The National Resource Center on Advancing Emergency Preparedness for Culturally Diverse Communities

What's New?

Initiatives

7/7/2010

Health Disparities Grants

The HHS Office of Minority Health has announced $2.3 million in available grants for umbrella cooperative agreements to reduce disparities and $4 million for community-based networks.

 

6/22/2010

Boat People S.O.S. Provides Services for Vietnamese-American Victims of Deep Horizon Oil Spill

oil rocksBPSOS, a community-based organization serving Vietnamese-Americans across the country, is providing a range of services to assist the Vietnamese-American victims of the Gulf Coast oil spill. These include direct services, such as translation and interpretation, community education, and legal assistance.       To learn more about their efforts, CLICK HERE 

 

2/23/2010

Public Health Ethics in Disasters

Using the United States Public Health Code of Ethics as a guide, this website provides practical information on ethical issues facing public health agencies when responding to disasters. The website highlights topics such as social distancing, vulnerable populations, risk communication, and community engagement. To view the website CLICK HERE.  

 

1/25/2010

Funding: 2010 DHS Community Preparedness Grants

The 2010 Department of Homeland Security preparedness grants contain 10 grant programs that support strengthening of community preparedness and participation efforts. This summary is intended to assist potential grantees with identifying the full breadth of resources available to support the critical mission of community resilience. To view the full summary CLICK HERE.

 

Events & Training

7/14/2010

2011 Public Health Preparedness Summit

February 22-25, 2011

Atlanta, GA

Abstract submissions and registration has opened for the 2011 Public Health Preparedness Summit. The Summit is one of the largest meetings of public health, emergency management, and other professionals to share their best practice training models, tools, or other resources that advance the field of public health preparedness. The deadline for abstract submissions is August 30, 2010. For more information CLICK HERE.

 

7/7/2010

2010 APHA Annual Meeting

November 6-10, 2010
Denver, CO

The American Public Health Association Annual Meeting & Exposition is the oldest and largest  gathering of public health professionals in the world, attracting more than 13,000 attendees.  The conference features numerous sessions on preparedness and diverse populations, including the poster session Emergency Preparedness Policies: Are We Preparing for Everyone? For more information CLICK HERE. 

 

1/4/2010

2010 National Conference on Quality Health Care for Culturally Diverse Populations

October 18-21, 2010                                                                                            Baltimore, MD

The 2010 National Conference on Quality Health Care for Culturally Diverse Populations, “Improving Health Care for Culturally Diverse Populations: A New Place on the National Health Agenda,” provides the opportunity for networking and education through over 60 practice-oriented sessions on a wide range of topics, including: cultural competence training, culturally competent health care organization, culturally appropriate care to reduce disparities, and research/measurement. For more information CLICK HERE.
 

7/2/2009

Cultural Competency Curriculum for Disaster Response

The Office of Minority Health (OMH) has recently released a set of online courses to provide guidance for emergency personal responding to the needs of diverse communities following a disaster. The curriculum is grounded in OMH’s CLAS Standards which spans the topics of culturally competent care, language access services, and organizational supports. Free registration is required. For more information CLICK HERE.  

 

Publications

8/11/2010

Assessing the Effects of the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill on Human Health: A Summary of the June 2010 Workshop

This report presents the findings from a two day workshop on the health effects of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill and strategies for research, response, and recovery activities. Issues relating to culture, language, and diverse populations are discussed throughout the report. Specific topics include: challenges, and strategies, associated with obtaining reliable demographic and linguistic data on affected populations, the development of culturally and linguistically appropriate risk communication strategies, and high rates of health disparities in the Gulf Coast region. To download the free report CLICK HERE.  

 

7/30/2010

Migrant and Seasonal Farm Worker Emergency Preparedness Planning Guide

Based on feedback from an expert panel, this planning guide provides a set of actionable step to integrate racially and ethnically diverse migrant farm workers into preparedness and response plans. Strategies for working with immigration officials, bi-lingual interpreters, and trusted community leaders are discussed. To view the planning guide CLICK HERE.

 

7/26/2010

Immigration, ethnicity, and the pandemic

This Public Health Reports article provides a historical perspective on challenges faced by public health officials in reaching diverse communities during the Great Influenza pandemic of 1918 and the integral role community/faith-based organizations and ethnic media outlets. To view the full text article CLICK HERE 

 

7/22/2010

Enhancing Public Health Emergency Preparedness for Special Needs Populations: A Toolkit for State and Local Planning and Response

The RAND Corporation recently released an interactive toolkit with strategies and resources to help public health departments prepare for and respond to special needs populations, including racial/ethnic minorities and those with LEP, in a public health emergency. A GIS mapping tool was also developed that allows for preparedness-related population characteristics to be mapped at the state, county, and Census tract level. To access the resource CLICK HERE.

 

6/28/2010

Vietnamese Fishermen in Gulf Fight to Not get Lost in Translation

This CNN story describes the plight Vietnamese fishermen who have been affected by the Gulf Coast oil spill and the need to consider the intricacies of local communities when developing relief strategies. The article discusses issues surrounding the importance regional dialects in translation and developing relief strategies that acknowledge the unique histories of immigrant communities.  To access the article CLICK HERE  

 

6/17/2010

Spill Takes Toll on Gulf Workers’ Psyches

This New York Times article describes the preliminary mental health impacts of the Deep Horizon oil spill on Vietnamese fishermen in the Gulf Coast region. The spill has had an immediate economic impact on Vietnamese fishermen in the region and their way of life—leading to feelings of hopelessness, anxiety, stress, anger, depression and suicidal thoughts as a result. To view the article CLICK HERE.