scholarly journals ESSENCE, the Electronic Surveillance System for the Early Notification of Community-Based Epidemics (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Howard Burkom ◽  
Wayne Loschen ◽  
Richard Wojcik ◽  
Rekha Holtry ◽  
Monika Punjabi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Surveillance System ◽  
Severe Weather ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Local Health ◽  
Walter Reed Army Institute ◽  
Health Departments ◽  
Electronic Surveillance ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Detection And Tracking

BACKGROUND The Electronic Surveillance System for the Early Notification of Community-Based Epidemics (ESSENCE) is a secure web-based tool that enables health care practitioners to monitor health indicators of public health importance for detection and tracking of disease outbreaks, consequences of severe weather, and other events of concern. The ESSENCE concept began in an internally funded project at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU/APL), advanced with funding from the State of Maryland, and broadened in 1999 as a collaboration with the Walter Reed Army Institute for Research. Versions of the system have been further developed by JHU/APL in multiple military and civilian programs for timely detection and tracking of health threats. OBJECTIVE Aims of this article are to describe the components and development of a biosurveillance system increasingly coordinating all-hazards health surveillance as well as infectious disease monitoring among large and small health departments, to list key features and lessons learned in the growth of this system, and to describe the range of initiatives and accomplishments of local epidemiologists using it. METHODS Features of ESSENCE include spatial and temporal statistical alerting, custom querying, user-defined alert notifications, geographical mapping, remote data capture, and event communications. For visualization, configurable and interactive modes of data stratification and filtering, graphical and tabular customization, user preference management, and sharing features allow users to query data and view geographic representations, time series and data details pages, and reports. These features allow ESSENCE users to gather and organize the resulting wealth of information into a coherent view of population health status and communicate findings among users. RESULTS The resulting broad utility, applicability and adaptability of this system led to adoption of ESSENCE by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), numerous state and local health departments, and the Department of Defense (DOD) both nationally and globally. An open-source version SAGES is available for global, resource-limited settings. Resourceful users of the US NSSP ESSENCE have applied it to surveillance of infectious diseases, severe weather and natural disaster events, mass gatherings, chronic diseases and mental health, and injury and substance abuse. CONCLUSIONS With emerging high-consequence communicable diseases and other health conditions, the continued user-requirements-driven enhancements of ESSENCE demonstrate an adaptable disease surveillance capability focused on the everyday needs of public health. The challenge of a live system for widely distributed users with multiple different data sources and high throughput requirements has driven an novel, evolving architecture design.

scholarly journals ESSENCE, the Electronic Surveillance System for the Early Notification of Community-Based Epidemics

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Howard Burkom ◽  
Wayne Loschen ◽  
Richard Wojcik ◽  
Rekha Holtry ◽  
Monika Punjabi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Surveillance System ◽  
Health Indicators ◽  
Local Health ◽  
Walter Reed Army Institute ◽  
Electronic Surveillance ◽  
Public Health Importance ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Detection And Tracking ◽  
State And Local

The Electronic Surveillance System for the Early Notification of Community-Based Epidemics (ESSENCE) is a secure web-based tool that enables health care practitioners to monitor health indicators of public health importance for detection and tracking of disease outbreaks, consequences of severe weather, and other events of concern. The ESSENCE concept began in an internally funded project at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU/APL), advanced with funding from the State of Maryland, and broadened in 1999 as a collaboration with the Walter Reed Army Institute for Research. Versions of the system have been further developed by JHU/APL in multiple military and civilian programs for timely detection and tracking of health threats. Features of ESSENCE include spatial and temporal statistical alerting, custom querying, user-defined alert notifications, geographical mapping, remote data capture, and event communications. These features allow ESSENCE users to gather and organize the resulting wealth of information into a coherent view of population health status and communicate findings among users. The resulting broad utility, applicability and adaptability of this system led to adoption of ESSENCE by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), numerous state and local health departments, and the Department of Defense (DOD) both nationally and globally. With emerging high-consequence communicable diseases and other health conditions, the continued user-requirements-driven enhancements of ESSENCE demonstrate an adaptable disease surveillance capability focused on the everyday needs of public health. The challenge of a live system for widely distributed users with multiple different data sources and high throughput requirements has driven an novel, evolving architecture design.

scholarly journals Lessons Learned from a DoD and Virginia Data Sharing Pilot using NSSP ESSENCE

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Erin E. Austin ◽  
Paul E. Lewis ◽  
Arden Norfleet ◽  
Jamaal Russell
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Data Sharing ◽  
Syndromic Surveillance ◽  
Data Access ◽  
Pilot Project ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Surveillance Data ◽  
Service Members ◽  
Local Health ◽  
Health Departments

