# 2992
The Lewiston - Nez Perce County Office of Emergency Management, and the Idaho North Central District Health Department are both very proactive when it comes to preparing for disasters.
I’ve featured them on several occasions in this blog, and most of my readers are familiar with the Get Pandemic Ready Website, which is hosted by the Nez Perce County Office of Emergency Management.
One of the innovations that they have come up with is a manual for Neighborhood Emergency Teams to use during a community emergency. This manual is released under the Creative Commons License, and may be adapted and used by any community.
NET, or Neighborhood Emergency Teams, are designed for an `all threats' response. Prime among those, however, is the threat of a pandemic or other communicable disease.
Recently, the NET concept was featured on CIDRAP’s Promising Practices website. If you’ve not visited this resource, you should take the time to do so. There you will find more than 175 peer reviewed practices designed to aid communities during public health emergencies.
As they describe it:
CIDRAP and the Pew Center on the States (PCS) launched this initiative to collect and peer-review practices that can be adapted or adopted by public health stakeholders. This project is sponsored by the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO), the national non-profit organization representing the 57 state and territorial public health agencies of the United States, US Territories, and the District of Columbia.
This collection of more than 175 practices represents an ongoing effort that began in 2006. Our Advisory Committee, composed of state and local public health experts in pandemic influenza preparedness nationwide, selected the categories and topics at left.
The Promising Practices Website describes the NET manual this way (reformatted for readability):
Neighborhood Emergency Teams
From:
Lewiston-Nez Perce County Office of Emergency Management (Idaho)Description and Reviewers' Comments
The "Neighborhood Emergency Teams" (NET) manual provides material with which local government officials can provide public safety information to individuals, families, and neighborhoods during a public health emergency.
The information is designed to be used after a disaster declaration by a two-person team comprising a city or county employee and a volunteer. Teams would be trained to visit residents in a specific area in order to assess basic needs and provide public safety guidelines and solutions.
Although the manual is intended for active use during or after a disaster, it also can be used to build family preparedness and enhance community resilience prior to an emergency.
Component Parts
Guidebook
You’ll also find that the GetPandemicReady Website is also listed under Idaho’s promising practices.
Once again, here is how Promising Practices describes this endeavor.
Get Pandemic Ready (ID)
From:
Get Pandemic Ready Team
Lewiston-Nez Perce County Office of Emergency ManagementDescription and Reviewers' Comments
The Get Pandemic Ready web site was created by an international citizen team, with assistance from Nez Perce County Emergency Management.
The online compendium of resources is geared toward helping individuals and families prepare to be self-sufficient over three months of a pandemic.
Many different resources are provided throughout the well-organized and useful site, including background on pandemic influenza; information on creating a preparedness culture and mindset; links out to government and other reputable organizations; and preparedness information related to food and water, first aid, comfort and safety, special concerns, infants and toddlers, and home treatment.
Get Pandemic Ready contains a wealth of information that could enhance preparedness and improve people's capacity to maintain function during a pandemic.
In the interest of full disclosure, I am a minor contributor to the GetPandemicReady website, and so I may be a bit biased. I consider it to be one of the best preparedness resources on the Internet.
These are just two examples, out of the more than 175 (and growing) practices available on the Promising Practices website. Whether you are charged with planning for an emergency in your community, or simply an interested citizen, this is a resource you should not pass up.
