The purpose of Public Health Emergency Preparedness (PHEP) Advisory Committee is to provide policy, program, and resource allocation recommendations to the State of Wisconsin Public Health Emergency Preparedness Program to assure that Wisconsin is prepared to effectively and efficiently prevent, detect and report, investigate, control, and recover from public health emergencies. The charge to this committee is to make recommendations to the Public Health Council on priorities and strategies to achieve public health emergency preparedness goals in Wisconsin.

The Public Health Council was created by 2003 Wisconsin Act 186 (Wis. Stat. §15.197[13]). By statute, the Council’s purpose is to advise the Department of Health Services, the Governor, the Legislature and the public on progress in implementing the state’s 10-year public health plan and coordination of responses to public health emergencies.

Meeting Facilitator: Brian Kaczmarski

Meeting Recorder: Hannah Sorensen

Time:

Topic:

Notes/Follow-up:

10:00AM

Welcome and Roll Call (Kaczmarski)

Walk-on agenda items

Present:

Absent:

10:10AM

PHEP Advisory Committee Business:

1. Opportunity for public comment (Kaczmarski)
2. WI Public Health and Healthcare Preparedness Update
   1. Public Health Council Initiatives (Kaczmarski)
      1. Subcommittees
      2. Process for elevating issues
      3. How do we define preparedness?
      4. Action-oriented
   2. Hospital Preparedness Program (HPP) Healthcare Emergency Readiness Coalition (HERC) Advisory Group Initiatives (Kaczmarski)
      1. Mid-year progress report
      2. Outlook for remainder of BP4 (7/1/22 – 6/30/23) deliverables
      3. Upcoming exercises
      4. Vacant coordinator positions
      5. Strategic plan update
   3. Healthcare Associated Infection Workgroup Initiatives (Kaczmarski)
      1. Summary of key activities from most recent HAI workgroup meeting
   4. Other relevant initiatives (Kaczmarski)
      1. Alverno College/OPPA/OPEHC Collaborative Project - Best Practices for the Role of Public Health Nurses in Emergency Preparedness
      2. 2024 Republican National Convention (RNC) preparations
      3. Other?
   5. Opportunities for Alignment (Kaczmarski)
      1. Integrated Preparedness Plan (IPP)
      2. Future opportunity (integrated exercise cycle)
      3. Local and Tribal PHEP self-directed deliverables
      4. Other?
3. PHEP Discussion (Sorensen)
   1. PHEP Program Overview Training provided in October 2022
   2. PHEP 2023-2024 Capabilities Planning Guide Assessment and Funding Application
   3. PHEP 2022-2023 Deliverables
      1. Modified Operational Readiness Review reporting requirements
      2. PHEP Plan work group
      3. Local and Tribal Capabilities Support position
      4. Local and Tribal self-directed deliverables
4. Discuss opportunities for embedding equity (Lee)
   1. Public Health Council Special Session
      1. Subcommittee interest in future training opportunities
   2. PHEP subcommittee member discussion
   3. Wisconsin State Health Improvement Plan (SHIP) 2023 - 2027
   4. 2023 Governor’s Health Equity Council Report
5. Items for referral to Public Health Council, as necessary (Kaczmarski)
   1. PHEP Subcommittee member discussion
6. Other items for discussion (Kaczmarski/Sorensen)
   1. Workforce development (focus on new preparedness staff)
   2. Process for filling vacancies (alignment with other DHS boards and councils)

• The Division of Public Health is recruiting the Hospital Preparedness Program (HPP) Coordinator, within the Office of Preparedness and Emergency Health Care (OPEHC). The HPP Coordinator will provide statewide guidance and leadership managing the HPP grant and serve as the primary liaison with the healthcare emergency readiness coalitions (HERCs) throughout Wisconsin. This position may be located at one of the five regional offices. The deadline to apply is Thursday, February 16, 2023 at 11:59 p.m. See the posting for full details.

• February 7-9, RNC Integrated Preparedness Planning Workshop taking place in West Allis
• Participants include Wisconsin Department of Health Services (WI DHS), Wisconsin Emergency Management (WEM), Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) region 5, representatives from several national regional preparedness consortia
• Purpose: develop an exercise and training plan leading up to the RNC
• HERC Region 7 hospital caucus will begin reviewing the 2020 Democratic National Convention (DNC) plans to start discussing updates needed for RNC during our monthly hospital caucus meetings.
• Federal subcommittees will be formed in May/June and then planning will increase
• OPEHC/DHS may hire an LTE position to conduct related project management activities

On February 2, Wisconsin Department of Health Services released the 2023-2027 State Health Improvement Plan  (SHIP) on its website. This publication introduces Wisconsin’s public health priorities for the next 5 years and will be followed by a detailed implementation plan outlining partnerships and action across the priority areas. The SHIP serves as a roadmap for community health improvement in our state and is meant to guide resource allocation. The Wisconsin Public Health Council is the body charged with monitoring and providing guidance on this plan.

The 2023-2027 SHIP centers on health equity and introduces three foundational shifts and five priority areas for promoting individual, community, and population health.

The foundational shifts include

• Institutional and systemic fairness,
• Representation and access to decision making,
• Community-centered resources and services.

The priority areas are

• Improving social and community conditions, focusing on healthy housing, economic well-being and supportive systems of dependent care;
• Physical, mental, and systemic safety;
• Social connectedness and belonging, including civic health and representation;
• Person and community centered health care;
• Mental and emotional health and well-being, including substance use treatment and care.

Please visit the DHS website for more information about Wisconsin's State Health Plan. 

11:25AM

Wrap-up and Adjourn (Kaczmarski)

11:30AM

Next Meeting: April 11, 2023 10:00 – 11:30AM