Conduct the work for this project as though you were the key emergency preparedness coordinator for a local public health agency or another organization with which you are familiar and were presenting the emergency preparedness committee conclusions to key administrators. This will be done on the LEXINGTON-FAYETTE COUNTY HEALTH DEPARTMENT in Lexington, KY.
You will NOT be required to conduct an interview but should have familiarity with the organization, services and community and county which it resides. If you work in a LPHA, you are encouraged to select that organization. You will have more familiarity and hopefully this project will then be useful. Describe this organization’s services and capabilities.
Research the demographics, topography geology, population centers, and unique risks for the county in which this organization resides. Maps and tables are helpful ways of portraying this information. This county description must be included in your project submission and should be formatted so the end-use can quickly review and have a thorough understanding of the county profile. You have creative license on how to best relay this information. for this facility to the best of your ability. Read the instructions in the assignment document or on the first tab of the workbook. Try to think through all expert stakeholder perspectives such as security, environmental and medical. IMPORTANT: Please use a generic facility description on the tool and mark your completed tool as EXAMPLE or SIMULATED to ensure this is not accidentally represented as an actual document. The completed tool will be submitted as the appendix of your application paper.
Using your HVA tool, construct a paper that includes the following components:
A brief description of a LPHA of which you are familiar.
A description of the county, including demographics, where the selected organization is located.
A description of your thought process for determining the probability and severity scores of the Kaiser Permanente HVA tool. Include your analysis of which threats and risks would be most important for the organization to address and why.
If you were assigned the responsibility for drafting a public health emergency response plan, what would be your first steps? Where would you begin? What are your first questions and challenges?
Completion of the Kaiser-Permanente Hazard Vulnerability Assessment template for the organization selected as an appendix to the paper or you can upload multiple files.
There is not one correct answer to the questions posed for this paper. It is important that you are able to succinctly state your opinions and support your position from the class readings and discussions. I anticipate and hope there are differing views among the class. There is not an exact length for this project submission although I would estimate the length, excluding the HVA tool and other appendices, would be approximately four to five pages. You may include tables, maps, charts in addition to the actual HVA tool as appendices to best represent your assessment and findings. Once the risks and threats have been identified they must be prioritized. The prioritization is typically achieved by the likelihood (or probability) of the occurrence and the probable impact severity. The likelihood of occurrence can be determined by reviewing historical data and regional and geographic data – there is an element of subjectivity on your part, but due your due diligence in researching hazards in your focus area. Ideally, your organization would be willing to reach out to community partners. Examples would be: county emergency management agency, law enforcement, and recovery organizations (e.g. Red Cross). This would be an example of external response.
When thinking about the human, property and business impacts, think about the community at large. Your organization will face similar risks due to their location, especially for natural disasters. These organizations may have a bigger chance of being the victim of a targeted attack. Finally, think about the possibility of that event occurring at all. Radiological disasters from a nuclear power plant is probably very low in a county that doesn’t have a nuclear power plant. However, given the nature of IEDs and terrorism, there could always be a chance of nuclear material in the bomb.
This is a link to the Lexington-Fayette County Health Department.
And this includes an additional link to the HVA tool if the initial link does not work.
