Advancing the interests of pregnant women and children in emergency preparedness planning

During the past decade, the United States has invested over $600 billion dollars in domestic preparedness; however, it remains unclear whether U.S. communities are more effectively prepared for emergency events. This is particularly true for pregnant women and children, two populations that have not been adequately considered in healthcare emergency planning. The proposed session describes a replicable model that not only allows for effective community preparedness planning, but also generates new knowledge. Specifically, the model is grounded in Community-Based Participatory Research, which includes community members, organizational representatives, and researchers throughout all aspects of the planning process, thereby enabling all stakeholders in the “community of interest” to contribute their expertise with shared responsibility and ownership. This method enhances participant understanding of a given phenomenon and integrates knowledge gained with action, to improve the health and wellbeing of the community of interest through interventions and policy changes. Finally, this session will describe application of the above model to advance the interests of pregnant women and children before, during, and after an emergency event. Representative projects will be discussed, including: (1) the use of geospatial data to mitigate the effects of utility failure on children with electricity-dependent technology (e.g., home ventilators, intravenous pumps, 24-hour suctioning); (2) private practice pediatrician continuity of operations planning; and (3) the creation of disaster preparedness information packets for pediatricians and their patients.