As a public-private partnership, government involvement in Powered for Patients is crucial to our success. Much of our early success is owed to the support provided by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR). This support was provided through ASPR’s cooperative agreement with the Association for State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO). ASTHO, working on behalf of its public health leaders throughout the country, has also been invaluable in providing leadership and support, as has the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO). The National Emergency Management Association (NEMA) has also helped ensure that the voice of the nation’s state emergency managers has helped shape the direction of Powered for Patients.
Engagement with ASPR staff continues along with our work with other federal, state and local government leaders. If you or your agency would like to get involved in the work of Powered for Patients, we welcome it. Please contact Powered for Patients Project Director Eric Cote to learn about opportunities to engage with Powered for Patients.
Share a Best Practice
If you believe your agency is employing a best practice in promoting the protection of backup power and expedited restoration of utility power for critical healthcare facilities, or addressing the needs of at-risk citizens dependent on electric-powered medical equipment during prolonged power outages, we encourage you to share these best practices with Powered for Patients. You can do so by emailing a simple narrative or a copy of your best practice to [email protected]. Please let us also know if we can share your best practice on this website.
What Public Health and Emergency Management Are Saying About Powered for Patients
“When serving as the FEMA administrator, and when I led the Rhode Island Emergency Management Agency (RIEMA), I was always concerned about emergency power vulnerabilities at our critical infrastructure facilities, especially hospitals. One of the most important projects I launched at RIEMA was an emergency power resilience initiative to assess the generator fleet in our hospitals and evaluate the existing protocol for generator status reporting during outages. I turned to Eric Cote to help lead this project given his expertise in this area. Eric helped us identify some vulnerabilities and worked with me and my staff to create a new protocol to accelerate emergency power threat reporting. Eric also authored Protecting Patients When Disaster Strikes, a heralded RIEMA Playbook that introduced our new emergency power status reporting protocol and other best practices to safeguard emergency power. Eric brought a lot of passion to this project and I was proud to see him use our initiative as a roadmap for a similar project he led in California.”
Pete Gaynor
Vice President, Resiliency and Disaster Recovery
Hill International
Former FEMA Administrator, Former Director of RIEMA
Testimonials Provided During the Early Days of Powered for Patients
“When disasters strike, one of the greatest areas of concern for public health officials is the status of hospitals, nursing homes and dialysis centers relying on generator power. While there are some systems in place that provide limited situational awareness of how impacted facilities are operating, Powered for Patients offers the opportunity to significantly enhance post disaster situational awareness. The initiative can also help facilitate pre-disaster planning between government, the generator industry and healthcare facilities. This collaboration will give public health officials a better understanding of the challenges facilities will face after a disaster and what government, the facilities and the generator industry can do to address these challenges. We’re excited to be a part of Powered for Patients and look forward to continuing to provide our expertise in addressing the issue of backup power for healthcare facilities.”
Gerrit T. Bakker
Senior Director, Public Health Preparedness
Public Health Practice
ASTHO
“Backup power is one of the top issues our members look at during pre-disaster planning and when leading their state’s response to a disaster. Hurricane Sandy raised important questions about how backup power is regulated and managed and what steps can be taken to enhance backup power for critical healthcare facilities. NEMA is pleased to be a part of Powered for Patients and looks forward to bringing the important perspective of state emergency managers to the table in terms of the initiative’s research and broader work.”
Trina Sheets
Executive Director
National Emergency Management Association