Category: Northwest Center for Evidence-Based Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response

Brenda Mason joined Idaho’s South Central Public Health District in 2019, shortly before COVID hit. “It was crazy,” said Mason. “We had about six months for me to really settle in and understand my role before everything shifted,” said Mason. “It changed quickly, and I had to adapt just as fast, but it gave me a new perspective on the work and the importance of staying flexible.” Long-term care in the region was hit hard. At first patients with COVID…

The FIFA (International Association of Federation Football) World Cup soccer games are considered the biggest sporting event on the planet. FIFA projects that five million people will watch the 2026 games live while a total of six billion tune in globally. As one of 16 North American cities to host the games, Seattle is expected to receive 750,000 visitors for the event, almost doubling Seattle’s 2022 estimated population size of 762,500. From a public health emergency preparedness perspective, that’s a…

The University of Washington’s Northwest Center for Evidence‑Based Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response (NWPHEPR) is working with communities across FEMA Region 10—Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and 272 Tribal nations—to strengthen disaster resilience across the Pacific Northwest. Led by UW School of Public Health faculty and funded by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the Center brings together Tribal partners, state and local health departments, health care coalitions and researchers to bridge the gap between practice and research and…

“At the end of the day, public health requires trust to get anything done,” said Tara Kirk Sell (pictured), associate professor in the Department of Environmental Health and Engineering at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Senior Scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. “If you want people to take protective actions, to do the permitting, have the health inspection of the restaurant, follow guidance for septic systems or other environmental hazards, you need people…

Eva Edwards brings more than four decades of professional experience to her position as Emergency Preparedness Coordinator for the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, including more than 15 years in emergency management. Everything she has done is grounded in a lifetime of service to Alaska Native organizations and communities. Before entering the emergency management field, she spent many years working in a wide range of roles supporting Alaska Native people across the state after having grown up in Alaska herself….

“Mentorship and peer learning are like the holy grails of adult learning and public health training,” according to Kevin deVoss (pictured), an adult education specialist who helps lead the Dissemination Core of the Northwest Center for Evidence-Based Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response (NWPHEPR) with Betty Bekemeier, Associate Director of the Dissemination Core. Bekemeier and deVoss have worked together for many years with the team at the Northwest Center for Public Health Practice (NWCPHP) to provide training for public health…

For Gabby Hadly (pictured), Manager of Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response at the Snohomish County Health Department, readiness is both personal and professional. “I’ve always been drawn to preparedness. The first Christmas present I remember asking for as a child was a fire escape ladder,” she said with a laugh. Today, Hadly leads countywide efforts to prepare for and respond to emergencies that impact community health. She approaches this challenge by building partnerships that bring plans and processes to…

The inaugural Crisis Leadership Institute was developed using effective practices from peer-reviewed literature On September 8, 2025, 16 regional partners from state agencies, local health jurisdictions, and Tribal nations convened at the University of Washington’s Seattle campus for the inaugural Crisis Leadership Institute, hosted by the Northwest Center for Evidence-Based Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response (NWPHEPR). During disasters and public health emergencies — from pandemics to earthquakes — effective leadership is essential for crisis resolution. The goal of the…

More than 100 representatives from states, Tribes and local health jurisdictions shared expertise in a two-day conference in Seattle On September 9th and 10, 2025, the Northwest Center for Evidence-Based Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response (NWPHEPR) and the Center for Disaster Resilient Communities (CDRC) hosted the inaugural Northwest Preparedness and Resilience Conference. The event brought together public health practitioners from across the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Region 10 — which is made up of Oregon, Washington,…

September is Preparedness Month. As part of the month’s activities, the Northwest Center for Evidence-Based Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response (NWPHEPR) – which is housed in the Center for Disaster Resilient Communities – will be holding a two-day in-person conference on the University of Washington’s Seattle Campus. The NWPHEPR regional conference will feature speakers and sessions based on regional public health preparedness topics, including workforce and communications. Conference participants will have opportunities to share and learn from peers across…