Oral

Establishing and maintaining an adequate level of disaster preparedness requires an appropriate workforce and adequate surge capacity. This session will focus on issues that may impact surge capacity at the local level, especially as applies to vulnerable populations reliant on safety net health care providers. The medical reserve corps (MRC) is a voluntary organization to augment public health capacity. We will begin this session with a discussion of recruitment and retention issues that affect the MRC. Next we will focus on the way that new regulations and requirements (federal, Joint Commission, and local) affect public hospitals in their critical role in disaster preparedness. Next we will focus on the development of surge capacity at the local level, including the role of community health centers. Finally we will discuss issues that affect the preparedness of rural counties.

Session Objectives: At the end of this session, participants will be better able to: • Discuss strategies that medical reserve corps units may implement to improve recruitment and retention of it's members • Understand the role of a designated emergency preparedness coordinator in public hospital planning strategies • Describe key challenges faced by communities in developing adequate surge capacity • Discuss strategies for development of rural public health infrastructure that will support an emergency/pandemic influenza response

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