CDPHE Pneumonic Plague Functional Exercise Series

Controller / Evaluator Briefing

Date: TBD by local HCC Partners

Welcome and Introductions

• Name

• Organization

• Exercise role

Agenda

• Assignments, roles, and responsibilities • Scenario information• Exercise safety plan• Controller communications plan• Master Scenario Events List (MSEL)• Evaluation instructions

Exercise Overview

The purpose of this exercise is to execute player actions against current response concepts, plans, and capabilities for the response to a Pneumonic Plague incident. The exercise will focus on the coordinated response by all community partners.

PHEP/HPP Capabilities

• Mission Set– Response

• Public Health Emergency Preparedness Capabilities– Recovery and Continuity of Operations– Emergency Operations Center Coordination– Information Sharing– Medical Surge– ADD ADDITION CAPABILITES AS NECESSARY

Exercise Objectives

• Healthcare coalition members and ESF 8 partners will monitor public health, medical, and mental/behavioral health needs of the community, throughout incident response, to ensure health system recovery operations are ongoing.

• Healthcare coalition members will demonstrate their ability to coordinate emergency response procedures, utilizing the established jurisdictional response framework (including ESF 8) to activate or support a local emergency operations center, within one hour of event notification.

Exercise Objectives• Evaluate the ability of the incident response structure (including

ESF 8) to maintain agency, healthcare coalition and community level situational awareness by disseminating pertinent event information as it is gathered, utilizing existing and redundant means of communication and following locally established processes and procedures, throughout incident response and recovery.

• Evaluate the ability of the ESF 8 response structure to maintain and support the activation of local healthcare emergency response processes; including tracking patients and monitoring the status of each healthcare facility, within four hours of event notification.

Exercise Objectives

• HCC should add agency or HCC specific injects here

Scenario• On October 26, _______ County hosted a large sporting

event with approximately 20,000 people in attendance. In preparation for the sporting event, the complex held two mandatory training days for all 150 event staff on (October 22 and 23).

• Event staff were being trained to perform customer service tasks such as ticket handling, food preparation or service, direct sales of tickets, or leading people to their seats.

Scenario• Small groups of trainees would work closely with a

trainer to learn each task, and the trainees mingled freely sharing smokes and drinks with one another during breaks.

• On the afternoon of the first day of the pre-event training (October 22), one member of the event staff, John Smith, suddenly became ill with fever, headache, cough and chills.

Scenario• John told his co-workers that the week prior to the

mandatory training (October 12-19), he spent time at his grandparent’s farm helping his grandpa clean out an old barn with a history of rodent infestation.

• His grandpa told him the squirrels at the farm had been dying recently. John really needed the job so he continued with the training, though he felt quite ill.

• John had a cat on the farm, who lived mainly outside. The cat had recently seemed sick, but John had allowed him inside and onto the couch with him.

Scenario• By the second day of the pre-event training (October 23),

John’s symptoms had worsened. He became nauseated and was coughing frequently.

• His supervisor took him to the hospital where he was diagnosed with pneumonia.

• Tests for viruses came back negative and it was unclear what infectious agent was causing the pneumonia.

• With the exception of the supervisor who drove the employee to the hospital, none of the other event staff paid much attention to their sick co-worker, and everyone else completed the two day training.

Scenario• On the day of the sporting event (October 26), 6 of the 150

event staff called in sick (including the supervisor who had taken John to the hospital) but the remaining staff showed up for work.

• People began pouring into the stadium, interacting with the staff.

• Some of the event staff who were working weren’t feeling well and were coughing. A few of them even had to leave work as they felt too ill to continue.

Scenario• After the sporting event, local area hospitals and clinics

noticed a significant increase in patients presenting with fever, chills, and exhaustion.

• Some of these patients also had respiratory and pneumonic symptoms.

• Influenza testing was negative in these patients, and hospitals struggled to identify the agent causing the illness.

Scenario

• Since the disease had a respiratory component and appeared to be transmissible person-to-person, hospitals began to enforce their applicable infection control protocols related to controlling the spread of the disease including the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) and appropriate patient isolation.

Exercise Participants• Local Public Health

Agencies• Hospitals• Clinics• Long Term Care Facilities• Community healthcare

providers• Law Enforcement• EMS Providers• Medical

Examiner/Coroner

• Community based ‐Organizations

• Environmental Health Agencies

• Local Emergency Management

• State Emergency Management

• VOAD Partners• Community Response

Partners

Exercise Artificialities• Exercise communication and coordination will be limited

to participating exercise organizations, venues, and the CDPHE SimCell.

• Only communication methods listed in the Communication Plan will be available to players to use during the exercise.

• Participating agencies may need to balance exercise play with real-world emergencies. Real-world emergencies will take priority.

