Responses to Question Student 1 Good evening Dr. Ilegbodu and class, Listed below are my responses to this weeks forum questions. Why are public-private partnerships important in the National Incident Management System? The definition of public-private partnerships (PPP) is a long term contract between government entities and a private sector. The private sector is usually subject to more significant risk whilst in these contracts, but proven by many PPP partnerships, the benefits typically outweigh the risk. Public-private partnerships are important in the National Incident Management System in many ways, but one of the most important reasons why is often overlooked. The ultimate reason for importance is to continue to strengthen the resilience of this nation's communities. Through the strengthening of the communication between private and public sectors, "the community benefits from their increased communication and collaboration on preparedness, planning, protection, mitigation, response, and recovery"(FEMA 2011). During medical triage, which organizations or partnerships are involved in START triage? The START acronym in triage stands for simple triage and rapid treatment. Triage means "to sort", in French. From experience, during this evolution, there is only typically one triage officer per situation/scenario and those who are formally trained to triage the medical expectancy of casualties understand that idea. Therefore, those trained include, but is not limited to, emergency medical technicians, paramedics, police officers, rescuers, and firefighters. These individuals typically fall into state, local, or a federal organization, though EMT's and paramedics also could fall into the private sector, meaning they work for-profit, or non-profit organizations. What are some strategies to improve inter-agency communications and coordination between local, state, and federal governments? Some strategies to improve inter-agency communication between local, state, and federal governments start with having one standard operating procedure. If all the agencies were to follow one SOP, there would be less confusion between the black and white of agency roles and responsibilities. Another way to improve inter-agency communications is to have one technologically dynamic system that inter-agencies implement so that it would reduce the costs of having multiple systems versus having one. Rency References FEMA. 2011. IS-0660 Introduction to Public-Private Partnerships. Retrieved from Homeland Security GTSC. July 2016. Improving Collaboration Across Federal, State, and Local Agencies During Emergencies. Retrieved from Student 2 1. Why are public-private partnerships important in the National Incident Management System? This particular topic has been at the forefront of a lot of critical thinking for me personally, as I work for an organization that is on the forefront of establishing multiple public-private partnerships, which is ground breaking in our area. Where I work as a firefighter/paramedic, we have a drastic shortage in Paramedics and an incredible need for them. Unfortunately, paramedic school is expensive and the city budget is restricted. Our Chief set out to develop some pivotal public-private partnerships in order to fund paramedic training for two of our department's members. Successfully, two Advanced Emergency Medical Technicians (AEMT) have began their training, fully funded through public-private partnerships. With high acuity medical incidents occurring at the business places of a lot of our partners, they will directly benefit from the services of the newly trained paramedics, and the department will be enhanced by newly trained members. Additionally, as these collaborations continue to evolve, more funding can be obtained for many other public safety and emergency management objectives. This not only benefits the National Incident Management System (NIMS) capability in our area, but also those who have chosen to invest in these critical areas. As FEMA points out in IS-660, "sustain partnerships by communicating a common mission" (FEMA, 2011). 2. During medical triage, which organizations or partnerships are involved in START triage? As a paramedic, I have become familiar with the START triage algorithm. It was designed to compliment the Incident Command System (ICS) through it's ability to be integrated into a branch for mass casualty incidents. It follows the basic principles of triage by determining which patients are worth expending resources on given the scale of the incident, then prioritizing from that pool. However, this triage system accounts for the often over-looked and critical aspects of triage; destination hospitals so resources do not become overwhelmed, communication, span of control and transportation resources. Therefore, the first responding agency, mutual aid partners and local hospitals involved, must all work together. Additionally, a local bus or transportation company and other applicable organizations such as business representatives may be called upon to aid in the mitigation of the mass casualty incident (START and the Incident Command System, 2001). 3. What are some strategies to improve inter-agency communications and coordination between local, state, and federal governments? Strategies for improving the vital competency of communication begins with identifying the basic problems that exist. The first step in problem solving is identifying the problem. Current problems that exist are misunderstanding of what each resource does and what it is capable of, lack of planning for communications breakdowns, unknown federal resources and inclusive planning techniques. The simple strategy to fixing these problems is through education. Emergency managers and emergency personnel must have a curriculum in federal resource capabilities and when they become available. This is accomplished through the aforementioned education, but also through combined planning. Communications breakdowns, both mechanical and human related, must be anticipated and planned for at the minimum in all aspects of emergency planning, regardless of the threat at hand (National Emergency Communications Plan, 2008). Alexander IS-660: Introduction to Public-Private Partnerships [FEMA]. (2011, December 20). National Emergency Communications Plan. (2008). Retrieved September 10, 2018, from www.dhs.gov START and the Incident Command System (ICS). (2001). Retrieved September 10, 2018, from http://citmt.org/Start/overview.htm
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