ESF 8: Public Health and Medical Services

Dallas College - Emergency Support Function #8 – Public Health and Medical Services Annex

This Emergency Operations Plan Annex is hereby approved for the Dallas College. This plan annex is effective immediately and supersedes all previous editions.

ESF Coordinator

Associate Chief
Procurement & Strategic Sourcing
4343 IH 30
Mesquite, TX 75150
Phone: 972-860-7776

Primary Department/Agency

Dallas College Procurement Department
4343 IH 30
Mesquite, TX 75150
Phone: 972-860-7947

Support and External Agencies

Dallas College Emergency Management
4343 IH 30
Mesquite, TX 75150
Phone: 972-860-4048

Dallas College Business Affairs
4343 IH 30
Mesquite, TX 75150
Phone: 972-860-7710

See Emergency Operations Plan, Authority.

The Emergency Support Function (ESF) annexes to the Emergency Operations Plan organize the applicable college positions, departments, and outside support agencies into groups according to their roles in strategic response to a campus emergency or disaster. Outside agencies may include: governmental, non-governmental, private sector, and other volunteer resources. The ESF annex provides basic information on available internal and external departments and agencies that might be needed for an incident that affects Dallas College. Each ESF has at least one lead position or department within the College that will lead the specific response, one or more supporting departments within the College that will provide response support, and one or more external supporting departments from the surrounding communities, and neighboring jurisdictions.

ESFs will normally be activated at the direction of the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) Director in response to activation level 3 or greater emergencies as outlined in the EOP. Designated department and agency resources may be requested to respond or recover from emergency incidents that affect the College. Normally, the response and recovery actions will be coordinated from the EOC as Incident or Unified Command will use the resources at the incident scene.

The primary position/department/office(s) will normally be responsible for coordinating specific requirements associated with the emergency support function. Support position/department/office(s) may be contacted to provide expertise and assistance, as needed. Finally, external departments/agencies may be needed if internal resources are overwhelmed or where College capabilities do not exist (such as emergency medical or fire services.) In all cases, prior memorandums of understanding, mutual aid agreements, or funding issues would need to be addressed prior to requesting assistance.

Purpose

The purpose of ESF 8 is to provide, in a coordinated manner, the resources for public health, mental health, and medical services that may be needed in an emergency during an emergency or disaster impacting Dallas College.

The Public Health and Medical Services ESF assists college, local, federal, state government entities, and voluntary organizations in performing response missions following a disaster or emergency.

Scope

Emergency Support Function 8:

• May include public health crises or infectious disease emergencies.
• May include triage treatment and emergency medical transportation.
• May include psychological first aid and disaster mental health treatment for the faculty, staff, and students of Dallas College.
• Used to respond to incidents that overwhelm normal Incident Command response actions.

Situation

Dallas College is exposed to many hazards, all of which have the potential for disrupting the community, causing casualties, and damaging or destroying public or private property. Potential emergencies and disasters include both natural and human-caused incidents.

See the EOP Hazard Summary for the potential emergencies that may impact Dallas College.

Assumptions

The College makes the following planning assumptions:

• Public health crises and infectious disease emergencies can occur independent of disaster situations.
• The College does not operate a clinic nor has a public health officer.
• During a disaster or emergency, the physical and mental health of members of the campus community, including emergency responders, may be impacted.
• Communication may be disrupted.
• Shortfalls can be expected in both support personnel and equipment.
• Local, state, and federal assistance may not be immediately available.
• Specialized equipment and personal protective equipment may be required.

General

• The Emergency Operations Plan provides overall guidance for emergency planning.
• ESF annexes are designed to provide general guidance and basic information to include points of contact in case additional resources or expertise is needed at the EOC or incident scene.

Organization

• National Incident Management System concepts will be used for all incidents.
• Incident or Unified Command will be used by responding departments and agencies.
• When requested, ESF personnel will report to the EOC and utilize the EOP, its annexes, and other SOPs to activate and operate during an incident or event.

