With the help of regional planning workgroups, AzCHER annually updates two major plans: the Emergency Preparedness Plan and the Emergency Response Plan. The Coalition met its overall goal to have representation from each core member type (hospital/healthcare, public health, emergency management, and EMS) and aligned AzCHER plans with member plans.
Preparedness Plan
The Statewide Planning Manager updated the Preparedness Plan as outlined by the ASPR TRACIE plan template. General membership reviewed and approved the plan on May 31, 2022, with 100% approval. Four regional planning workgroups were convened to provide input on the development of the Preparedness Plan. The workgroups were representative of AzCHER general membership and included representatives from each of the core member types. Key Emergency Preparedness Plan elements were presented to each regional General Body meeting in June. Highlighted were the purpose and scope of the plan, an overview of the coalition including risks and gap analysis, coalition objectives, and the work plan.
Response Plan
The Statewide Planning Manager updated the Response Plan as outlined by the ASPR TRACIE plan template and incorporated improvement plan items gained from the real-world COVID-19 response and other AzCHER exercises. General membership reviewed and approved the plan on May 31, 2022, with 100% approval. Four regional planning workgroups were convened to provide input on the development of the Response Plan, especially reviewing the Communications Pathways and Resource Sharing Process. The workgroups were representative of AzCHER general membership and included representatives from each of the core member types. The Response Plan was updated to include improvement plan (IP) items from the AzCHER burn surge table-top exercise. The following IP items were added to the Response Plan (as related to medical surge): more clearly defined response roles and responsibilities for the Coalition and its members, information about the Arizona Surge Line and Post-Acute Care Capacity Tracking Tool (PACCT), additional considerations for long-term care facility decompression, and a clear flowchart of resource requests to support evacuation and medical surge activities. The Response Plan includes updated activation level triggers/notifications to highlight when healthcare facility-level surge plans may or may not be activated. The activation level triggers/notifications are applied to the incident-specific annexes for infectious disease surge and pediatric surge.