CR4HC Heat Element 2.4: Coordination with Office of Emergency Management
Element 2.4. Coordination with Office of Emergency Management
Synchronizing a healthcare organization’s heat emergency plan with peer organization plans, the local office of emergency management, and the local utility can result in a more efficient and effective coordinated response during and after extreme heat events. It can also reveal current gaps and redundancies that could impact the effectiveness of responders during an emergency. Coordination also supports the development of personal relationships across organizations and agencies – an important factor during emergency response (FEMA ASPR, 2019).
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Climate Resilience Actions:
- Periodically evaluate the roles and responsibilities of healthcare organizations and other partners in responding to extreme heat events: After-action reviews conducted under the auspices of the local office of emergency management offer an opportunity to revisit and revise (if needed) the roles and responsibilities of healthcare organizations during extreme heat events, particularly in regions where they are occurring more often, for longer durations, and at higher temperatures.
- Leverage healthcare facilities as intervention sites for local heat action plans: Healthcare organizations often offer their locations as community intervention sites for the local heat action plan. For example, allowing the office of emergency management to use strategically located hospitals, medical office buildings, and clinics as distribution sites for water bottles, fans, and air conditioners can increase community access to health-promoting supplies. Officially designating publicly available spaces in healthcare facilities – such as the cafeteria – as cooling centers during extreme heat events can help support heat-sensitive patients and family members as well as raise awareness in the community that extreme heat events are public health emergencies (Hess et al., 2023).
- Coordinate heat-related syndromic surveillance with the local office of emergency management and the local weather station: It can be helpful to add heat-related illness to the healthcare organization's syndromic surveillance reports during and immediately following extreme heat events. Aligning the organization's protocol for collecting heat-related diagnostic data with the local office of emergency management and weather station's protocol for declaring a heat emergency will help ensure that the organizational heat action plan deploys in coordination with local alerts (Hess et al., 2023).
Tools and Resources:
Data and Tools
- CDC/NWS HeatRisk Tool: The NWS HeatRisk is an experimental color-numeric-based index that provides a forecast risk of heat-related impacts to occur over a 24-hour period. HeatRisk takes into consideration how unusual the heat is for the time of the year; the duration of the heat including both daytime and nighttime temperatures; if those temperatures pose an elevated risk of heat-related impacts based on data from the CDC. https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov\
- City Resources for Adapting to Heat: Guidance on how to develop comprehensive heat adaptation plans. Resources include: Comprehensive Heat Response Planning, Forecasting and Monitoring, Education and Awareness, Responses to Heat Waves, and Infrastructure Improvements. https://www.epa.gov/heatislands/adapting-heat
- EPA Excessive Heat Events (EHE) Guidebook: Guidebook that provides critical information that local public health officials and others need to begin assessing their Excessive Heat Events (EHE) vulnerability and developing and implementing EHE notification and response programs. https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2016-03/documents/eheguide_final.pdf
- Heat Response Plans: Summary of Evidence and Strategies for Collaboration and Implementation: Report summarizing the science behind extreme heat, the health burden of heat exposure, the impacts of climate change, and components and effectiveness of heat response plans with a focus on relevant peer-reviewed literature and existing heat response plans. https://www.cdc.gov/climateandhealth/docs/HeatResponsePlans_508.pdf
People and Operations
- Climate Resilient Health Clinics Toolkit: Extreme Heat Year-Round Guidance: This document, a part of the Americares' Climate Resilient Health Clinics Toolkit, outlines important administrative tasks to be accomplished leading up to potential extreme heat. https://www.americares.org/wp-content/uploads/4.-ADMIN.Heat_Year-Round_Guidance_2023Final.pdf
- Climate Resilient Health Clinics Toolkit: Heat Alert Plan Guidance and Checklist: This document, a part of the Americares' Climate Resilient Health Clinics Toolkit, identifies actions that administrators of health centers and clinics can take to maintain situational awareness and facility/clinic operations during extreme heat events. https://www.americares.org/wp-content/uploads/1.-ADMIN.Heat_Alert_Plan_2023Final.pdf
- Guidance on Extreme Temperatures for State, Local, Tribal and Territorial Leaders: A guide outlining the actions government and tribal leaders should take to create an extreme temperature response plan and conduct a risk assessment to prepare for future conditions. https://www.fema.gov/sites/default/files/documents/fema_guidance-extreme-temperatures-state-local-tribal-territorial-leaders.pdf
- Guidance on Extreme Temperatures for State, Local, Tribal and Territorial Leaders: This guide outlines four specific actions that leaders can take to prepare their community to withstand and respond to extreme temperatures. https://www.fema.gov/sites/default/files/documents/fema_guidance-extreme-temperatures-state-local-tribal-territorial-leaders.pdf
Funding Opportunities
- CDC Public Health Emergency Preparedness (PHEP) Program and Guidance: The Public Health Emergency Preparedness (PHEP) cooperative agreement helps health departments build and strengthen their abilities to effectively respond to a range of public health threats including natural disasters and these activities specifically target the development of emergency-ready public health departments that are flexible and adaptable. https://www.cdc.gov/orr/readiness/phep/index.htm
- Cigna Extends Medicare Advantage Transportation Benefit Due to Heat: Cigna Medicare Advantage members can use their same-day transportation benefits to escape the heat and ride to places including community cooling centers or places with air conditioning like libraries and senior centers. https://newsroom.cigna.com/2022-07-29-As-Temperatures-Rise,-Cigna-Offers-Medicare-Advantage-Customers-Rides-To-Cooling-Centers-at-No-Extra-Cost
References
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Elements of Extreme Heat Resilience
1. Prospective Risk Assessment 2. Health Equity and Community Engagement
2.1. Community Input 2.2. Community Infrastructure
2.3. Community Services 2.4. Coordination with Local OEM
3. Infrastructure & Operations 4. Collaboration Between Healthcare Organizations
5. Interdisciplinary Planning, Oversight, and Evaluation 6. Communications & All-Hazards Approach
