Cities Readiness Initiative. January 2. 00. 5Cities Readiness Initiative. The Cities Readiness Initiative (CRI) was introduced by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in the spring of 2.
MRC Volunteers in Action Cities Readiness Initiative Training and Exercise Program. Cities Readiness Initiative Training and Exercise Program To address growing concerns of terrorist acts, weather disasters and contagious diseases, the Fairfax Medical.
CDC's Cities Readiness Initiative (CRI) is a federally funded program designed to enhance preparedness in the nation's largest population centers where more than 50% of the U.S. Using CRI funding, state and large metropolitan public health departments develop, test, and maintain. It's a New Day in Public Health. The Florida Department of Health works to protect, promote & improve the health of all people in Florida through integrated state, county. WIC is a federally funded nutrition program for Women, Infants, and Children. The Smart Cities Readiness Program Are you a city leader who is eager to improve livability, workability. He was also a speaker at . 1 Program Element #02: Cities Readiness Initiative (CRI) Program 1. Funds provided under this Agreement to Local Public Health Authorities for the Cities Readiness Initiative (CRI) Program may only be used in accordance with, and subject to, the. 24/7 Emergency Contact Number: 1-888-295-5156 Revised: 03/2010 Page 1 of 1 CITIES READINESS INITIATIVE (CRI) What is CRI? The Cities Readiness Initiative (CRI) is a federally-funded program designed to aid major U.S.
Strategic National Stockpile during a large- scale public health emergency. The CRI program is a new component of year five of the HHS Cooperative Agreement on Public Health Preparedness and Response for Bioterrorism (Program Announcement 9. Aug. Year five of the program runs from Aug. Funding for the CRI program totals $2. The source of the funding was a reprogramming of approximately $5.
January 2005 Cities Readiness Initiative The Cities Readiness Initiative (CRI) was introduced by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in the spring of 2004 as a pilot program to help cities improve their ability to distribute medicine and supplies from. Marcus Jennings, MSPH, a native Memphian, joined the Shelby County Health Department as the Cities Readiness Initiative (CRI) Coordinator in 2014. The Cities Readiness Initiative (CRI) Coordinator develops and maintains a plan that is mutually useful for the.
The program aims to achieve four broad goals: Improve and enhance cities’ readiness to receive, distribute and dispense SNS assets based on established guidelines in the SNS Planning Guide; Develop city plans that fully incorporate federal, state and local capabilities, including police, fire, emergency medical services, and US Postal Service personnel and equipment; Develop and provide to cities the models, tools and templates which will enable city planners to verify key elements of their plans; and. Develop and provide training tools which will enable cities to meet the objectives of the program.
More specifically, according to the Continuation Guidance for Budget Year Five of the cooperative agreement, CRI is designed to. Participation. The pilot program includes 2. National Capitol Region. Participants were selected based on their population and geographic location. CDC has operational responsibility for the program, although the Department of Homeland Security - through FEMA and the Office for Domestic Preparedness and HHS' Health Resources and Services Administration also are involved. The Homeland Security Council's Deputies Committee, the FBI, the departments of Justice and Veterans Affairs and the U.
S. Postal Service also are participating in the program. Participating cities and their year five allocations are as follows: Atlanta, GA ($7. Miami, FL ($7. 10,0. Boston, MA ($8. 40,0.
National Capital ($8. Chicago, IL ($2,1. New York, NY ($5,1. Cleveland, OH ($7. Philadelphia, PA ($1,3. Dallas, TX ($1,1. Phoenix, AZ ($1,2.
Denver, CO ($8. 20,0. Pittsburgh, PA ($6. Detroit, MI ($1,0. St. Louis, MO ($6.
Houston, TX ($1,6. San Diego, CA ($1,2. Las Vegas, NV ($7. San Francisco, CA($9. Los Angeles, CA ($2,6. Seattle, WA ($8. 30,0. Minneapolis, MN ($7.
Program and Status. CDC launched the Cities Readiness Initiative in July 2. The program has several components: an initial baseline assessment of individual cities’ preparedness to distribute SNS material; technical assistance and training to improve preparedness levels; a follow- up assessment 9. T. A./training as required; and a final assessment 1.
Training sessions involve satellite broadcasts for officials from participating localities; live training sessions for individual cities; and, eventually, exercises to test local governments’ ability to implement the skills/requirements highlighted through the training program. The initial assessments for the 2. Individual results will not be published because of the sensitive nature of the findings; however an aggregate report is being prepared. Executive briefings by CDC for the 2. At least one satellite broadcast training session has been held, and at least two more are planned. Initial 9. 0- day follow- up assessments for some cities have been completed or are underway. The Postal Service Option.
