Nine members from the Northwest Health Services Coalition traveled to Anniston, Alabama and attended the Healthcare Coalition Response Leadership Course January 6-10. Local leaders from healthcare, public health, EMS and Emergency Management represented NW Minnesota and include: Carrie Bergquist (Regional Healthcare Preparedness Coordinator for the coalition), Angie Salentiney (Infection Prevention, RiverView Health-Crookston), Jim Aagenes (EMS Manager and Emergency Preparedness Coordinator-Sanford in Bagley), Josh Johnston (Marshall County Emergency Manager Director), Cynthia Borgen (Beltrami County Public Heath Director), Jill Hasbargen Olson (Lake Of The Woods County Emergency Manager Director), Jenny Loughrey (RN-CHI-LakeWood Health in Baudette), Christine Ostrom (Indian Health Service-Red Lake) and Tom Vanderwal (Executive Director-Greater Northwest EMS).
The Healthcare Coalition Response Leadership Course (HCRL) is based on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Healthcare System and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Public Health Preparedness Capabilities, as well as best-practice procedures for healthcare-coalition building, preparedness, response, and recovery. The course provides instruction and facilitated discussion in best practices and lessons learned in establishing an effective healthcare-coalition framework and conducting healthcare-coalition planning, as well as and achieving preparedness. The course provides instruction on the development of indicators, triggers, and tactics for proactive coalition planning; and approaches techniques, and instruction on the considerations for healthcare coalition response and recovery leadership. The course also provides extensive practical experience in healthcare coalition leadership team response through a series of progressive exercises designed to emulate realistic community and regional public health and medical emergencies.
This training, offered by the Center for Domestic Preparedness (CDP), is in Anniston, AL. The CDP is operated by the United States Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency and is the only federally-chartered Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) training facility in the nation.
