Cal PREPARE: Emergency Preparedness & Response Research
Project 4: Cal PREPARE Exercise Laboratory (EXLAB): Systems Research using Statewide Operations-based Exercises.
Our vision is to conduct high-impact emergency preparedness and response research that saves lives. Our mission is to improve public health and emergency medical systems preparedness and response by conducting collaborative, all-hazards research based on statewide and regional operations-based exercises, and real-time emergency responses.
California's large population (>38 million), its diverse geography, and numerous disaster threats makes this state an ideal setting to establish the California EXLAB. We will launch and implement the California EXLAB for conducting public health systems all-hazards research. These exercises attract the participation of many agencies including public health, fire, law enforcement, emergency medical services, and hundreds of hospitals. The California EXLAB will be an ongoing, cost-effective, and capability-based “laboratory” for researchers to study high-priority, all-hazards research questions that will benefit California, local jurisdictions, and the nation.
Goals
• To identify high-priority, all-hazards research questions based on comprehensive evaluations and stakeholder priorities;
• To establish a collaborative operational framework to integrate high-priority, all-hazards research questions into the design, development, conduct, and evaluation of statewide and regional exercises;
• To conduct high-priority, all-hazards research field studies based on statewide and regional exercises and real-time public health emergencies; and
• To translate research findings into practical, real-world solutions that directly benefits California, and states and communities throughout the United States.
Lead Investigator
• Tomás Aragón, MD, DrPH, Principal Investigator, UC Berkeley School of Public Health, CIDER
Co-investigators
• Michael Petrie, EMT-P, MBA, MA, Emergency Project Manager, UC Berkeley School of Public Health, CIDER
• Jennifer Hunter, MPH, DrPH Graduate Student Researcher, UC Berkeley School of Public Health, CIDER
Partners
• California Department of Public Health (CDPH)
• California Emergency Medical Services Authority (Cal EMSA)
• California Emergency Management Agency (Cal EMA)
• California Health and Human Services Agency (CHHS)
Aims
Aim 1: To conduct an in-depth descriptive study of the California Golden Guardian (California Emergency Management Agency), the Statewide Medical and Health Disaster (Emergency Medical Services Authority) operations-based exercises, and associated local hospital and health department exercises.
Aim 2: To develop an operational framework to support the integration research questions (including testing hypotheses) into the design, development, conduct, and evaluation phases of state and locally linked operations-based exercises.
Aim 3: To conduct full scale observational (and interventional) research studies using the California EXLAB.
Modified November 23, 2009 JD