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Center for Disaster Resilient Communities

Enhancing public health preparedness and response

Project leadership team (left to right): Nicole Errett (director), Resham Patel (deputy director), Betty Bekemeier (outreach and engagement task lead), Melino Gianotti (tribal task co-lead), Tania Busch Isaksen (tribal task co-lead), Youngjun Choe (data task lead).

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention contracted with the University of Washington Center for Disaster Resilient Communities in September 2023 to lead the development of a work plan for a regional public health emergency preparedness and response center that will help prepare the Northwest for disasters and emergencies.

The UW will convene partners across Washington, Alaska, Idaho and Oregon to:

  1. Develop a work plan for a Region 10 (i.e., Alaska, Idaho, Oregon and Washington) Center for Public Health Preparedness and Response to improve the uptake of evidence-informed and evidence-based strategies and interventions in public health emergency preparedness and response (PHEPR) practice among state, tribal, local and territorial public health agencies and their partners.
  2. Create a distinct work plan to improve PHEPR evidence-informed and evidence-based strategies and interventions uptake aligned with Region 10 tribal communities’ priorities, especially important and regionally relevant as Region 10 has the greatest number of federally recognized tribes (271) of all Health and Human Services (HHS) regions.
  3. Establish plans and processes to develop a regional data ecosystem model that supports PHEPR evidence-informed and evidence-based strategies and interventions development and implementation.

Across the three key activities, approximately 60 partners from the region with PHEPR expertise were selected to participate in two coordinating bodies and a community of practice to lead the identification of focus areas and priorities for a future regional PHEPR center.

Share your expertise! The UW will host two listening sessions on February 12 and 21, 2024 that are open to PHEPR professionals in the region, and will further allow the work plan to be inclusive of regional partners’ priorities for improving PHEPR practice. Visit our news page for more information regarding how to share your expertise and participate in envisioning a future Region 10 PHEPR center.

Learn more about this project by visiting the UW News website.