County-Level Planning for Efficient Distribution of Emergency Medical Countermeasures with RealOpt Software.

Emergency preparedness systems plan for antibiotic distribution and vaccine administration to respond to public health threats. The arrival of a COVID-19 vaccine underscores the importance of organized logistics for rapid administration to populations. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Cities Readiness Initiative encourages frontline responders from 72 US cities and metropolitan statistical areas to use planning software, such as RealOpt-POD-v8.0.2, to design dispensing operations and predict staffing needs. However, planning can be difficult for local jurisdictions given uncertainty about how long it may take to complete various processes during a dispensing operation, including assessment of countermeasure needs for each person (eg, based on age or pregnancy status) and the careful dispensing of countermeasures and accompanying education. The Union County Health Department in Ohio gathered data on the timing of typical processes for an anthrax medical countermeasures distribution site through a small-scale drill and used these data to parameterize a RealOpt model capable of serving the rural county's population of just over 50,000 people within 24 hours. Results help fill a gap in parameterizing RealOpt-based planning models by highlighting the use of a small-scale drill to inform time estimates, which can be applied to RealOpt as part of county-level planning in advance of larger-scale drills to evaluate dispensing capabilities and effectiveness. The findings provide a methodological basis of future resource typing for adaptable and scalable dispensing, particularly for rural areas. Both the approach and resulting antibiotics dispensing schematic presented here could be tailored to support planning for population-based countermeasure administration to combat emerging pandemics.

"Health in the English Language": A Partnership With the Alaska Literacy Program.

BACKGROUND: Health literacy is an issue that is influenced by social determinants and improved by community-based initiatives. Enhancing health literacy can lead to patient engagement, appropriate use of health care, and improved health outcomes. Understanding the community stories by working with vulnerable populations, such as English language learners (ELL), can help inform other health literacy projects on how to enable ELL immigrants to be involved in their health care. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF ACTIVITY: "Health in the English Language" was an 8-week course based on the social view of health literacy that was created and taught by university students. This curriculum was implemented at the Alaska Literacy Program (ALP) during the summer of 2018 in Anchorage, Alaska. Course participants were adult ELL. IMPLEMENTATION: Throughout the summer, the course curriculum was adapted to fit students' needs. Course participants completed open-ended evaluations during the class, and feedback was obtained via interviews with leaders in the community and leaders at ALP. Community organizations were brought into the classroom using resource sheets and an end-of-course community health fair. RESULTS: Student evaluations identified important themes of managing health care and medications, as well as learning new words. Feedback from ALP and community partners highlighted active teaching styles and how the course benefited the community. The results reflect the impact the course had on increasing student confidence, knowledge, and skills to interact with health care providers. The course created a culture that facilitated the ability of immigrant community members to access health resources. The feedback received demonstrated the importance of university students partnering with nonprofits to create effective health literacy programs that are community centered. LESSONS LEARNED: Similar programs can be replicated using community and university partnerships to address health literacy problems. [HLRP: Health Literacy Research and Practice. 2019;3(Suppl.):S79-S87.]. PLAIN LANGUAGE SUMMARY: The course "Health in the English Language" was created to teach English and skills to understand health information to English language learners. The course leaders worked with community-based organizations. A variety of content, such as going to the doctor's office, reading medication labels, describing symptoms, and staying healthy, was included.