NYU’s Center for Catastrophe Preparedness & Response has been developing an agent-based disaster simulation model.
The tool is called Planning with Large Agent-Networks against Catastrophes (PLAN C). According to its web site, PLAN C is designed to help “emergency managers, urban planners and public health officials to prepare and evaluate Pareto-optimal plans to respond to urban catastrophic situations.”
The Pareto-optimal part of the description refers to its ability to search for plans that optimize multiple objectives, including the number of casualties, economic impact, and time to recovery. “In this context, planning can be seen as the problem of adjusting the controllable parameters in the interaction between different classes of agents (hospitals, persons, on-site responders, ambulances, etc.) and available resources, in order to moderate the negative consequences of a catastrophic event.”
The 40-page information package available online contains an overview brochure and copies of their publications, including applications to scenarios such as a sarin release, food poisoning, and a smallpox outbreak.
(Thanks to Rachel Abbey for the tip.)
The University of Maryland and the Montgomery County, Maryland, Advanced Practice Center for Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response are pleased to announce the release of a new version of eMedCheck.
This PDA-based software is designed for screening individuals at a hepatitis A vaccination clinic. The software asks questions about the patient’s medical history and determines whether the patient should be vaccinated. The software tracks the decisions made as well.
Tarrant County (Texas) Public Health tested this for us during a drive-through hepatitis A vaccination clinic on June 20, 2009. We appreciate their collaboration and feedback.
The CDC has a set of resources for planning vaccination clinics. These come from a message from CDC’s Division of State and Local Readiness.
U.S. 2009 H1N1 Vaccine Strategy, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. A graphical depiction of the predicted waves of the outbreak and the expected time frames for vaccine development, manufacturing, and distribution and administration.
Guidance on priority groups for allocating and targeting pandemic influenza vaccine. (Priority groups for H1N1 have yet to be determined.)
Software and tips to consider when you design your mass influenza vaccination clinic, Michael Washington, CDC, National Immunization Conference, 2007.
Tools to Assist with Vaccination Clinic Planning:
BERM Model.
Clinic Planning Model Generator.
Maxi-Vac.
CDC’s Vaccine Storage and Handling Toolkit.
Safety and Security at Mass Influenza Vaccination Clinics, Wisconsin Department of Health Services. An example of items that need consideration.
The journal IIE Transactions now has a homeland security department. This department intends to publish descriptions of research efforts that develop and test innovative operations research models and methodologies that can help organizations design better homeland security systems, including those for planning, prevention, response, and recovery.
For more information, please see the department web site.
CDC’s Emergency Operations Center is featured in a youTube video. The video interviews staff in the EOC’s team rooms, conference rooms, and other facilities and covers a range of activities, from planning and science to logistics and operations and communications.
Ed Pohl, Heather Nachtmann and Richard Cassady (all from the Mack-Blackwell Rural Transportation Center at the University of Arkansas) have developed a method for assessing the vulnerabilities of rural transportation networks. Unlike the USDOT’s complex approach, this approach uses AHP to identify the most critical assets for further assessment.
The approach first assesses the importance of about 20 factors (or attributes) and then evaluates different assets (airports, highways, dams, etc.) on the important factors. The assets that have the largest combined scores are the most critical.
You can find their report online at http://ww2.mackblackwell.org/web/research/ALL_RESEARCH_PROJECTS/2000s/2085/MBTC-2085.pdf.
When medications are delivered to organizations (e.g., businesses and universities) and these organizations in turn give medication to their staff (or students), the operation is a closed POD. (It is called “closed” because, unlike a traditional POD, it is not open to the public.)
The appropriate number of staff for a closed POD depends upon the activities and flow patterns that the closed POD will employ, the number of people to be served, and the timeframe for giving out medication.
POD planning models like the Clinic Planning Model Generator and RealOpt are available to help determine staffing requirements for closed PODs.
Kevin Callen and the folks at C2Logix would like to know about anyone who had any trouble accessing the SNS TourSolver portal in the last few weeks.
Also, if you used the Kitting Form or Vehicle Loading Form, they would like to get your feedback about the forms. Kevin Callen is at KCallen@C2Logix.com.
The NACCHO SNS webpage is featuring reports about alternative methods of dispensing, including home delivery, closed PODs, using community polling sites, and non-linear PODs.
The BBC News website has a world map showing the location and number of swine flu cases.
