Breakout Session A: How Are We Working Toward a Trained and Competent Disaster Health Workforce?

Presenters: Moderator - Jack Herrmann, MSEd, NCC, LMHC, Senior Advisor and Chief, Public Health Programs, National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) Jennifer Freeland, State Volunteer Coordinator, Virginia Department of Health Lori Upton, RN, BSN, MS, CEM, Director of Preparedness, SouthEast Texas Regional Advisory Council Phillip Coule, MD, MBA, FACEP, Chairman of the Board of the National Disaster Life Support Foundation, Professor and Vice-Chairman of Clinical and Business Operations, Department of Emergency Medicine and Hospitalist Services, Medical College of Georgia, Georgia Regents University Tener Goodwin Veenema, PhD, MPH, MS, RN, FAAN, Associate Professor, Johns Hopkins School of Nursing, Center for Refugee and Disaster Response, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, President & Chief Executive Officer, Tener Consulting Group, LLC. Audience members noted that getting disaster health knowledge on the professional certification boards and as continuing education units (CEUs) to maintain licensure are key drivers for education and training in this space and there are efforts underway to advocate for that. [...]the moderator encouraged the disaster health workforce to be visionary and think about flexible innovation.