287068
East harlem emergency preparedness collaborative (EHEPC): A community-led initiative to enhance organizational preparedness and community readiness for a public health emergency among community service provider organizations in east harlem, New York City
Tuesday, November 5, 2013
: 3:30 p.m. - 3:50 p.m.
Eric Canales,
Human Services Consortium of East Harlem, Inc, New York, NY
Mali Trilla,
East Harlem Community Health Committee, Inc, New York, NY
Carol Johnson,
East Harlem Community Emergency Response Team, New York, NY
Lew Zuckman,
Human Services Consortium of East Harlem, Inc, New York, NY
Ingrid Gonzalez, LMSW,
Community Resilience & Recovery Planning Office of Emergency Preparedness and Response, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Long Island City, NY
Since 2001, the federal government has invested billion dollars to increase the ability of our nation's cities, communities, and neighborhoods to prepare for and respond to public health emergencies and disasters. However, the literature shows limited participation of community organizations located in vulnerable and minority communities engaged in formal emergency preparedness efforts. And, although these community organizations express interest in collaborative emergency planning activities, many perceive individual, institutional, and organizational barriers. This notion is relevant for community organizations located in East Harlem, New York City, a vulnerable and minority neighborhood. Findings from two recent community-based research studies conducted by three East Harlem community coalitions comprised of community service provider organizations, community leaders, and residents revealed that coalition members are: 1) ill-prepared; 2) not engaged or invited to participate in disaster planning and management activities of formal emergency preparedness efforts and; 3) experience a low level of readiness and resources to conduct organizational and community-wide planning, and coordination to prepare and respond to a public health emergency. With the goal to translate these findings into action, the EHEPC was established, without external funding, and includes representatives from the three community coalitions, the New York City Department of Mental Health Office of Emergency Preparedness and Response, and the East Harlem Community Emergency Response Team. The EHEPC will test a new participative leadership structure to increase East Harlem's ability to prepare for, respond to, and recover from a public health emergency by integrating the planning, coordination, and implementation processes of its respective members.
Learning Areas:
Administration, management, leadership
Communication and informatics
Other professions or practice related to public health
Systems thinking models (conceptual and theoretical models), applications related to public health
Learning Objectives:
List strategies used to translate research findings to action at the community level
Define critical factors and strategies used to sustain a collaborative comprised of community leaders and emergency management officials
Discuss promising practices and lessons learned from enhancing organizational preparedness and community readiness for a public health emergency among community service provider organizations
Keyword(s): Community Collaboration, Planning
Presenting author's disclosure statement:Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have been both the principal and co-principal investigators of the community based research studies cited in this abstract. I maintain over 13 years of community health advocacy work in East Harlem.
Any relevant financial relationships? No
I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines,
and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed
in my presentation.
