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�About the NetworkStacy Parizek�Response Operations Manager�

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About the Northwest Healthcare Response Network

501C3 Non-Profit Healthcare Coalition

Funded by the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR), DOH and donations from healthcare partners.

Participation in healthcare coalitions are requirements of both the Hospital Preparedness Program (HPP) and the Public Health Emergency Preparedness Program (PHEP), and now they also help fulfill the requirements of the CMS Emergency Preparedness Rule.

The Northwest Healthcare Response Network serves the role of the healthcare coalition for Western Washington.

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About the Northwest Healthcare Response Network

The Northwest Healthcare Response Network (NWHRN) has a unique and vital role in disaster planning, response and recovery: We are a backbone organization that leads a coalition of health care organizations, public health leaders and emergency response partners to ensure communities across our state can get needed healthcare services during emergencies and disasters. This is the heart of our mission during any kind of crisis.

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What we do – High Level Overview

Develop innovative solutions to sustain patient care during crises. 

Ensure a shared awareness of the status of healthcare in Washington state to inform decision making.

Provide real time support to healthcare to effectively manage crises. 

Build healthcare resiliency strategy through policy and advocacy.

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What we do – Examples

  • Washington State Healthcare Situational Awareness Brief
  • WATrac capacity, alerting and tracking
  • Healthcare data collection and analysis
  • Hazard Vulnerability Assessments
  • Various daily situational awareness products
  • Interagency planning and coordination
  • Washington Medical Coordination Center (WMCC) data tracking and coordination
  • 24/7 Duty Officer
  • Multi-agency healthcare response coordination across region & state
  • Mutual Aid and other resource support

  • Serve as healthcare liaison to support ESF8/Health and Medical
  • Patient tracking for MCI’s evacuations etc.
  • Healthcare Emergency Coordination Center (HECC) Operations
  • Surge strategies
  • Scarce resource management strategies for patient care
  • Patient load balancing strategies
  • Development of mass casualty response strategies
  • Training drills & exercises
  • Tip sheets (available on our website)
  • After action reporting and improvement action planning

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Our Regional Response Work Over The Years

  • COVID pandemic
  • “Triple-demic” respiratory season response
  • Heat dome/heatwave
  • Wildfires
  • Floods
  • Snowstorms and extreme cold
  • Healthcare Surge
  • Civil Unrest
  • Cyber attacks
  • Facility Evacuations
  • Pediatric Surge
  • Patient Tracking
    • Duck Boat Crash
    • Amtrack Train Derailment
    • Montesano Fire Evacuation

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Engagement at all levels

We plan, engage, train, exercise, coordinate, and advocate at all levels:

  • Working directly with healthcare providers, organizations, systems at the local community, regional and statewide level; also inter-state collaboration and planning on certain topics (patient movement, pediatric disaster response, emerging infectious disease and special pathogens, burn, etc
  • Local and state public health, emergency management, public safety, associations and other public, private, academic and non-profit partners
  • Examples of Federal Partners we work with: ASPR, CDC, FEMA, NOAA, etc

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Response Operations

The Network takes an all-hazards approach to response, we respond to large scale MCI’s usually at the request of the DMCC and to events at the request of healthcare partners that aren’t necessarily MCI’s such as large-scale evacuations, healthcare surges, disease outbreaks, etc. Our response operations operate in a virtual space we refer to as the HECC or Healthcare Emergency Coordination Center.

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Response Operations

We activate our Healthcare Emergency Coordination Center or (HECC) for a variety of different reasons. If support is needed for an incident, we activate the HECC to provide healthcare coordination and support.  That support is sometimes in the form of information gathering and dissemination providing situational awareness for our partners, agency coordination for the purpose of solving an emergent situation, healthcare notification for MCI’s, resource coordination, patient tracking or resource requesting. 

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Communications Capabilities

  • Internet / Cellular Based
    • WATrac messaging
    • Alert Media (similar to Everbridge)
      • Text
      • Voice
      • Email
    • Email
    • Voice (cellular)
    • WPS (Wireless Priority Service)
    • GETS (Government Emergency Telecommunications Service)

  • Non-Internet Based
    • We work with each county to establish what the redundant strategies will be used during emergencies.
    • We are currently exploring internal communications options to be able to continue to support healthcare during any disaster that disrupts normal means of communications.

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Communications Capabilities

Healthcare is bigger than just a single county. Our role is regional messaging and coordination of healthcare interdependencies and strategies for patient care, staffing, patient tracking and patient transfers. Individual counties often lack awareness of what’s going on in other counties during widespread events such as healthcare surges, disease outbreaks, etc. We help create a common operating picture and bring these agencies together during a crisis.