Community Hazard Vulnerability Assessment

Statewide Community Hazard Vulnerability Assessment and Resource Gap Analysis

The Arizona Coalition for Healthcare Emergency Response (AzCHER) conducted Statewide Community Hazard Vulnerability Assessment (CHVA) and Resource Gap Analysis (RGA) from October 2020 to January 2021 to identify the healthcare coalition’s most significant risks. The CHVA/RGA process is an analysis of capacities and capabilities to address a medical surge and is intended to determine resource needs and gaps. Subsequently, the 2020-21 CHVA/RGA results inform AzCHER’s preparedness priorities in training, exercising, and planning.

AzCHER Community Hazard Vulnerability List 2020-21

Statewide Top 5 Hazards:

  1. Epidemic/Pandemic
  2. Temperature Extremes
  3. Communication/Information Technology (IT) Failure
  4. Active Shooter/Weapon
  5. Power Outage
    .

List of Multi-Regional Hazards:

  • Infectious Disease Outbreak
  • Flood (Internal)
  • Natural Disasters/Severe Weather
  • Supply Chain Shortage/Failure
  • Evacuation/Shelter in Place
  • Wildfire
AzCHER Top Gaps in Planning and Resources

Statewide Planning Gaps:

  • Hospital Pediatric Mass Casualty Incident Plan
  • Hospital Closed Point of Dispensing Plan
  • Long-term Care Continuity of Operations Plan
  • Surge Capacity Planning

Statewide Resource Gaps:

  • Pediatric Evacuation Equipment
  • Bio-hoods and PAPR Kits
  • Hospital Patient Redress Kits/Dry Decon Kits
  • Public Health Mass Mortuary Equipment

Member-Driven Process at the Regional Level

The objective of the CHVA/RGA is to represent the whole community and the collective needs through a member-driven process. Members were asked to report on their facility HVA results, recent emergency activations, current organizational plans, and resource inventory, through a survey. Regional work groups led the process of identifying and prioritizing the likely hazards the region could face and discussed any gaps in resources. These often overlapped with the hazards that members identified in their facility HVAs, but the work groups also considered statewide resources, public health statistics, and county hazard mitigation plans. The work groups produced a coalition-specific risk and resource assessment by voting on the survey results. The vulnerabilities and resource gaps were sorted and prioritized, considering the likeliness to result in a coalition response. Generally, work groups removed facility-specific vulnerabilities to focus on community-wide risks and resource gaps. Across the state, the CHVA/RGA process engaged 243 members of the general body and four CHVA/RGA work groups from each of AzCHER’s regions. Each of the four AzCHER regions (Central, Northern, Southern, Western) identified their top five hazard vulnerabilities and prioritized gaps in plan elements and assets, which were then aggregated into a consolidated report that delineates the most pressing concerns facing the Arizona’s healthcare delivery system.

Download AzCHER's 2020-2021 CHVA/RGA Report