CPHD Projects
Long Beach Public Health Emergency Management Training and Education AcademyLong
Beach Public Health Emergency Management Training and Education Academy
The Center for Public Health and Disasters is working with the City of Long
Beach Department of Health and Human Services to create a Public Health Emergency
Management Training and Education Academy. The Academy will be an all inclusive
educational program which provides training and continuing education to public
health professionals and other first responder-based disciplines on a broad
range of emergency/disaster issues, as well as a public health competency-based
and leadership curriculum. The project includes an assessment of the current
training needs, identification of necessary assessments to develop a training
plan, development of a training plan, implementation of a customized learning
management system to automate the training assessments and evaluations, development
and implementation of identified curriculum including web-based and in-person
training opportunities, discussion-based exercises, and functional exercises.
Preparedness
and Emergency Response Research Center (PERRC)
The UCLA School of Public Health has received a major grant from the U.S. Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to establish a center that will facilitate
research to strengthen the ability of federal, state and local public health
agencies to prepare for, respond to and recover from natural and human-generated
disasters, including terrorism. The award, which totals $4.8 million over four
years, will allow the Center for Public Health and Disasters (CPHD) to build
on more than two decades of experience in addressing the critical issues faced
when a disaster impacts a community. The new Preparedness and Emergency Response
Research Center (PERRC) will be directed by Kimberley Shoaf, DrPH, associate
director of CPHD and an associate professor of community health sciences. The
grant will support three independent research projects designed to explore the
inter-organizational cooperation necessary to create and sustain a public health
system that is resilient to disasters. These research projects will: 1) improve
collaboration between local school systems and public health agencies to enhance
preparedness, 2) build effective public health partnerships with community-based
and faith-based organizations for disaster readiness, and 3) conduct community-based
participatory research to develop environmental health emergency resilience.