Region 7 Healthcare Coalition Pandemic Flu FEMA/CDC Virtual Tabletop Exercise

Members of the Region 7 HCC were able to participate in a nationwide public health focused video tabletop exercise (VTTX), held at Kirtland Community College in Roscommon, hosted by FEMA emergency management institute (EMI) and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) on October 28, 2014.  Disciplines present at the VTTX included: hospitals, health departments, long term care facilities, EMS and tribal representatives and was administered by the Region 7 HCC Regional Coordinator, Gary Rapelje RRT, MBA. 

Each of the Region 7 HCC members went through 3 different modules and then reported back their course of action to FEMA/CDC/ASPR and the rest of the participating sites.  The other sites participating were: Appleton Wisconsin, South East Idaho Public Health, West Point, DITRA (defense threat training agency in Washington D.C.), Cumberland County and the IRS.  EMI/FEMA, the CDC and ASPR were very impressed by the responses given by the Region 7 HCC multidisciplinary group saying that “We have unanimous agreement from all my colleagues here from the CDC and ASPR that the Michigan Region 7 Healthcare Coalition has put a lot of thought into planning and is well prepared with processes and triggers put in place to deal with a pandemic flu outbreak.”  The value of getting coalition members together  in person for  exercises was well demonstrated at this event and development of an after action review will be valuable to mitigating any identified gaps in planning and response.