Prepared Together: Using Agreements and Partnerships to Strengthen Emergency Laboratory Capacity

Laboratory capability is an important aspect of public health emergency preparedness and response. Effective lab testing is critical to successfully detect and understand different public health threats during public health emergencies. Join ASTHO and APHL for a webinar highlighting how health agencies can coordinate with public health laboratories to support emergency response.

In this session, representatives from Utah and Alaska will share examples of how they have used partnerships and mutual aid agreements to support laboratory capacity during emergencies. Participants will learn unique strategies and gain ideas for how they might implement similar agreements or partnerships in their jurisdictions.

Objectives:

• Demonstrate ways public health emergency preparedness staff and public health laboratories can collaborate through examples of recent emergency responses.
• Illustrate strategies for how jurisdictions can work together to support preparedness and response capabilities.
• To summarize lessons learned from partnerships and mutual aid agreements between jurisdictions.

Speakers:

• Jay Fiedler, M.S., Director, Bureau of Emergency Preparedness, EMS, and Systems of Care, Michigan Department of Health & Human Services
• Nathan Wormington, Director of Public Health Preparedness, State of Alaska Department of Health
• Nicholas Crosby, Safety Officer, State of Utah Public Health Laboratory
• Kimberly Christensen, Deputy Chief of Infectious Disease, Utah Department of Health