PUBLIC HEALTH PREPAREDNESS AND RESPONSE
Restoring Core Public Health Services
to Ensure Public Safety
By Chris Mangal, MPH, director, Public Health Preparedness and Response and Tyler Wolford, MS, manager, Emergency Preparedness and Response
assessments, the APHL team collaborated
with the Puerto Rico Department of
Health and CDC staff to create plans for
restoring testing services. This set the
stage for an elevated response to restore
core public health services in Puerto Rico
and other jurisdictions impacted by the
2017 hurricanes.
In December 2018, APHL was awarded a
$15.1 million cooperative agreement by
CDC to provide technical assistance for
response to public health crises in Puerto
Rico, the US Virgin Islands (USVI) and
Houston. Key APHL activities in these
jurisdictions include:
• human resource capacity building
• equipment and supply procurement
• training and travel support
• partnering with experts to develop
and implement systems, such a public
health data exchange.
Staff at the Puerto Rico Department of Health train on newly-acquired next generation sequencing instrumentation
More than two years have passed since
multiple hurricanes devastated the
Caribbean and parts of the southern
United States. In the US Virgin Islands
(USVI) and Puerto Rico, millions of people
were without power, clean water and
other basic necessities for months. In
parts of Florida, Louisiana and Texas,
mandatory evacuations and major
flooding forced people out of their homes
and into shelters. In the continental US,
essential public services, such as water
and power, were restored in a timely
manner. However, US territories in the
Caribbean posed unique challenges to
rebuilding the infrastructure. Even today,
work to restore essential public services
remains a priority.
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LAB MATTERS Winter 2020
Key Preparations
APHL responded to the storms even
before they hit. Following established
procedures, the association activated
its Incident Command Structure and
began hosting calls with members and
partners to prepare hurricane response
plans. Immediately after the hurricanes,
the US Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) and APHL sent a team
of experts to assess damage to six Puerto
Rican laboratories located across the
island. These laboratories deliver essential
public health testing services: evaluating
the quality of water and milk, detecting
pathogens causing contagious diseases
and supporting reference microbiology.
Puerto Rico needed them back in
operation as quickly as possible. After the
Due to the urgent jurisdictional needs
and shortened time frame of the
cooperative agreement, APHL has worked
across the organization to modify many
of its internal processes in order to
expedite contracting, procurement, and
human resources processes to speed up
completion of the activities.
Expanding and Developing the
Workforce
In an initial three-month surge, APHL
hired more than 30 staff to support Puerto
Rico and four staff to support USVI. To
date, 48 positions have been filled in
Puerto Rico and 13 in USVI, dramatically
increasing the jurisdictions’ capability and
capacity to provide essential public health
services. These services include, but
are not limited to, expanded laboratory
testing, improved epidemiological support
and an increase in immunization program
activities. APHL also facilitates travel for
territorial staff to key training courses and
national conferences to enhance their
knowledge and skills.
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