Exercise Play

• Exercise Set Up: 8:00 am• C/E Briefing: 8:15 am• StartEx: 8:30 am• EndEx: 10:30 am• Hot Wash: Immediately after EndEx• Controller/Evaluator Meeting: Following Hot Wash

(This meeting is at the discretion of the planning team)

Safety

• Safety is EVERYONE’S concern.

• Safety concerns override exercise execution.

• Be aware of your environment and the responder’s activities.

• Controllers and evaluators must immediately inform the Safety Controller or Senior Controller of the safety concerns.

• Actual emergencies will be identified by the phrase “Real-World Emergency”.

Exercise Identification (Should be modified to reflect local

colors/identification)

• Controllers – Orange Vests with identification

• Evaluators – Orange Vests with identification

• Observers – Orange Vests with identification

• Players– Normal uniforms

Exercise Communications• The controller / evaluator communications network enables

controllers and evaluators to:– Report emergencies or safety issues– Report major timeline events– Acknowledge communication checks for timeline status

• The primary means of communication will be telephone and radio

• A list of phone numbers and positions can be found in the C/E Handbook and Communication Plan

• Use the phrase “This is an exercise” before and after any exercise messaging

Documentation

• C/E Handbook– EEG– Communication Plan

• MSEL – Timeline– Injects

Administration Details

• Restrooms• Emergency Exits located at the end of the hallways• Food and Water• After Hot Wash, please return:

‒ All documentation (EEGs and any notes/logs)‒ Participant feedback form

Controller Responsibilities

• Senior Controller (One per Exercise venue)‒ Monitor exercise progress and make decisions regarding any deviations or

changes‒ Coordinate any required modifications‒ Coordinate with other venue senior or lead controllers

• Controller ‒ Introduce, maintain, and coordinate exercise events in accordance with

the MSEL‒ Observe and report exercise artificialities that interfere with realism

• Additional information is listed in the Controller and Evaluator (C/E) Handbook

Controller Guidelines• DO:

‒ Deliver injects promptly as listed in the MSEL or directed by the Senior Controller or Exercise Director

‒ Coordinate activities with the Exercise Director, Senior Controller, SimCell, and other controllers in your area

‒ Notify the Senior Controller of events or need for changes

‒ Notify the Exercise Director and/or Senior Controller of ANY problems related to safety or scenario play

‒ Begin and end all exercise communications with the statement, “This is an exercise”

Controller Guidelines (Cont’d)

• DO NOT:‒ Hold personal conversations with players‒ Provide extra or advance information to players‒ Prompt players (unless directed by the Exercise

Director or Senior Controller)

Evaluation Overview

• The goal of exercise evaluation is to assess an organization’s capabilities to accomplish a mission, function, or objective

• Evaluation is accomplished by: ‒ Observing the event and collecting supporting data‒ Analyzing the data to compare performance against

expected outcomes‒ Reporting exercise outcomes in the AAR / CDPHE Survey

Evaluator Responsibilities• Understand the exercise objectives, core capabilities, concept, and

scenario

• Be familiar with the plans, policies, and procedures for the function or organization being evaluated

• Use EEGs to document performance relative to exercise objectives, core capabilities, capability targets, and critical tasks

• Inform the Senior Controller of problems related to exercise design

• Collect and submit all evaluation data, EEGs, and materials to the Lead Evaluator after the exercise

• Additional information is listed in the C/E Handbook

Evaluator Guidelines• DO:

‒ Observe and record player activities‒ Focus on critical tasks and capability targets‒ Assign EEG capability target ratings‒ Document strengths and areas for improvement‒ Complete your EEGs either during or immediately after the

exercise

• DO NOT:‒ Leave your post at key times‒ Prompt players‒ Answer questions for players‒ Interfere with player actions

Evaluation Requirements

• Evaluation requirements specify what will be evaluated during the exercise and how exercise play will be assessed

• Evaluation requirements are documented in the EEGs– Capabilities– Capability functions / targets– Critical tasks

• Performance ratings

Capability Target Ratings• Evaluators assign ratings for each capability target listed on the

EEG

• Review notes and observations relating to EEG critical tasks, and assign one of four ratings for the capability target:‒ Performed without Challenges (P)‒ Performed with some Challenges (S)‒ Performed with Major Challenges (M)‒ Unable to be Performed (U)

• Consult the ratings definitions page in the Controller / Evaluator handbook to determine the correct rating for the capability target

Final Reminders• Safety comes first. Use the phrase “real-world

emergency” when an emergency occurs• Know your role and responsibilities• Understand the scenario• Do not prompt or get in the way of players• Contact the Exercise Director and/or Senior

Controller with any problems or questions• Have Fun!

Questions?