional and member libraries. We will describe these efforts and their value to improved disaster planning at the local level. We will also describe the development of strategies to enhance community-level disaster planning for high-risk and vulnerable populations, including non-English speaking individuals in urban environments and residents of rural communities. There will be a focus on the all-hazards preparedness approach as well as on the specifics of preparation for a potential influenza pandemic. Finally, we will discuss legal and policy barriers to sharing information following a public health emergency, focusing on immunization records.

Session Objectives: At the end of this session, participants will be able to: • Recognize the critical role of health information access in times of disaster • Describe the use of Community Needs Assessment data to identify specific un-served, underserved and high risk populations in regards to all-hazards educational efforts • Prioritize issues that advance planning and policy development for high-risk urban and rural populations, including those needed for pandemic influenza response • Identify legal and policy barriers and solutions to effective use of an Immunization Information System during a public health emergency

CE Credits: CME, Health Education (CHES), Nursing