HEALTHCARE COUNCIL OF THE NATIONAL CAPITAL AREA MEDICAL PREPAREDNESS AND RESPONSE RESOURCE CENTER PROJECT

Problem:

The agencies of the United States federal government are working to assist State governments, including Metropolitan areas, prepare for and properly respond to potential natural disasters as well as bioterrorism and/or pandemic events. Because of the complexities associated with regional/state/county/community jurisdictions, legislative and policy requirements, the fifty (50) major metropolitan communities have the most difficulty preparing for as well as responding to these events. Of the fifty, the Greater Washington, DC area is of highest importance and also presents some of the most difficult planning and response issues because of the richness of government agency targets and its geographically limited egress.

Solution:

The Healthcare Council of the National Capital Area (HCNCA) and the region’s health providers from the Greater Washington, DC area propose 1) a regional assessment phase; 2) regional solution set design; 3) regional solution set advanced implementation and creating a remote but proximal Medical Preparedness and Response Resource Center (MPRRC) as a public/private partnership. This HCNCA MPRRC would create a shared resource for the health providers that would train, assist, augment and educate through stimulation exercises the hospitals, allied health facilities and their medical professionals along the Greater Washington DC corridor from Northern Virginia through the District of Columbia to Baltimore for immunization programs to natural disasters to bioterrorism events to pandemic catastrophes. HCNCA is a highly respected 501(c) (3), sixty two (62) year old organization. With the primary mission of HCNCA being education, it is the perfect neutral party organization to develop a program for its members and others to utilize the National Capital Area Medical Preparedness and Response Resource Center capabilities.

HCNCA has a long history of coordinating activities with national, local, regional and state associations and will seek assistance and cooperation from all to avoid duplication of effort and enhance objectives.

HCNCA has chosen Intelaform, Inc. to coordinate their HCNCA MPRRC project planning and coordination activities while integrating “best in breed” subcontractors. HCNCA-MPRRC will provide a shared resource for the region’s health facilities to prepare for such emergencies through a remote facility professionally managed and operated. This

HCNCA-MPRRC proposal will establish training and education on the events and catastrophes that the first responders and medical teams must prepare for and respond to in such shared resource to use in such emergencies but also to augment the region’s current capabilities and utilized during natural disasters, bioterrorism events or pandemic outbreaks through proposed grants.

Funding Requests:

The total cost for this project is detailed in the completed, unsolicited proposal and will be spread over a 4 – 5 year period. One third of the first year funds will be required initially to finance the hardware/software and personnel to initiate the start of the project. The second third will be required to finance the implementation of Medical Teams, First Responder Teams, Emergency Care Teams and Volunteer Preparedness systems. Finally, the remaining funds will be required to finance training and the stimulation of the work data flow in the Medical Preparedness and Resource Center and to sustain the systems in the first year as operational functionality established.

Return on Investment:

This HCNCA Medical Preparedness and Response Center will provide significant “shared resources” to the majority of health facilities in the Greater Washington, DC area as well as a coordination of all the region’s first responders. It is extrapolated that the cost individually of such a resource center would be twenty to thirty times the cost of this shared resource. This project could serve as a mode for the other 50 largest metropolitan communities and could potentially be expanded to support those communities as well with the shared resources.