One of the first activities of the Northwest Center for Evidence-Based Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response (NWPHEPR) was to create a steering committee made up of representatives working in public health emergency preparedness from Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Alaska and intertribal organizations. In its first year the steering committee met twice to provide guidance on NWPHEPR activities, including by identifying workforce capacity and leadership as the first priority focus area.
To support the development, implementation and evaluation of an evidence-based strategy or intervention to advance workforce capacity and leadership, the NWPHEPR formed a community of practice made up of regional members with experience or a vested interest in this topic. Through an iterative process and repeated meetings, the community of practice selected two regionally-appropriate evidence-based strategies and interventions: a Crisis Leadership Institute and mentorship program, and evaluation of the Health and Hazards Risk Decision Support (H2AZARDS) tool.
The NWPHEPR also established a tribal working group to identify tribal-specific priorities and adopt culturally relevant interventions or strategies. The tribal workgroup has prioritized the development of a tribal communications and engagement module in the Crisis Leadership Institute and the development of resources to guide the development of resilience hubs in tribal communities.
With guidance from its Steering Committee, the Northwest Center for Evidence-Based Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response (NWPHEPR) selected workforce capacity and leadership as its first primary focus area and formed a community of practice to identify regionally appropriate and evidence-based strategies and interventions for advancing these goals. The community of practice recommended a hybrid Crisis Leadership Institute and mentorship program.
In response, the NWPHEPR has designed a one-day Crisis Leadership Institute and subsequent mentorship program that will bring together partners from across Region 10 (Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Alaska) for training to enhance crisis leadership skills and increase the capacity for collaboration during a crisis. Its curriculum focuses on five domains outlined in a recent review titled Crisis Leadership: communicating, sensemaking, facilitating learning, decision-making and coordinating teamwork.
The Crisis Leadership Institute will also include an additional module on tribal communications and engagement recommended by the Tribal Working Group.
In its first year, the Crisis Leadership Institute will be tailored to and piloted by a group of regional partners from states, local health jurisdictions and Tribes who may work together in real-world crises. Robust evaluation of their experience will guide the design of future institutes.
The Crisis Leadership Institute will be held in September 2025 on the University of Washington Seattle campus. Afterwards participants will engage in monthly peer learning sessions, leveraging the ECHO Model, which provides “a continuous loop of learning mentoring, and peer support.”
In order to advance its “Assessing and Addressing Current Capabilities and Future Hazards” focus area, the NWPHEPR is undertaking an evaluation of the Health and Hazards Risk Decision Support (H2azaRDS) tool. The H2azaRDS tool is a web-based tool designed to help local health jurisdictions in Washington assess their readiness for emergencies such as earthquakes, wildfires and tsunamis in fulfillment of the jurisdictional risk assessment requirement of the Public Health Emergency Preparedness Cooperative Agreement. It was developed by the University of Washington’s Center for Disaster Resilient Communities for the Washington Department of Health. As the Washington Department of Health rolls out the H2azaRDS tool to local health departments in late 2025-2026, it presents a unique opportunity to leverage NWPHEPR’S capabilities to evaluate the tool’s impact on public health emergency preparedness and response in real time.
Read more about the development of the H2azaRDS tool by visiting the UW Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences’ website.
One of the first activities of the NWPHEPR’s Tribal Engagement team was to create a Tribal Working Group made up of representatives from Alaska, Washington, Oregon and Idaho who work for Tribes or Tribal organizations in emergency planning or response.
The Tribal Working Group selected two interventions for implementation in the NWPHEPR’s inaugural year. The first was to add a Tribal module to the Crisis Leadership Institute. This module will be a 50-minute overview for non-Tribal partners on how to successfully collaborate with Tribes and create critical partnerships before a crisis occurs. The Tribal Working Group is invited to attend the Crisis Leadership Institute to provide feedback on the module and evaluate the potential to adapt the Crisis Leadership Institute for tribal audiences.
The second intervention is to create a resilience hub template that could be adapted for diverse Indigenous populations. Many Tribes have some version of a resilience hub, whether it be a senior center, school or recreation center that serves as a central meeting place in the event of a crisis. The goal for the template is to create a checklist of resources matched to community needs and priorities that could be used to outfit the meeting location to best serve the needs of the community during and after a disaster. During its first year NWPHEPR hopes to pilot the template with one or two Tribes and make adaptations as needed.