Wednesday, April 2, 2025
4/2/2025
Hospital Preparedness Program - Abstract The Department of Health Emergency Preparedness & Response Division (EPRD) will continue to support the sustained integration of response strategies and tactics across facilities and agencies at the local and regional levels. The focus will include identifying and meeting community needs, fostering connections among members, strengthening the healthcare delivery system’s ability to continue to provide care during a disaster or emergency, and improving patient care. The goal for the next project period will continue with collaboration and engagement with healthcare delivery systems partners to support a territorial community approach to ensure and guarantee healthcare readiness island-wide. The overall objective of the American Samoa Hospital Preparedness Program for the coming budget periods, 2024-2028, is to continue to improve capabilities that can guide the American Samoa Department of Health in being efficient and effective in preparing for, responding to, and recovering from infectious disease outbreaks and other public health-specific incidents. Activities will address community needs, build connectivity to ensure every community in the islands can access healthcare, and ensure that the healthcare delivery system isn’t interrupted at any time. This coming budget year will dedicate time and funding to ensure partnerships flourish as the HPP program continues to work with the community and other local partners. One of the challenges of community resilience is the lack of coordination pre-disaster. A lot of time and effort has gone into establishing these partnerships, and it was not an easy task because of several factors, with cultural influence being one of them. EPRD plans to continue to build upon these partnerships and support collaborative activities with the healthcare coalition, the community partners, the faith-based organizations, the business sector, and the government. There will also be a great effort to include the special needs populations and groups of at-risk individuals in planning and training activities. The Samoan community is characterized as a close-knit cultural unit, and information sharing is critical to achieving emergency preparedness in this setting. Special attention and adjustments are expected to be linked to how the public and community deliver and receive messages and information. The HPP program has continued to improve on this over the years, a goal often difficult to achieve properly and effectively in settings that are deeply influenced by culture and traditions. Meaningful partnerships are the foundation for success in community resilience. Through these partnerships, the HPP program can remain committed to expanding the growth of a strong workforce by providing shared resources, information sharing, training opportunities, integrated planning forums, and building upon established partnerships to rapidly identify and respond to threats that will impact the health care system. Successful community preparedness relies largely on a coordinated and continuous process of pre-planning and implementation. Positive pre-planning and implementation outcomes are achieved when outputs can measure performance and apply corrective action.
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).