Introduction
The Infectious Disease Emergency Response (IDER) Toolkit was developed to assist local health departments in developing and/or supplementing their infectious disease emergency response plans in order to strengthen their ability to prepare for and respond to infectious disease emergencies. Whether a local health department utilizes the entire IDER Toolkit, or simply supplements an existing plan with specific items, the IDER Toolkit contains materials that are useful and appropriate for all types of local health departments.
Users of the IDER Toolkit should be able to:
-
Recognize how the Incident Command System may be adopted to plan for and respond to infectious disease emergencies.
-
Discuss the necessary roles and responsibilities during an infectious disease emergency response.
-
Describe how to develop an infectious disease emergency response plan.
View the IDER brochure for a quick overview of the Toolkit.
Background
The IDER Toolkit integrates the key elements of communicable disease control and prevention with emergency management concepts. The materials presented in the IDER Toolkit are based on resources developed and currently used by the San Francisco Department of Public Health. Most of the documents in the IDER Toolkit have been modified into templates so that local health departments may easily tailor them to their jurisdiction.
Toolkit Strengths
- Incident Command System structure that accounts for unique public health and infectious disease-related challenges.
- One core, over-arching plan for all infectious disease emergencies.
- Guidance on how to operationalize your infectious disease emergency response plan.
- Modular and scalable format.
- Recognizes existing "promising practices" in public health emergency preparedness.
- Aligns with several Public Health Emergency Preparedness (PHEP) Capabilities.
View the expanded IDER Toolkit Introduction for more information about the IDER Toolkit, including when to use the IDER Plan, and suggestions on how to address common challenges in implementing an Incident Command System-based plan.
