Inside the Healthcare & First Responder Environments

Before launching the King County Healthcare Coalition, Public Health assessed the County environment as well as what was working in preparedness and response in the region. In addition to assessing the key considerations described in the Assessing the Current Landscape section, Public Health also conducted in person interviews with key healthcare leaders in the community to assess their level of interest in the project and their willingness to get involved. These key informant interviews were an important vehicle to obtain information as well as continue or begin the relationship building process with key stakeholders.

The interviews followed a Key Informant Interview Guide and opened up dialogue about:

• Pandemic flu planning and the implications for the health system
• Perceptions of the current structure for emergency response
• The role of Public Health in healthcare response
• The need for healthcare surge planning
• Ideal venues/meetings/groups that addressed common problems across the health system
• Perceptions on the need for a new structure and joint planning efforts

Inside the Healthcare and First Responder Environment

First Responders such as Emergency Medical Services, Fire and Police have the daily expertise of crisis response and are very operationally oriented. Like Healthcare, first responders are less consensus driven and operate under a pre-defined chain of command. First Responders have a clear understanding of NIMS and ICS, making these agencies perfect partners for a Healthcare coalition.

It is important to engage first responders early in the process to help clarify how this work will interface with the established relationships that first responders already have with hospitals, especially emergency rooms. It is important to demonstrate how this work compliments the existing emergency response system by helping provider organizations accommodate large volumes of patients that exceed their normal capacity.

Private healthcare agencies differ from Public Health. Public health focuses on population based strategies and traditionally is consensus driven. Healthcare agencies operate in a competitive market and it is important for Public Health to be clear on the best approach for working in this environment.

We recommend that your team "go to school" on healthcare organizations. Have a clear understanding of the organizational purpose, its history and its relationship to Public Health as well as to other community organizations. It may be helpful to conduct a number of key informant interviews to obtain this information.

Learn how healthcare executives in your area solve problems and work together in their community across organizational boundaries. Understand how the community's healthcare leaders view the role that Public Health has played and can play in facilitating coordinated emergency planning and response. Be sure to document specific examples of successful collaboration and joint planning that can serve as a model for cooperating around disaster planning.

Learn how emergency preparedness fits inside each of the healthcare organizations. Are senior leaders providing oversight? Is a member of the senior management team responsible or has responsibility been delegated to mid-management? It is important to know who the internal key decision makers are for emergency planning.

First responders such as Emergency Medical Services, Fire and Police have the daily expertise of crisis response and are very operationally oriented. Like healthcare, first responders are less consensus driven and operate under a predefined chain of command. First responders have a clear understanding of NIMS and ICS, making these agencies perfect partners for a healthcare coalition.

It is important to engage first responders early in the process to help clarify how this work will interface with the established relationships that first responders already have with hospitals, especially emergency rooms. It is important to demonstrate how this work complements the existing emergency response system by helping provider organizations accommodate large volumes of patients that exceed their normal capacity.

We recommend that your team "go to school" on your local first responder agencies. Have a clear understanding of the organizational purpose, its history and its relationship to Public Health as well as to other community organizations. It may be helpful to conduct a number of key informant interviews to obtain this information.