Emergency Preparedness

Health Care Coalition Newsletter

November 2025 | Issue # 6

What's Inside:

• News from the Public Health Emergency Preparedness …

• Coalition News

• Partner Spotlight

• Future Happenings

News from the Public Health Emergency Preparedness (PHEP) Program

It’s FLU SEASON - Are you ready?

As part of NCPH’s annual push to vaccinate the community for our upcoming flu season, the PHEP team worked alongside the NCPH Immunization Program to conduct a mass vaccination exercise on October 22nd.

Mass Vaccination Clinics

If you’ve ever coordinated a community clinic, then you know the amount of work that goes in to planning these types of activities, especially when they include various organizations, various staff and very different ideas! Lucky for the PHEP team, our planning (which started in June!!) went smoothly - in large part to the amazing colleagues we get to work with on this exercise. The staff involved in the planning and execution of these events included those from various programs/teams within Nevada County Public Health (NCPH). We also partnered with Gold Country Senior Services and Nevada City School District to provide accessible locations for our clinics.

We had a fun time partnering with our coworkers for these events, but we know the true goal of these annual preparedness activities is to give our teams the opportunity to test our capacity to respond to an event where we need a mass distribution system in place.

The system we tested during our flu clinics, in October, are referred to as a POD - Points of Dispensing. These PODs are designated locations for distributing medical countermeasures, such as vaccines and medications, during a public health emergency. PODs allow teams to efficiently dispense medical supplies and/or treatments to large populations.

In addition to testing our POD system, the flu clinic activities acted as an exercise to test our Department Operations Center’s (DOC) activation and operation procedures. Practice makes progress - and by using takeaways from this exercise, the PHEP team has learned where the gaps sit and where improvements can be made when it comes to preparing for a mass distribution event.

Please enjoy a short video highlighting the work our teams did this year to keep Nevada County healthy during flu season - Field Notes: Immunization and Emergency Preparedness

Streamlining Our Workflow

As we move into the close of 2025, the PHEP team has and will continue to catch up on all the things we’ve put on the back burner during the busy season. This includes streamlining processes that we use during emergencies, annual review of our emergency plans and updating records of partner contact information and inventory management systems.

As a priority, the team has been working on making notification and communication methods for the DOC more efficient and user friendly. Finding a common method for communicating, where all members of the team receive timely and accurate information, are essential for a strong DOC.

Coalition News

Hazard Vulnerability Analysis (HVA) Survey

Many of you have already received an email from the PHEP team asking you to participate in our annual Hazard Vulnerability Analysis. As part of our grant requirements, the PHEP team is tasked with conducting an HVA with coalition partners, annually, to help us prioritize the work we do. But why is it important to YOU?

Conducting a hazard vulnerability analysis (HVA) or risk assessment (RA) are designed to take a systematic approach to identifying hazards or risks that are most likely to have an impact on a healthcare facility and the surrounding community (HHS - ASPR). Many healthcare accreditation bodies require an annual HVA for facilities, making this a useful tool for organizations seeking guidance in prioritizing their planning efforts.

HVAs are crucial in healthcare settings - they help identify potential risks and weaknesses that could impact the ability to provide services. The results of these annual assessments play an essential role in developing a comprehensive preparedness approach for your organization, focusing on planning, mitigation, response and recovery.

Main components of an HVA include the scoring of hazard events, considering the probability the event will happen, the impact the event will have on the organization and the level of preparedness the facility currently has for this type of event. Because this type of assessment gives a large-scale overview of the organization’s risk, it guides the facility in ranking their top vulnerabilities.

Our results are only as good as the data we collect; therefore, we’re encouraging everyone who received the invite to complete the HVA. The more partners we have participating, the more accurate our findings will be.

For more information, take a look at these resources:

• What is a Hazard Vulnerability Analysis - California Hospital Association

• Hazard Vulnerability/Risk Assessment - HHS - APSR

Partner Spotlight

This month’s partner spotlight is a little different - and we’re excited to share it! We have a guest writer, from the Community Foundation of Nevada County. Erika Kosina, who we met at FREED’s “Disaster Response Coalition Meeting” a few months ago, is working on a special project for the western side of Nevada County.

For those of you in Truckee, you’ll already be familiar with the concept she shares. We’re excited for our health care coalition to support this effort and to be part of something great happening in Nevada County.

Community Foundation of Nevada County Leads Formation of New COAD to Strengthen Disaster Readiness

As climate impacts intensify and wildfire and winter storm seasons grow longer and more unpredictable, disaster preparedness is now an essential part of community health. Health care organizations — already on the front lines during crises — depend on strong partnerships, coordinated communication, and well-defined resource networks to protect vulnerable residents. Recognizing this growing need, the Community Foundation of Nevada County is leading the creation of a Community Organizations Active in Disaster (COAD) for Western Nevada County, with planning beginning this winter and a full launch expected in March 2026.

A COAD is a consortium of nonprofit, community-based, and faith-based organizations dedicated to serving local people imperiled or impacted by disaster. COADs reduce duplication of efforts, identify gaps, and coordinate resources across all phases of disaster preparedness and emergency management. After a disaster, they share information, match resources with needs, and help streamline recovery efforts.

While government agencies manage emergency response, COADs focus on the human side of disaster relief: ensuring people receive shelter, food, medical support, case management, and other essential services. Many communities (including Eastern Nevada County) already have COADs or VOADs (Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster) in place to serve this function.

Why a COAD Matters for Health Care Partners

Health care organizations often face surges in demand during disasters. Without coordinated support, hospitals and clinics can become overextended or disconnected from the community organizations that help meet these needs.

A COAD helps address this challenge by:

• Eliminating duplication of efforts.
Organizations and individuals often rush to fill gaps during disasters, sometimes unknowingly overlapping services. A COAD establishes roles and processes so that each group can focus on what it does best.

• Providing a centralized information exchange.
COADs offer timely updates, resource inventories, and community needs assessments — critical for efficient health care response.

• Strengthening integration with local government.
The new COAD will work closely with the Nevada County Office of Emergency Services, the Department of Public Health, and other agencies to ensure that nonprofit and community-based resources are aligned with official emergency planning and response structures.

• Supporting long-term recovery.
Beyond immediate response, COADs play a vital role in connecting survivors with ongoing assistance throughout extended recovery periods.

A Collaborative Planning Process Begins

A meeting on December 4 will kick-off the planning process to co-create the COAD’s structure, priorities, and partnerships. The Community Foundation will guide the development of function groups, an advisory committee, communication protocols, and shared disaster-response frameworks. By March 2026, the goal is to launch a COAD equipped to coordinate nonprofit resources across all phases of disaster: preparedness, response, and long-term recovery.

A Stronger, More Coordinated Future

Health care organizations are vital partners in this work. Your expertise, capacity, and perspective are critical to building a COAD that truly meets the needs of Western Nevada County residents before, during, and long after a disaster.

For updates or to join the planning effort, visit the Community Foundation of Nevada County’s website at https://nevcofoundation.org/.

Future Happenings

• EP HCC Meeting - December 17th, 11 am - 12 pm: invites will be sent out, shortly

  • This is our last meeting of the year… hope to see you there!

• Do you have a preparedness event that you’d like to share with the coalition? Just send us a quick email and we’ll share it in our next newsletter: [email protected]