IN-IDOH-Public Health Preparedness Field Coordinator

Public Health Preparedness District 1 Coordinator

The Public Health Preparedness District Coordinator serves as primary point of contact for Local Health Departments within their assigned District for issues relating to IDOH-Division of Emergency Preparedness, goals, and objectives. The Public Health District Coordinator serves at the direction of the Director of District and Local Readiness and respective IDOH DEP Regional Supervisor to their area.

District 1 consists of the following cities/counties: City of East Chicago, City of Gary, Jasper County, Lake County, LaPorte County, Porter County, and Newton County. This position also works closely with the Chicago Metropolitan Statistical Area Health Departments.

The overarching responsibility of the Public Health Preparedness District Coordinator is to identify overall preparedness gaps and needs of local health departments within their District, communicate them to their respective Regional Supervisor and assist in directing the locals to information and other resources appropriate to address their needs. It is also the responsibility of the Public Health Preparedness District Coordinator to work closely with the Healthcare Coalition District (HCC) Coordinator to help facilitate coordination between local public health and healthcare partners on preparedness efforts that would require or benefit from collaboration between the two programs entities.

Essential Duties & Responsibilities

• Communicate regularly with the Regional Supervisor to share the needs, challenges, and accomplishments of the health departments within the assigned District and to receive instructions and guidance.
• Participate in IDOH-Division of Emergency Preparedness conference calls and staff meetings as scheduled by the respective program Director and Regional Supervisors.
• Attend scheduled District Coalition meetings along with the HCC Coordinator assigned to the district as well as any additional health department related meetings or events as assigned by Regional Supervisor.
• Identify and communicate any planning, training, and exercise support needs or activities to Regional Supervisor.
• Provide guidance and answer questions to IDOH preparedness efforts or direct them to where they may obtain the requested guidance when necessary.
• Assist in tracking grant deliverable progress and completion during preparedness activities, data collection efforts, and inventory tracking as directed.
• Complete any reporting and/or tracking forms and documents as identified and requested by Regional Supervisor and/or Director.
• Assist in coordinating Medical Countermeasure (MCM) Operational Readiness Review(s) (ORR) in CRI jurisdictions as needed.
• Submit summary reports of coalition or district meeting, individual meetings summarized on the bi-weekly (unless specified otherwise) reporting template.
  
  

Public Health Preparedness Field Coordinator - Expectations

• Staff are expected to have a strong familiarity and understanding with IDOH Division of Emergency Preparedness policies, standard operating procedures, preparedness and response plans, and technical concepts of operations, and be able to effectively communicate these to the local partners.
• Report outcomes (notes) of each meeting by submitting summary to Regional Supervisor within 2 business days.
• If District staff feel they have not been provided sufficient guidance or training on any material(s), it is their responsibility to notify their IDOH Regional Supervisor and Contractor Project Supervisor that they require additional direction or clarification.
• District staff are expected to actively ensure local partners, understand technical and procedural aspects of IDOH-Division of Emergency Preparedness and other state emergency management and response strategies, tactics, and plans. If staff observe or are made aware of gaps in knowledge or understanding of these topics among local partners, it is their responsibility to provide direction and clarification, and to request assistance from their IDOH Regional Supervisor, if needed.
• District staff are expected to maintain an electronic file of all guidance documents, templates, and boiler plates distributed by IDOH Central Office and expected to distribute these documents as directed by Regional Supervisors to local partners and be able to fully explain their purpose and use.
• When working with the local partners, District staff serve as representatives of the Indiana Department of Health and are expected to conduct and present themselves as such. If at any time, District staff feel as if they are unclear on any duty or expectation as it relates to their position, or feel they need any additional guidance or training pertaining to the technical aspects of their position, it is their responsibility to communicate their need to their IDOH Regional Supervisor and the Contractor Project Supervisor.
• Stay up to date on CDC, ASPR, ISDH and other relevant guidance documents and programs.