People who use electricity-dependent durable medical equipment (DME) at home—such as ventilators and oxygen concentrators—can face life-threatening consequences during a power outage. HHS reports that 2.7 million Medicare beneficiaries ...
With Omicron surges pushing jurisdictions to activate protocols for providing healthcare during crisis, it is important to incorporate disability inclusion into these crisis standards of care.
The Louisiana Department of Health has developed Power Outage Partners, a first-of-its-kind program to recruit owners of stand-by residential generators to recharge the batteries of neighbors’ life support equipment during power outages.
Better Defining Disability Will Make Data More Inclusive and Usable ASTHO, association of state and territorial health officials, access to health care, centers for disease control, syndromic surveillance systems, health outcomes, person ...
After a year and a half of work as embedded disability specialists, 5 program participants share their reflections on important lessons learned and why disability inclusion is critical to the future of emergency preparedness.
This ASTHO report, which was co-authored with the World Institue on Disabilities, answers top questions around disability preparedness initatives, and prioritizes inclusive planning while providing overarching guidance that can be applied ...
Information on disability status and type is not systematically collected during emergency department visits and, as such, it cannot be used during surveillance. ASTHO conducted six key informant interviews with disability professionals to ...
This series explores the critical need for engagement of disability stakeholders and disability-led organizations as equity partners in public health preparedness.
Inclusive practices that prioritize the safety and well-being of all residents, regardless of age or ability, are essential in ensuring effective disaster preparedness and response.
ASTHO has been helping jurisdictions prepare for and respond to the needs of people with disabilities during public health emergencies by embedding disability preparedness specialists in 16 state and 2 territorial health agencies.
On Dec. 3, International Day of Persons with Disabilities, ASTHO is commemorating nearly 12 months of supporting disability and preparedness specialists in state and territorial health agencies. Throughout 2021, ASTHO embedded 20 full-time ...
The Embedded specialist in South Carolina used an ASTHO tool to assist the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control improve inclusivity of people living with disabilities in their public health programs.
When Beatriz Vallejo, the disability and preparedness specialist in Puerto Rico, first joined the health agency, she took on planning a novel program to share knowledge and clarify each sectors’ roles and responsibilities during an ...
The COVID-19 pandemic provided an unprecedented opportunity to speed up developing Delaware’s Functional Assessment Service Team and to test it at scale.
Spanish language version of "Embedded: Puerto Rico’s Public Health Emergency Preparedness Academy" blog post.
While COVID-19 is still present and ever-changing, public health professionals must also grapple with new challenges such as monkeypox, increasing firearm homicide, and widespread heat waves. In the wake of such emergencies, public health ...
Over the past twenty years, the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events and natural disasters have increased and, by most accounts, this trend will continue. Certain disabilities and activity limitations make it more difficult to ...
As governments and private entities adopt COVID-19 vaccine protocols to protect health and safety, legal challenges are mounting. In some states, policymakers have proactively attempted to limit or prohibit adopting COVID-19 vaccine ...
Susan Tharpe, the ASTHO disability and preparedness specialist placed in the Georgia Department of Public Health, discusses the importance of partnering with the Autism community on emergency preparedness.
Recent state laws and governor emergency orders prohibiting universal school mask protocols are complicating the implementation of CDC’s evidence-based guidance for COVID-19 mitigation measures for in-person school. Ten states have enacted ...