SITUATION:
Coordinated Consulting Services (CCS) was hired in 2021 by the National Association of City and County Health Officials (NACCHO) for multi-year technical assistance consultant work for the “Addressing the Needs of People with Disabilities in COVID-19 Local Preparedness Planning, Mitigation, and Recovery Efforts Project.” CCS and NACCHO completed two consecutive project years which ran from January 2021 through December 2023. In addition to NACCHO, this project was conducted in conjunction with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Division of Human Development and Disability and the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO). The goal of the project was to provide funding and technical assistance to 21 local health departments to increase disability inclusion with emergency preparedness and response activities, particularly within the COVID-19 pandemic.
NEED:
In January of 2021, NACCHO issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) for a technical assistance consultant for the “Addressing the Needs of People with Disabilities in COVID-19 Local Preparedness Planning, Mitigation, and Recovery Efforts Project.” NACCHO’s consultant would engage with NACCHO staff and the awarded sites to provide tailored technical assistance on the inclusion of people with disabilities in emergency preparedness efforts, particularly within COVID-19 response activities. The local health departments were funded to embed disability specialists, who served as subject matter experts within those departments, in local public health emergency preparedness planning and response programs and update local emergency response plans to better serve the needs of people with disabilities during outbreaks, pandemics, and other national emergencies. NACCHO sought applications for an experienced consultant to provide tailored technical assistance to awardees throughout the project period.
SOLUTION:
Working with Arizona and local DAFN specialist, Gary Karp, CCS worked with 21 jurisdictions across the country and within U.S. territories to bolster their emergency preparedness programs and ensure those with DAFN are fully incorporated into planning, training, and exercises, including providing technical assistance on integrating DAFN into the culture of their organizations. The CCS team provided project management, technical assistance, facilitation, and training about how to better integrate the needs of people with DAFN into local emergency plans. CCS reviewed these 21 jurisdictions’ public health emergency preparedness plans, partnership and agency assessments, and improvement plans and provided direct technical guidance on ensuring plans and procedures are inclusive and reflective of a whole community approach. These jurisdictions included:
- Alexandria Health Department, VA
- Cameron County Public Health, TX
- Center for Living Independently in the CNMI
- City of Laredo Health Department, TX
- Franklin County Public Health, OH
- Harris County Public Health, TX
- Jefferson County Public Health, CO
- Kent County Health Department
- Kittitas County Public Health Department
- Long Beach Health and Human Services, CA
- Marion County Health & Human Services
- New Orleans Health Department
- Niagara County Department of Health, NY
- Philadelphia Department of Public Health
- Pima County Health Department
- Seattle King County Health Department
- Stanislaus County Health Services Agency, CA
- Three Rivers Health District
- Trumbull County Combined Health District, OH
- Utah County Health Department
- Williamson County and City Health District
OUTCOME:
By working with these 21 organizations integrating DAFN principles into their preparedness planning, CCS continues to gain this experience and industry standard knowledge at the national level. CCS understands the importance of creating a culture of inclusiveness and bringing organizations and people from the disability community to the preparedness table.
As evidence by end-of-project surveys for both project years, CCS:
- Received a “Very Helpful” rating from the majority of jurisdictions when asked to indicate the extent to which they found CCS support helpful with:
- Improvement plan feedback/recommendations
- Emergency plan written feedback/recommendations
- Resources shared
- Learning community calls that CCS led
- One-on-one technical assistance calls
- Received an “All the Time” rating from 95% of survey respondents when asking how of the CCS team displayed the following characteristics:
- Professionalism
- Supportiveness
- Responsiveness
- Knowledge (Subject Matter Expertise)
- Assisted awardees with plan updates to over 47 emergency preparedness and response plans.
- Provided technical guidance and feedback to the 21 jurisdictions resulting in a total number of 2,810,943 people with disabilities potentially reached.
