Friday, April 18, 2025
4/18/2025
Supporting Chilkat Indian Village Public Health Capacity in COVID19 Preparedness and Response - There is a dire need to improve and increase tribal capacity to mitigate and control the effects of COVID19 among our community members and this funding would allow us to rapidly mobilize and respond to the novel coronavirus. Our community has sustained a high economic burden, a depleted workforce, and over half of our community members are identified as high-risk for adverse health outcomes if COVID19 reached our community. We do not have an emergency response plan, adequate EMS/EMT trained personnel, or adequate supplies to disseminate to the community in response to the novel coronavirus. If the novel virus strikes, we are not prepared, and have over 60% of members who have identified as high risk. Current barriers to adequate response include lack of available resources, limited staffing, and community consensus on an emergency response plan. We need someone to fill a void and work toward quality assurance in COVID19 mitigation and countermeasures. Once funding is obtained, funds will be used to create a Tribal COVID19 Liaison position within the Chilkat Indian Village. The purpose of this position will solely be working on mitigation and countermeasures of the novel coronavirus, disseminating information, creating an incident command center, assisting community members who need social services, creating a place to quarantine within the community, assisting tribal members coordinate telehealth, and improving overall community emergency preparedness, whilst alleviating stresses within the organization of those who have been pulled away from their normal duties in order to assist with the pandemic. Hazard pay will be dispersed, as many essential workers are fearful of coronavirus. Many of our essential employees are the sole income for their households, the head of household, are high risk, or have children or elderly in their homes. Once awarded, we will prioritize procurement of COVID19 mitigation and countermeasure supplies and materials, emergency preparedness planning, and dissemination of information over surge staffing costs and hazard pay. Our work plan includes activities in six of the eight public health capacity categories (emergency operations, health information technology, surveillance and epidemiology, communication, countermeasures, recovery, and other activities). The purpose of this program is to rapidly mobilize and respond to the novel coronavirus in our community through activities defined in our work plan. Our outcomes include increasing or improving capacity in emergency operations, health information technology, surveillance and epidemiology, communication, mitigation and countermeasures, and recovery activities in an effort to limit the effects of COVID19 on our community, prevent deaths, and ensure our culture survives.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).