The use of U. S. Postal Service letter carriers to distribute SNS materials during or after a large- scale attack with aerosolized anthrax or plague bacteria is designed to be one component of an overall SNS- management strategy that also includes points of distribution (PODs) and other locally derived methods or strategies for distributing SNS materials. In the immediate aftermath of a bioterrorism attack involving aerosolized anthrax or plague bacteria, the speedy delivery of prophylactics to potentially affected communities will be essential to minimize the outbreak of disease. However, the geographic scope of the attack and number of affected individuals may not be known, and points of distribution for medicines may not immediately be operational. As a result, the level of public anxiety is likely to be high.
HHS/CDC officials believe leveraging the built- in distribution system of the US Postal Service to send prophylactics directly into potentially affected communities is an effective strategy to minimize the number of disease victims and to quell public concerns. Project officials emphasize, however, that the use of USPS letter carriers is seen only as a temporary strategy until PODs are established and the scope of the attack can be ascertained. Under the USPS option, letter carriers would deliver one bottle of medicine per household in all areas affected by the release. In the case of anthrax antibiotics such as Cipro, the bottle would contain 2.
With a dosage of two pills per day, the delivery would provide 1. For a family of four, the delivery would provide 2 . The MOU was signed in February 2. HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson, DHS Secretary Tom Ridge and Postmaster General John E. The notion of using postal carriers to distribute SNS medicines is not new, but the idea gained momentum in late 2.
HHS, USPS and letter carrier union officials was formed to study the idea. The origin of the proposal, according to a program official, was the lessons learned from the 2. The CRI program, overall, is set up to help cities beef up their ability to distribute medicines after an attack using traditional methods such as PODs, but setting up such a distribution system could take at least 2. Therefore, governors faced with a large- scale bioterrorism attack and the potential for a large number of victims are likely to ask for federal assistance, and the most immediate federal workforce available to state and local officials is the postal service, which already is present in the community. Issues for Implementation. Security Requirements. Because of the potential threat posed by panicked members of the public and, possibly, perpetrators of the attack who seek to disrupt the public health response, security will be a primary concern of any SNS distribution campaign.
A security presence will be required at each SNS storage and distribution facility, and each USPS letter carrier delivering medicines will require an armed security escort. Federal guidelines do not stipulate that the security be provided by local police officers, although they appear to be the most likely pool of armed personnel from which to draw. Other potential sources include personnel from the U. S. Postal Inspection Service, the U. S. Marshals Service, state National Guard, retired police officers, sheriffs’ deputies, prison guards, and bonded private security forces.
The provision of security, in terms of both the number of personnel required and the costs of such an effort, is proving problematic for CRI participants. One state official said that “almost uniformly, people are struggling with the USPS option,” in particular with the security requirement. CDC officials concede the security aspects of the program pose a challenge. Personal Protective Gear. An OSHA ruling that the distribution area for SNS assets would constitute a “zone of uncertain contamination” requires that personal protective gear, including N- 9. Part of the $1. 2 million provided to the Postal Service in the tri- party interagency agreement will be used for fit- testing the N- 9.
USPS volunteers. However, some local officials believe the sight of USPS carriers delivering medicines while wearing masks could undermine efforts to assuage public fears and dispel rumors. If the letter carriers and security personnel are seen to be at risk, the public probably will believe it is at risk, too. Commuter Populations. An airborne release of B. The commuting population for Washington, D. C., for example, extends as far west as West Virginia; as far south as the Richmond, Va., suburbs; and as far north as southern Pennsylvania.
The 1. 2 jurisdictions that make up the National Capital Region are coordinating their activities with officials in Virginia and Maryland, but West Virginia and Pennsylvania are not included in the NCR and residents of those areas who work in the region would not be covered by the USPS program. Similarly, in the Chicago area, city officials reportedly are not coordinating their efforts with Illinois officials, much less with officials in neighboring Indiana. In short, the CRI program is not set up to help cities ensure distribution of drugs beyond their jurisdictional boundaries. Public Health/Medical Management. Much of the skepticism to the USPS option has come from public health officials who resist the notion of distributing mass quantities of drugs to a large population with little regard for the needs and requirements of individuals who may have allergies, drug- interaction risks or who may otherwise be precluded from participating in a mass- prophylactic campaign. Pediatric requirements also pose a risk because dosage and other requirements differ for pediatric and adult populations.
While federal officials plan to distribute fact sheets and “directions” with any medicine, and to launch public education campaigns to inform citizens of what they will be receiving, those efforts are unlikely to answer all the public’s questions. In addition, language and cultural barriers are unlikely to be overcome in all cases by those types of mass- marketed campaigns. Volunteerism. The USPS option, while formalized in an interagency agreement, does not compel participation by USPS letter carriers. For planning purposes, this means state and local officials can not be certain how many letter carriers will be available after an attack to deliver medicines from the stockpile, a fact that may call into question the ability of local governments to demonstrate compliance with the “4.