ObjectiveThis panel will focus on the experiences from the Department of Defense (DoD) and Virginia Department of Health (VDH) data sharing project using the National Syndromic Surveillance Program (NSSP) ESSENCE and will discuss lessons learned, challenges, and recommendations within the following areas: 1) data sharing authority, 2) coordination and implementation of data sharing with a focus on personnel, training, and managing access and 3) communication between local, state, and federal agencies.IntroductionThe DoD and VDH both maintain local ESSENCE installations to monitor the health status of their military and civilian populations, respectively, and submit syndromic surveillance data to the NSSP ESSENCE to foster data sharing and collaborative initiatives among public health entities. Military Treatment Facilities (MTFs), housed on DoD installations, provide healthcare to all service members and their beneficiaries stationed in the area. Service members and their beneficiaries represent a substantial portion of the local community and interact with the civilian population throughout daily activities. Sharing syndromic surveillance data between DoD and public health jurisdictions can provide public health situational awareness among both civilian and military populations to support disease surveillance. DoD and VDH engaged in a pilot project to develop processes and procedures for data sharing, data access, and communication with the aim they can serve as best practices for other jurisdictions seeking to share syndromic surveillance data with DoD.DescriptionThe pilot project began in June 2018 with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) NSSP team providing technical support. NSSP ESSENCE users from the VDH state and local health departments across nine Virginia city/counties participated in the project. VDH shared syndromic surveillance data from 34 healthcare facilities (17 urgent cares, 3 emergency care centers, and 14 hospitals) with DoD, which shared syndromic surveillance data from 18 MTFs (16 clinics and 2 hospitals) in Virginia. To standardize the analysis of syndromic surveillance data and use of NSSP ESSENCE across project participants, myESSENCE tabs were created and shared by between VDH and DoD. The goal was to facilitate and enhance communication between local public health departments and their DoD counterparts through the sharing of syndromic surveillance data.How the Moderator Intends to Engage the Audience in Discussions on the TopicThe moderator will solicit feedback from the audience regarding their data sharing experiences with other entities or agencies, data sharing practices, and ideas for use cases when sharing syndromic surveillance data with DoD.

Snow Storms and Vulnerable Populations: Local Public Health Activities in Response to the 2014-2015 Severe Winter Weather

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (03) ◽  
pp. 647-649
Author(s):  
Dorothy Bernard ◽  
Souleymane Konate ◽  
Elena Savoia
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Vulnerable Populations ◽  
Winter Season ◽  
Severe Weather ◽  
Local Health ◽  
Health Departments ◽  
Local Health Departments ◽  
Public Health Services ◽  
Local Public Health ◽  
The Impact

ABSTRACTThe Northeastern United States experienced some of its coldest and snowiest conditions ever recorded during the winter of 2014-2015. The snowfall and extreme temperatures created significant challenges for local health departments attempting to continue critical services and respond to storm-related needs of the community. This report from the field aims to describe the impact of the severe weather on local health departments’ operations, to examine the disruption to public health services, and to document public health support provided to vulnerable populations during the 2014-2015 winter season. Our findings show that the severe weather exposed major challenges in continuity of public health operations across health departments of various sizes and highlighted some key issues as well as effective strategies, such as collaborations with community-based organizations, to identify and address the needs of the most vulnerable during the winter storms. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2019;13:647-649)

scholarly journals Enhancing Drug Overdose Alerts with Spatial Visualization

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kayley Dotson ◽  
Robert Gottlieb
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Drug Overdose ◽  
Surveillance System ◽  
Local Health ◽  
County Level ◽  
Health Departments ◽  
Local Health Departments ◽  
Emergency Department Data ◽  
Drug Overdoses ◽  
Overdose Deaths

