Nevada County Emergency Preparedness

Healthcare Coalition Newsletter

June 2025 | Issue #3

News from the Public Health Emergency Preparedness (PHEP) Program

It’s been a busy month for our team - finishing up grant deliverables, supporting emergency events and preparing for the heat! We’re thankful for some time to catch our breath in the next few weeks, before moving onto the next priority project.

All about the plans!

Thanks to everyone in the coalition, we are happy to report that we are up to date on all EP HCC plans and have completed all of our fiscal year 24/25 deliverables! End of the fiscal year is normally a busy time for everyone, but this year seemed especially hectic - with budget cuts looming, staff out (congrats Kim and baby Kenzi!!) and last minute deadlines.

Our preparedness plans are nothing without your input and support - so thank you to those of you who took the time to contribute to our Information Sharing Plan, Continuity of Operations Plan (COOP) and Resource Managment Plan. These plans will inform our future work as a coalition and are a great resource for your own plans - as you navigate accreditation and licensure at your own organizations.

As mentioned in our last coalition meeting, the PHEP team is always available to stop by and review your plans and offer feedback. Need help meeting those licensure and accreditation requirements… maybe we can help. Although we don’t have the capacity to support individual exercises for each partner organization, we can try to make our group exercises or drills work for you! Please reach out to the team with your questions or needs.

New AED Placement? Let someone know!

We have had several calls over the past few months regarding new AEDs and reporting when a community business or organization has placed a new device at their location. Although we know many of you already know how to proceed with a new AED, some of you might benefit from knowing the steps - which can be shared to your partners, when needed.

Do we need to notify someone about a new AED placement?

Yes! You should always notify your local EMS agency about your organization's AED placement. 

Does this include notifying Nevada County Public Health?

No - although we like knowing that you’re taking steps to provide life saving measures at your business or organization, we don’t necessarily “need” to know, per the California Health and Safety Code.

California Health and Safety Code § 1797.196 dictates who to contact and what steps to take to ensure public safety. For more information, please visit California Health and Safety Code section 1797.196 (2025) or contact your local fire district.

Coalition News

Escape the Outbreak

Recently, we had two partner organizations attend an informative infectious disease training, entitled “Escape the Outbreak”. The training focused on providing a comprehensive, interdisciplinary approach to high-consequence infectious diseases (HCID) preparedness and response, equipping participants with the knowledge, skills, and tools necessary to ensure safe and effective patient care while protecting healthcare workers, facilities, and the public.

Judy Griffin, Infection Control Specialist at Nevada County Public Health and Svetlana Schopp, Infection Preventionist at Tahoe Forest Hospital District, both attended this training, sponsored by National Emerging Special Pathogens Training and Education Center (NETEC). If you missed this opportunity and want to learn more - please visit National Emerging Special Pathogens Training & Education Center to find out about upcoming trainings and education materials related to HCIDs. You’re also welcome to reach out to us (and we’ll forward to Judy) for specific questions related to this training or HCID planning.

Emergency response - it’s a team effort!

Our partners have already been busy this summer, putting out figurative and literal fires. From frozen air conditioning units to attic fires, both with threats of evacuation - coalition partners have worked tirelessly to keep their patients and clients safe, as well as our greater community. Hats off to the teamwork it takes to respond quickly and communicate clearly during an emergency event. Thank you for keeping the PHEP team in the loop during an emergency and helping us be better prepared to support you, if needed. As a reminder, here are our preferred contact methods:

PHEP Contacts: Tara Cell: (530) 777-8483, Brett Cell: (530) 388-6388, team email: [email protected]

Those of you who were interested in getting some “Know Your Zone” magnets from OES, feel free to reach out to Paul Cummings, [email protected], to arrange for pick up for your team.

Additionally, as a follow up to our last coalition meeting where we talked about preparing our teams for emergencies and how to be better informed on when and how to respond, we wanted to reshare some resources that were mentioned in the chat during the meeting.

National PHEP News

Extreme heat, the new normal?

With extreme heat making the news on a daily basis, over the past few weeks, we are all wondering if this is our new normal.

A recent article in the New York Times (Opinion | Extreme Heat Is Breaking America - The New York Times) highlights the state of the US, in regard to the record-breaking temperatures we are already seeing. As mentioned in the article - these heat waves will “test infrastructure, public health systems and communities”.

Now, more than ever, it’s important to treat these heat waves and other weather emergencies as potential emergency events for the communities we serve. Being proactive and preparing for loss of ac, loss of electricity and potential evacuations is easier than reacting with no preparation. Nevada County has many resources to inform the public on potential weather impacts - including the County social media, OES alerts and Yubanet. Which one are you using to stay informed?

: as you have probably seen already, we’re in for another moderate heat risk this week in Nevada County:

To keep up to date with extreme weather events in our community, check out the National Weather Service - Sacramento, CA page - National Weather Service, Sacramento, CA.

Extreme Weather Education

Many states are now pushing out new guidance and education efforts to inform the public on how to stay safe during these extreme weather events, as well as information about cooling centers, energy efficiency checks and more. California has set up several toolkits and resources for community use - which make education the public a breeze. California Department of Public Health, specifically, has published premade social media resources that any organization can use (and co-brand if you want):

• CDPH - Extreme Weather Education Materials

• Heat Ready CA

As we move into summer, the threat of extreme heat in Nevada County seems to be here to stay! The climate crisis is real - many in our community need extra support when temperatures rise above normal - and we need to be prepared for it!

We hope you all will utilize the great resources out there to keep your team and those you serve informed about heat safety.

Partner Spotlight

Summer is here, and with that comes a number of emergencies that are supported by and attended to by our amazing local firefighters!

Meet the Grass Valley Fire Department (GVFD) - well technically, two of the crew. Just as we walked in to interview the team, they received a call and had to get on their way!

We stopped by Station 2, on Sierra College Drive, to chat with Dane Meredith about the great work they’re doing to increase the number of lifesaving resources we have in the community - and how they’re educating and empowering the community to SAVE A LIFE!

Using Measure E funding, the team is bolstering their Advanced Life Saving (ALS) support for the community, by adding more paramedics to their team and increasing the number of units that can have a paramedic on board. Having the option to provide ALS support during a call is a huge benefit to our community. GVFD is proud to be one of only two fire departments in Western Nevada County (the other being Penn Valley Fire Department), who have paramedics on their team.

In addition to the great care and community support the team gives during their daily calls, they are increasing their education efforts to the general public. Dane tells us he is heading community education efforts at the department that focus on two great health campaigns: STOP THE BLEED and HANDS-ONLY CPR.

Dane tells us that he can’t take credit for initiating these campaigns in our community - he had the opportunity to partner with Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital (SNMH) Paramedic Supervisor, Kristine Sommer. Christine was able to start the research and planning but wanted to get it out to the broader community. That’s where Dane and his team are stepping in - using their public interactions to get the word out about these easily learned skills.

Dane and Christine (and their teams) are using these trainings as a means to collaborate with local organizations and teach these basic skills to those who might not otherwise know how to help someone in need, whether it’s someone with a bleed, or someone who is unresponsive and not breathing.

They are scheduled to give a few short trainings in the upcoming months, but plan to grow these campaigns, locally. They’re considering offering these trainings at community events, and schools, next. What an exciting opportunity to learn from our skilled paramedics at GVFD and SNMH!

If you’re interested in learning more about either of these campaigns, please reach out to Dane Meredith, at [email protected].

Future Happenings

• EP HCC Cybersecurity Virtual TTX: mid-July (details will be emailed soon!)

• EP HCC Partner Meeting: August 28, 1 - 3 pm (tentatively)

• 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]