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Board reviews pandemic and lab-transport plans; director to streamline lengthy pandemic plan
Summary
Public health staff said the all-hazards laboratory transport plan has been updated and is ready for signatures; the pandemic-influenza and communicable-disease response plan is workable but lengthy and will be condensed with state help to produce a quick-reference promulgation page for FEP grant deliverables.
Ruby Taylor, Broadwater County public health director, briefed the board on two preparedness documents: the all-hazards laboratory transport plan checklist and the pandemic influenza and communicable disease response plan.
Taylor said she updated the laboratory transport plan last year to include photos of sample kits, descriptions, locations, protocols and contact information for the Montana Public Health Laboratory. "That plan is Primo. Very happy with it," she told the board, and she said she had no concerns with the laboratory plan.
On the pandemic-influenza and communicable-disease response plan, Taylor told the board the current documents are long (she referenced lengths of roughly 55 and 48 pages) and contain demographic sections that are out of date. She said the state’s FEP staff offered to assist and that she intends to streamline the plan into a shorter, user-friendly template with a one-page quick reference or appendix so responders can locate critical information quickly during a response. Taylor said the board’s annual review and signature on the promulgation page are needed for her FEP grant deliverable and that the state already knows the plan requires work.
Taylor proposed beginning the revision work in the first quarter of the next fiscal year and to collaborate with state personnel to produce a condensed plan the board can easily review; she expects to bring drafts to the board for feedback. She also discussed tabletop exercises and training options the state and partners offer — including mass-vaccination (point-of-dispensing) exercises and other scenario-based tabletops — and suggested the board consider joining or hosting one of those exercises in coordination with LEPC and DES.
Board members agreed the plan should be simplified and supported a schedule to begin revision and training exercises. Taylor said she would coordinate with state staff, bring revisions to the board for review and ensure the promulgation page is signed for FEP reporting requirements.
No formal policy changes were adopted at the meeting; the item was an operational review and scheduling plan for future work.