ObjectiveThis poster presentation shares Indiana’s approach of alerting local health departments (LHDs) with near real-time drug overdose data and how this process has been enhanced through mapping and analysis with a geographic information system (GIS).IntroductionSince 2008, drug overdose deaths exceeded the number of motor vehicle traffic-related deaths in Indiana, and the gap continues to widen1. While federal funding opportunities are available for states, it often takes years for best practices to be developed, shared, and published. Similarly, local health departments (LHDs) may experience lengthy delays to receive finalized county health statistics.Indiana collects and stores syndromic emergency department data in the Public Health Emergency Surveillance System (PHESS) and uses the Electronic Surveillance System for the Early Notification of Community-based Epidemics version 1.21 (ESSENCE) to monitor public health events and trends. In July 2017, the Indiana Overdose Surveillance Team (IOST) developed a standard process for monitoring and alerting local health partners of increases in drug overdoses captured in ESSENCE at the county level. ISDH is enhancing these alerts by mapping the data in GIS and providing spatiotemporal data to LHDs to inform more targeted intervention and prevention efforts.MethodsThe IOST monitors drug overdoses statewide by analyzing daily queries from ESSENCE and sending email alerts to LHDs that are experiencing a statistically significant increase in suspected overdose activity at a hospital or county level. The IOST then requests that LHDs complete an overdose response feedback survey describing their actions after receiving an overdose alert.The IOST GIS analyst has enhanced overdose alerts by utilizing daily emergency department data queries from the PHESS database based on chief complaint and diagnosis text. Python™ and ArcGIS™ are used to deduplicate and geocode records, calculate the rate of cases within a hexagonal grid, and calculate the kernel density of case counts to show patterns at the neighborhood level. Comparisons to previous time periods are also calculated. Temporal and spatial scales of analysis are flexible, but 7 days and 30 days are used most often. Results are mapped in an HTML file using an open source Python package for dissemination to LHDs.ResultsBetween July 26, 2017, and Sept. 4, 2018, the IOST sent 89 suspected overdose alerts to LHDs. Alerts were sent to 45 different LHDs, of which 22 received multiple alerts (range: 1-9 repeat alerts). LHDs were requested to complete the survey on their initial alert, and a total of 31 jurisdictions completed this survey (31/45 = 69%). The majority of the LHD respondents (27/31 = 87%) wanted to continue receiving overdose alert emails.Our enhanced spatial analysis project has mapped more than 500 cases per week. Geocoding was successful for approximately 87% of the addresses received through PHESS. Neighborhoods in urban areas with higher counts have been identified, though variability from week to week is high. Areas of high overdose rates that cross county boundaries have also been detected, which would not have been possible using ESSENCE alone.ConclusionsNotifying LHDs of near real-time drug overdose trends is a catalyst for drug overdose planning and response efforts in Indiana. GIS mapping of the data provides an easy way for LHDs to view and share spatial trends with their local planning partners and identify community intervention strategies that can reduce drug overdose rates and improve outcomes for overdose survivors.References1 Overdose Prevention [Internet]. Indianapolis: Indiana State Department of Health; 2017. Indiana Special Emphasis Report: Drug Overdose Deaths 1999-2015; August 2017. [cited 2017 Sept 25]. Available from: http://www.in.gov/isdh/files/2017_SER_Drug_Deaths_Indiana.pdf 

Patterns of Cross-Sector Collaboration in Local Health Departments: A Cluster Analysis

2020 ◽  
pp. 152483992097298
Author(s):  
Alexis K. Grant
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Cluster Analysis ◽  
Determinants Of Health ◽  
Local Health ◽  
Health Departments ◽  
Local Health Departments ◽  
Structural Determinants ◽  
Cluster Assignment ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Top Executive

Local health departments (LHDs) are positioned to act as the community health strategist for their catchment area, which requires cross-sector collaboration. However, little research exists to understand how much and what types of cross-sector collaboration occur and its impact on LHD practice. Data from 490 LHDs who participated in the 2016 National Profile of Local Health Departments survey were analyzed to identify patterns of cross-sector collaboration among LHDs. In the survey, LHDs reported the presence of collaborative activities for each of 22 categories of organizations. Factor analysis was used to identify patterns in the types of organizations with which LHDs collaborate. Then, cluster analysis was conducted to identify patterns in the types of cross-sector collaboration, and cross-sectional analyses examined which LHD characteristics were associated with cluster assignment. LHDs collaborated most with traditional health care–oriented organizations, but less often with organizations focused on upstream determinants of health such as housing. Three distinct clusters represented collaboration patterns in LHDs: coordinators, networkers, and low-collaborators. LHDs who were low-collaborators were more likely to serve smaller populations, be unaccredited, have a smaller workforce, have a White top executive, and have a top executive without a graduate degree. These findings imply that public health practitioners should prioritize building bridges to a variety of organizations and engage in collaboration beyond information sharing. Furthermore, LHDs should prioritize accreditation and workforce development activities for supporting cross-sector collaboration. With these investments, the public health system can better address the social and structural determinants of health and promote health equity.

scholarly journals Actionable lessons for the US COVID vaccine program

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gary L. Freed
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Local Health ◽  
National Strategy ◽  
Individual State ◽  
Health Departments ◽  
Local Health Departments ◽  
Public Health Infrastructure ◽  
Health Infrastructure ◽  
The Us ◽  
Vaccine Distribution

