NM MEMS Framework

The New Mexico Modular Emergency Medical System (NM MEMS) Framework

Summary: Community outreach will be provided through the coordinated operation of a variety of public health, healthcare and social service organizations in the community affected by the incident. Coordinated systematic community outreach will help ensure that persons with disabilities, the elderly, and other vulnerable populations, especially the home bound, have access to services from the health care delivery system and are provided basic life sustainment measures.

Description: The community outreach effort may require workers to distribute information, collect information about the perceived target population, distribute prophylaxis, provide emotional support or determine transportation requirements to move patients, especially those who could not access the AOCA, throughout the community. Outreach could include such basic life sustainment services as: the dissemination of public information and education about self care and the incident; ensuring that food and other provisions are available, especially during orders of quarantine, social distancing or< medical self-isolation measures; and, the provision of triage and prophylaxis.

A secondary purpose of Community Outreach (CO) may be to provide some form of patient care beyond mass prophylaxis, such as patient assessment and triage. Information about AOCAs, AICAs and PODS, and appropriate access to health care will need to be communicated to the community at large. The connection between Public Information (PI)> and Community Outreach (CO) is integral for effective utilization of available health care resources. In planning, the CO component must be structured in a flexible manner so that it can either be an intense effort lasting for a few days, or a more extended one lasting several weeks.

Planning Assumptions:

a. There are many ways for a locality to conduct a community outreach effort. Some options are not appropriate for every situation or for every jurisdiction. Each will need to determine which method, or combination of methods, would be the most appropriate for their community.

b. Planners should consider the exact tasks to assign to the outreach effort. Tasks will be determined by the nature of the incident, for example, whether or not a communicable agent is involved.

c. The geographic, cultural, and social make-up of the community will greatly effect how the outreach program will operate and how many resources will be required. For instance, it will require fewer resources to canvass a single apartment building than several individual houses or ranches in rural or frontier areas.

d. Informational materials and messages used during outreach must be multi-lingual, culturally appropriate and adapted for the hearing or visually impaired.

e. State agencies have an integral role in supporting community outreach. The NM Human Services Department is responsible for ensuring the continuity of services to provide food stamps, medical assistance, general assistance, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), and to oversee the Medicaid program.

f. Community-based organizations (e.g. faith-based, health councils) may be included to plan and exercise community outreach when first responder personnel are unavailable or to ensure that all resources are utilized for community outreach purposes.

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