Pandemic Planning & Preparedness

The Ohio State UniversityOffice of Business & Finance

Department of Public Safety

Bob Armstrong

Emergency & Disaster Preparedness Coordinator

•50,504 Total Enrollment3,799 Foreign Students

•12,000+/- Courses•461 Buildings•25 Residential Housing Units

12,000+/- Residents

The Ohio State UniversityColumbus Campus

• 4,752 Faculty• 17,736 Staff• 4,987 Student Employees

• 27,475 Total

The Ohio State UniversityColumbus Campus

Timeline

• November 16, 2005 – Presidents Cabinet Requested Medical Center to Create a Report

• January 9, 2006 – Emergency Preparedness & Disaster Coordinator Appointed

• April 5, 2006 – OSUMC Presented Final Report• May 3, 2006 – President Required All Departments to

Create a Plan• August 15, 2006 – All Plans Due into Public Safety• September 29, 2006 – Tabletop Exercise

The Ohio State University Medical Center (OSUMC)

• Initially Assigned as Lead Department• Updated Internal Emergency Plans

– Increase Surge Capacity– Address Increased Need For Isolation /

Quarantine – Stockpile Supplies

Planning Assumptions• At least 40% of all employees will not be able to

report to work due to illness.• Each department will have held special training

sessions to train everyone on how to implement their plan.

• Each department will be able to operate up to 72 hours without ANY outside agency help. (no deliveries, no extra staff, nothing from outside of their specific unit)

• Vendor deliveries may be delayed for up to 10 days

Planning Assumptions• If the University closes, 5,000 students will

remain on campus and require housing, food, medical care and other essential services

• Local, county, state and federal resources will not be available to the University for up to 12 weeks

• Essential utility services will continue, with only minor disruptions, throughout the pandemic

• The Ohio State University may need to temporarily close down and send all students home for 12 weeks.

Planning Process

– Medical Center– Provosts’ Office– Human Resources– Facilities– Public Safety– Research

• Lab Animal• Other

– Enterprise Continuity– Information Technology– Student Affairs

• Dining Services• Student Housing• Student Health Services• Counseling Center

Requested Point Person Be Assigned From:

Planning Process cont.

• Created Standardized Plan Template– Easy to complete– Limited Time Commitment– Incorporates Business Continuity– All Departments/Units Must Complete by

August 15– Can Be “Tweaked” to Create/Update All

Hazards Plan– Once Complete, Department will be 50% Of

Way Through Business Continuity Process

Planning Process cont.• 9 Questions/Tasks

– Department Name– Name of Your Vice President– Services Provided During a Disaster– Services Provided on a Daily Basis– Break These Services Down to “Essential”,

“Contingent”, “Non-Essential”– Identify “Essential” Personnel and Their Backup– Create a Call Tree (BCP)– List All Vendors With Contact Info (BCP)– Internal & External Contact List (BCP)

Facilities

• Identified Housing Units with External Ventilation

• Installing Hand Sanitizing Stations• Utilities• Environmental Health & Safety• Janitorial

Human Resources

• Established a Policy Committee• Working With Unions• Creating New Disaster Policies

– Policies Take Effect During State of Emergency Only

– Final Draft Being Reviewed in September

Communications• Communications

Committee– Meeting Monthly– Communicators From

All Departments• Creating Specific

Procedures and Reporting Structure

• One Office to Serve as Point of Contact

• Seasonal Flu

• Developing “Pre-Canned” Messaging

• Communications is Vital– Website– Campus Newspaper– Email– Flyers– Parents Association– Faculty & Staff– Town Hall Meetings

Legal

• Established Legal Committee– Public Safety– Medical Center– Legal Affairs

• Approximately 500 Questions– Documenting All Answers– Identifying Statute/Law where Answer Can Be

Found

Information Technology

• Identified All Essential Processes

• Prioritized Processes

• Ensured Redundancy

• Increasing Capacity

Research

• University Lab Animal Research

• Research Projects

• Attempt to Continue Projects or Shut Down?

