Services provided by regional preparedness and response teams in North Carolina and Virginia

Introduction: In many states, regional preparedness and response teams provide services to a designated group of local health agencies, with the aim of enhancing local capacity and improving coordination of preparedness and response efforts across jurisdictions.

Methods: To better understand the role of regional teams, a study was conducted by the NC Preparedness and Emergency Response Research Center at the University of North Carolina. The study focused on documenting the specific services regional teams provide to local health agencies in North Carolina and Virginia. Web surveys of regional team “customers” and interview/focus group data were collected to compare services provided in North Carolina, a decentralized state where regional teams are employed by a local health department and work collaboratively with the state and other LHDs in their region, and Virginia, a centralized state where both regional teams and the district health departments they support are under the control of the state health department.

Results: Types of services provided by regional teams include communication and liaison, epidemiology and surveillance, planning, consultation and technical assistance, training, provision of exercises, and public health event response. The range of services provided by regional teams varies both within and across states.

Conclusion: There is variation in regional teams' services that cannot be explained by demographic variables. State public health structure may be associated with differences in preparedness and response services offered by regional teams.