Activation

• If ESF 8 requires activation, the EOC Director or his/her staff will contact the departments or agencies listed in this annex to report to the EOC or support as needed.
• The College emergency notification system may be utilized for the notification and recall of groups needed for the function of the ESF.

Direction and Control

• The Incident Command System (ICS) is used by College personnel to respond to emergencies and disasters. During the emergency response phase, all responders will report to the designated Incident Commander (IC) at the Incident Command Post (ICP).
• The ESF shall not self-deploy to the incident scene. Wait to be contacted or try to contact the Emergency Operations Center for guidance and direction.
• Do not call any emergency dispatch or public safety answering point unless you have an emergency or critical information to report.

Emergency Support Function Operations

The emergency support function will primarily take action in the following phases:

• Preparedness
  • Review and update this annex.
  • Participate in any exercises, as appropriate.
  • Conduct periodic transportation needs assessments.
  • Maintain a list of personnel (at least one primary and one back up individual) that can be called to the EOC, as needed.
  • Develop procedures to document costs for any potential reimbursement.
• Response
  • When requested by the EOC Director, immediately respond to EOC.
  • Coordinate emergency information for public release through EOC Director and ESF 15, External Affairs.
• Recovery
  • Coordinate disaster health assistance as needed by the IC, EOC Director, or EOC Policy Group, as appropriate.
  • Ensure that ESF 8 team members or their agencies maintain appropriate records of costs incurred during the event.

ESF Coordinator

• Develop, maintain, and coordinate the planning and operational functions of the ESF Annex through the ESF primary agency.
• Maintain working inter-local agreements, or other functional contracts to bolster the ESF capability.

ESF Primary Agency

• Serves as the lead agency for ESF 8, supporting the response and recovery operations after activation of the EOC.
• Develop, maintain, and update plans and standard operating procedures (SOPs) for use during an emergency.
• Identify, train, and assign personnel to staff ESF 8 when College EOC is activated.
• At a minimum, the National Incident Management System ICS-100 and IS-700 on line classes should be completed by assigned personnel. Additional training requirements may found in the Training, Testing, and Exercise support annex, published under a separate cover.
• The primary agency of ESF 8 will assist in the identification and implementation of essential public health and medical services.
• Coordinate with the Texas Department of State Health Services and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control for public health emergencies, infectious disease control, and pandemic emergencies.

ESF Support and External Agencies

• The supporting medical external agencies in this ESF will assume primary agency status for medical only incidents, with all responsibilities of the primary agency as indicated in this annex, upon their arrival as the college does not operate its own emergency medical service capability.
• Support the College with inter-local agreements, or other functional contracts.
• Support the primary agency as needed.

Public Health and Infectious Disease Emergencies

Although timing is not certain, the occurrence of a public health crisis or dangerous infectious disease incident in the future can be predicted with a fair degree of certainty.

Three conditions must be met for an incident to occur:

• A disease must emerge or resurge;
• The disease must infect humans; and
• The disease must be suited to human to human transmission.

At the immediate onset of any suspected or confirmed public health or infectious disease cluster(s) the Office of Emergency Management will be notified to begin coordination with the ESF8 primary agency and required support agencies.

Many infectious diseases and emergent infectious agents may impact housing, instruction, and operation of the College. During a public health situation or infectious disease emergency, the College will address instructional, and personnel issues using the multi-hazard frameworks of the emergency operations, instructional, and operational plans. Subject matter experts will be utilized from local public health (Dallas County Health & Human Services), Texas Department of State Health Services, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Infection control measures may be implemented following guidance from subject matter experts for any public health or infectious disease situation – including preliminary mitigation actions. These measures may include, but are not limited to: awareness and education programs, international travel return restrictions, work/school/activity exclusion, isolation, quarantine, social distancing, decontamination, and destruction of material which cannot be safely decontaminated.

Acronyms

Definitions