Student Affairs

• Dining Services

• Student Housing

• Student Health Services

• Counseling Center

Dining Services

• ‘Just-In-Time’ Delivery

• Student Employees

• Requesting Agreements From Suppliers

• Investigating Alternatives– HeaterMeals

• Our Biggest Concern

Student Housing

• Identifying Buildings for OSUMC

• Working with Facilities to Identify Best Buildings to Keep Open

• Will Be Responsible to “Check On” Ill or Absent Students

• Our #2 Concern

Student Health Services

• Training/Educating All Staff

• 15 Doctors

• Increasing Surge Capacity

• Stockpiling Supplies

• Director is POC for Student Affairs

Counseling Center

• Providing Additional Training

• Increasing Surge Capacity

• Will Make Calls to Parents – If Necessary

Provosts’ Office

• Established 2 Committees– 2 Months to Complete Report

• Draft Completed – Final Due September

– Teaching, Learning, Grades & Calendar• 10 Issues Identified

– Student Life & Professional Development

• 6 Issues Identified

Teaching, Learning, Grades & Calendar

• Academic Affairs• Colleges Of Arts &

Sciences• Advising/Academic

Services• University Registrar• Human Nutrition

• University Libraries• Resource Management

Systems• Student Housing• Faculty Rep• Undergrad Student (2)• Graduate Student

Teaching, Learning, Grades & Calendar cont.

• What is the minimum number of weeks of instruction necessary to assign pass/fail grades? Under what conditions should we require pass/fail grading or suggest pass/fail grading or require that standard grades be assigned?

• Should we use scheduled intersession weeks for instruction and final examinations?

• How do we mitigate the impact on graduating seniors, students involved in research, students writing a thesis to graduate with distinction, students doing independent study, students doing internships, and students who must serve a required number of clinical hours?

Teaching, Learning, Grades & Calendar cont.

• Can we dramatically increase summer quarter course offerings?

• Should we allow our students to enroll in other universities (assuming there are some that are less severely affected) for OSU credit following the Tulane/Katrina model?

• What policies need to be waived or liberalized regarding the use of incompletes, make-up examinations, withdrawal without penalty, graduate leaves of absences, refund of fees, and release from dormitory contracts in the period after an outbreak begins but before an order is issued to suspend classes and close campus?

Teaching, Learning, Grades & Calendar cont.

• Do we have separate policies for lecture, laboratory, mixed lecture/laboratory, foreign language and independent study courses?

• Do we have separate policies depending upon whether the university is impacted in the first, second or final third of a quarter? Do we have separate policies for autumn, winter and spring quarter?

• How much guidance do we give faculty in the assigning of grades in an affected quarter? How much do we simply rely on the good sense of the faculty as in 1918 and 1970?

• Do we allow or encourage some courses to continue using distance-learning technology?

Student Life & Professional Development

• Academic Affairs• Inter-Professional

Council• College of Law• Dept. of Family

Medicine• College of the Arts

• College of Biological Sciences

• Student Financial Aid• College of Graduate

Students• Research Foundation• Wetland Research Park

Student Life & Professional Development

• How do we maintain the salaries of student hourly employees, GTA’s, GRA’s, SIA’s and post-doctoral students? Do we need separate policies for students supported on general funds, federal, state and corporate sponsored funds?

• How do we maintain federal financial aid to students?

• How do we identify and accommodate international and domestic students who have no place to go and can not leave the dormitories?

Student Life & Professional Development

• What are our responsibilities to students who live off campus?

• How do we mitigate the impact on students seeking professional accreditation and licensing?

• What interim policies need to be developed to cover the period after an outbreak begins but before an order is issued to suspend classes and close campus?

Department of Public Safety

• Lead Department on Planning & Preparedness

• Which Health Department Do We Answer To?

• Priority Vaccination for Officers• All Plans Are Based Off of Our

Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan (CEMP)

Closing the University• 3 Options

– Remain open– Soft Close

• Undergrads are asked to return home• Grad Students remain on campus to maintain any

research, experiments or projects they are working on

– Hard Close• Essential Staff & stranded students only remain on

campus

Recovery

• Disinfection of Buildings– Housing– Classrooms

• Financial

• Staff, Faculty, Students– Replacement Staff/Faculty– Mental Health

Bob ArmstrongEmergency & Disaster Preparedness

CoordinatorThe Ohio State University

Department of Public SafetyArmstrong.349@osu.edu

614-247-4276

Contact Info