Situation Rooms

The objective of this workshop is to introduce students to the challenges of structuring an emergency response at the local level including society, and to work effectively coordinating programs across governmental levels (local, regional, and federal). 

Each group will discuss the epidemic context, strategies, and arrangements for the events posted each day. The proposals require multidisciplinarity, teamwork, addressing various situations that arise over time.

You are a technical group responsible for evaluating the context and for adopting decisions and measures to address the health crisis at the municipal level. It may need support from other spheres of government, but decisions made in this situation room concern the local level.

Group Organization

The students will be assigned to one of 10 situation rooms  and will work in 5 work sessions during the week and make a presentation on the sixth day (Saturday, 22nd).

Each group is encouraged to organize the activities considering 4 main working areas: Planning, Analysis, Logistics and Communications (see suggested responsibilities). As a member of a specific group, you should feel free to exchange views with other areas in your situation room, but be careful that there are not gaps in the response. 

1. PLANNING: List and plan the activities necessary to manage the health situation or emergency; Periodically monitor the execution of activities; Identify and mobilize, when necessary, the areas or entities related to the situation; Coordinate and participate in the development of tools and materials to support the management of the event; Identify needs and coordinate the acquisition of specialized resources; Stipulate time, duration and activities carried out in the daily briefings and debriefings.
2. ANALYSIS: Analyze epidemiological data; Coordinate and perform the health risk assessment analysis; Consolidate and present the epidemiological situation and analysis of the actions developed; Generate information for decision-making in health.
3. LOGISTICS: Determine needs for physical space, staff and necessary supplies; Coordinate logistical needs, such as field trips and meetings at other institutions; Maintain the facilities and equipment necessary for the response and daily activities of the Situation Room in operation.
4. COMMUNICATION: Write press releases regarding the health situation and present data related to the event; Prepare and make available periodic reports to the media; Consolidate and respond to media demands (radio, TV, newspaper, etc.); Subsidize city leaders  with brief summaries and briefings on the situation on a daily basis.

Workflow

1. To start in the first day, each member of the group should introduce themselves by mentioning: academic background, their training and skills, institutional affiliation, and experiences in public health and in multidisciplinary activities.
2. Each day the group should nominate a rapporteur, who will be a member of the communication group. This person is responsible for reporting the day’s activities and decisions to the monitor of that room.
3. Monitors will follow the discussions and bring inputs to students groups
4. At the end of each day, the group will summarize the discussions and recommendations
5. At each meeting, the group should discuss:
   • What is known about the disease;
   • What you need to know,
   • What we don’t know,
   • What responses are needed to face the health crisis, to generate evidence, and assist in decision-making (think also of research that may help)
6. On the 5th day, the group will summarize the epidemic context, all events, proposed strategies, and difficulties faced.
7. On Saturday, the group will present to the whole school a 15 minutes summary of the pandemic context and the main strategies recommended by the group for the proposed challenge. It would also be interesting for the group to propose which multidisciplinary institutional framework  should be recommended to have in  place, at a local level, for epidemic preparedness, for future epidemics or pandemics.