The Emergency Medical Services for Children collaborations for Pediatric Disaster Preparedness Speaker Elizabeth Edgerton, MD, MPH Director, Division of Child, Adolescent and Family Health Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB) Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)

Objective: Provide an overview of the partnerships and collaboration and the need for the project. Discuss potential intersections with the EMS for Children Program (EMSC)

Mission of EMSC The EMS for Children Program addresses the entire continuum of pediatric emergency services, from injury prevention and EMS access through out-of-hospital and emergency department care, intensive care, rehabilitation and reintegration into the community Senator Inouye

Unique factors of Children

Where children are being cared for day to day

But when disaster occurs…. This is the framework for our collaborations around disaster preparedness

Disaster Plan Addresses Issues Specific to the Care of Children Need for Pediatric Considerations in Disaster Planning

Barriers to Guidelines Implementation Cost of personnel Cost of training Lack of trained MDs Lack of trained RNs Lack of Admin support Lack of policies in peds emergency care Lack of peds QI plan Lack of interest in meeting guidelines Other Lack of educational resources Lack of disaster planning for children 54%

Benefits of Pediatric Readiness Globally-reduces the unevenness of pediatric emergency care by creating a foundation for all Eds State level: Disaster Preparedness Improves day-to-day readiness of an ED which increases the likelihood that it will be prepared for a disaster Provides an opportunity for children to be better integrated into overall state disaster plans The assessment will ask if the facility’s disaster plan addresses issues specific to the care of children Online toolkit will have example ED disaster preparedness policies that incorporate the needs of children

Collaboration Enhances Planning Increases Integration Improves Infrastructure Rely on each other’s expertise

Program Planning and Evaluation Consider both HPP and EMSC performance measures as well as results from the National Pediatric Readiness Assessment when developing local disaster preparedness and evaluation plans EMSC Intersections at the State and Local Level

Establishing Collaborative Partnerships Expand local partnerships to include: stakeholders key to both local healthcare coalitions and EMSC programs, specifically points of contact within State Health Departments and Schools of Medicine, to jointly develop and evaluate pediatric disaster plans as well as support each others’ programs

Next steps Access resources National Library of Medicine Research best practice case studies to improve coordination and delivery Let us know how we can improve Sharing lessons learned at all levels

Questions After the webcast, you may send additional questions to: Elizabeth Edgerton at

Thank You To our audience for joining the webcast To our partners at ASPR, NLM, and the NRC