AbstractWhen attempting to provide lessons for other countries from the successful Israeli COVID-19 vaccine experience, it is important to distinguish between the modifiable and non-modifiable components identified in the article by Rosen, et al. Two specific modifiable components included in the Israeli program from which the US can learn are (a) a national (not individual state-based) strategy for vaccine distribution and administration and (b) a functioning public health infrastructure. As a federal government, the US maintains an often complex web of state and national authorities and responsibilities. The federal government assumed responsibility for the ordering, payment and procurement of COVID vaccine from manufacturers. In designing the subsequent steps in their COVID-19 vaccine distribution and administration plan, the Trump administration decided to rely on the states themselves to determine how best to implement guidance provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This strategy resulted in 50 different plans and 50 different systems for the dissemination of vaccine doses, all at the level of each individual state. State health departments were neither financed, experienced nor uniformly possessed the expertise to develop and implement such plans. A national strategy for the distribution, and the workforce for the provision, of vaccine beyond the state level, similar to that which occurred in Israel, would have provided for greater efficiency and coordination across the country. The US public health infrastructure was ill-prepared and ill-staffed to take on the responsibility to deliver > 450 million doses of vaccine in an expeditious fashion, even if supply of vaccine was available. The failure to adequately invest in public health has been ubiquitous across the nation at all levels of government. Since the 2008 recession, state and local health departments have lost > 38,000 jobs and spending for state public health departments has dropped by 16% per capita and spending for local health departments has fallen by 18%. Hopefully, COVID-19 will be a wakeup call to the US with regard to the need for both a national strategy to address public health emergencies and the well-maintained infrastructure to make it happen.

scholarly journals The Road Map to Preparedness: A Competency-Based Approach to All-Hazards Emergency Readiness Training for the Public Health Workforce

2005 ◽  
Vol 120 (5) ◽  
pp. 504-514 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cindy L. Parker ◽  
Daniel J. Barnett ◽  
Ayanna L. Fews ◽  
David Blodgett ◽  
Jonathan M. Links
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Emergency Response ◽  
Core Competencies ◽  
Public Health Workforce ◽  
Local Health ◽  
Health Departments ◽  
Training Tool ◽  
The Road ◽  
Road Map ◽  
Competency Based

Facing limited time and budgetary resources, state and local health departments need a practical, competency-based training approach to meet the all-hazards readiness requirements of their employees. The Road Map to Preparedness is a training tool designed to assist health departments in providing comprehensive, agency-tailored readiness instruction to their employees. This tool uses an incentive-based, game-like, experiential learning approach to meet the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's nine core competencies for all public health workers while facilitating public health employees' understanding and acceptance of their emergency response roles. A corresponding evaluation tool, the Road Map to Preparedness Evaluation, yields metrically-driven assessments of public health employee readiness competencies. Since its pilot in 2003, the Road Map to Preparedness has met with enthusiastic response from participating health departments in the mid-Atlantic region. In addition to its public health impact, the Road Map offers future promise as a tool to assist organizational emergency response training in private sector and non-public health first-responder agency settings.

scholarly journals The 4-Level Approach: Prevention of Suicidal Behaviour Through Community-Based Intervention

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ulrich Hegerl ◽  
Ines Heinz ◽  
Ainslie O'Connor ◽  
Hannah Reich
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Primary Care ◽  
High Risk ◽  
Suicidal Behaviour ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Community Based Interventions ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Four Levels ◽  
The Many ◽  
Different Levels

Due to the many different factors contributing to diagnostic and therapeutic deficits concerning depression and the risk of suicidal behaviour, community-based interventions combining different measures are considered the most efficient way to address these important areas of public health. The network of the European Alliance Against Depression has implemented in more than 120 regions within and outside of Europe community-based 4-level-interventions that combine activities at four levels: (i) primary care, (ii) general public, (iii) community facilitators and gatekeepers (e.g., police, journalists, caregivers, pharmacists, and teachers), and (iv) patients, individuals at high risk and their relatives. This review will discuss lessons learned from these broad implementation activities. These include targeting depression and suicidal behaviour within one approach; being simultaneously active on the four different levels; promoting bottom-up initiatives; and avoiding any cooperation with the pharmaceutical industry for reasons of credibility.

The Public Health Police

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Trevor Hoppe
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Hiv Positive ◽  
Local Health ◽  
Health Departments ◽  
Adherence To Treatment ◽  
The Public ◽  
Treatment Regimens ◽  
Health Authorities ◽  
Public Health Authorities ◽  
Local Health Authorities

As the HIV epidemic wore on in the 2000s, public health authorities became enamored with the idea of “ending AIDS.” That is, if they could just get HIV-positive people to take their pills and stop infecting other people. Health departments began to track HIV-positive clients more closely, aiming to control their behavior and ensure their adherence to treatment regimens. This chapter explores how local health authorities ensure that HIV-positive clients behave in a manner officials deem responsible—and how they catch and punish those who do not. While the state maintains that the work of local health officials is done solely in the interests of promoting public health, their efforts to control HIV-positive clients reveal that they are also engaged in policing and law enforcement.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document