Given recent events with COVID-19 and other threats, emergency management professionals know they need all the help they can get if their jurisdiction is going to prepare for, respond to, and recover from large-scale disasters.
Much of this help comes from the healthcare community, including area hospitals, clinics, public health agencies and emergency medical services (EMS). As such, there should be significant communication and collaboration between these organizations and local emergency management agencies, as well as cohesion of their Emergency Operations Plans (EOPs). Assistance from local, state and regional healthcare coalitions can help fill this critical gap.
A healthcare coalition (HCC), as defined in the HHS ASPR 2017-2022 Health Care Preparedness and Response Capabilities, is a group of individual healthcare and response organizations in a defined geographic location that play a critical role in developing healthcare system preparedness and response capabilities.
They reflect the unique needs and characteristics of local jurisdictions, and collaborate to ensure each member has what it needs to respond to emergencies and planned events, including medical equipment and supplies, real-time information, communication systems, and educated and trained health care perso