This page is your connection to many of the goings-on in our beautiful state concerning emergency response training and education. Here you will find the latest and most up-to-date information about NMsphere, our training programs, announcements of upcoming events in NM, and highlights of our successes.

Please check back often.

9/28/07– NMsphere to Launch Learning Management System

NMsphere is happy to announce the launch of our Learning Management System (LMS) by late Fall of 2007. This Web site is the first step in that process. The LMS is an extremely powerful tool on which we will be deploying and scheduling emergency response education and training activities in New Mexico. Through the LMS you will be able to register for instructor led trainings, launch web-based courses for self paced independent study, register for seminars/workshops, and view a list of important drills and exercises happening in your local area. Instructor led trainings are offered throughout the state and cover a wide variety of topics. For your convenience, we will also employ state-of-the-art distance learning technologies to bring you other training options and increased flexibility.

The LMS is intended for use by anyone and everyone who will have a role in emergency response efforts regardless of job, discipline, or agency/organization affiliation. Our goal is to increase the number of trained first/initial responders and health/medical professionals in the state to strengthen capacity for preparing for and responding to any emergency. Once the system is deployed in Spring 2007, we welcome and encourage health/medical professionals to sign-up and take advantage of this convenient, beneficial tool. Please stay tuned for the release date.

For more information about the LMS, see the What is NMsphere? page and our Frequently Asked Questions/Questions about the NMsphere Learning Management System (LMS).

2/20/07 - Joint Information Center Exercise Held in Albuquerque

A live exercise for a Joint Information Center (JIC) was conducted on February 20, 2007. Participants for this exercise were the City of Albuquerque, Sandia National Labs and the NMDOH Bureau of Health Emergency Management. This event was designed to test the setup and messaging to the media around a Radiological event at Sandia National Labs. The Risk Communicators from the Bureau of Health Emergency Management, Albuquerque Police Department, Albuquerque Environment Department, Sandia National Labs and the National Nuclear Security Administration were involved in preparing messages for the media and held a simulated press conference with two news media representatives. The feedback from the evaluators and participants will assist Sandia National Labs with improvements and participation from other key agencies. The JIC with the Sandia National Labs will be tested on a quarterly basis with agencies involved in the area potentially affected by an event on the Kirtland Air Force base.

11/07/06 - Updating of Answering The Call Is Complete

The awareness level course for health and medical emergency preparedness & response in NM (Answering The Call) has been updated. The 2006-07 curriculum has the most current health emergency management information. A pilot session of this new version is on Sunday, November 19th.

The ’06-’07 version condenses slides, adds more photographs, and includes several new sections such as ethics guidelines, PPE and decontamination, and the Modular Emergency Management Systems for New Mexico (NM–MEMS) which relates to medical surge and mass prophylaxis capabilities.

Remember to check the “Activities List” section in NMsphere for upcoming trainings. Any health/medical professional that would like to have Answering The Call delivered to a group, please click on “Contact Us” in the menu bar and provide the details. Someone will respond back within 3 business days.

11/02/06 - NM Hospitals Prepare for Possible Influenza Pandemic

The one hour talk is designed to:

• Describe the natural history of pandemic influenza
  
• Describe the similarity and differences between human and avian influenza
  
• Describe the modes of transmission for human influenza virus
  
• Describe methods to limit influenza virus transmission and mitigate influenza
  
• Present some infectious disease control options for hospitals to implement when preparing for pandemic influenza
  
• Promote the concept of community based planning for pandemic influenza

These presentations are being given by Dr. C. Mack Sewell, New Mexico State Epidemiologist, or one of the medical epidemiologists from the Department’s Epidemiology and Response Division. Anyone interested in scheduling one of these talks should contact Mr. Stuart Castle, Pandemic Influenza Presentation Coordinator, at 505-490-2810 or e-mail: castle@cnsp.com.

6/1/06 – Strategic National Stockpile Exercise Held

On May 24, 2006 from 9:00am-3:00pm, the New Mexico Department of Health, Office of Health Emergency Management, conducted a Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) Tabletop Exercise (TTX) in Santa Fe. The exercise included an Executive Summary for Department Secretaries who would commit resources from their departments should the state request SNS assets.

The exercise objectives were designed around Annexes 2 – 6 of the State SNS Plan to ensure and evaluate the effectiveness of the plan. Participants included representatives from the Department of Public Safety, Office of Emergency Management, New Mexico State Police, New Mexico National Guard, Department of Transportation, New Mexico Department of Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Division of SNS, United States Marshal Service, and several other state agencies and organizations.

As usual, an After Action Report (AAR) was created, outlining areas for improvement to optimize the effectiveness of the State SNS Plan. Follow-up exercises will be conducted for continued evaluation.

5/25/06 – Pan Flu Briefings in Local Jurisdictions

New Mexico’s emergency management community activated Unified Command for Pandemic Flu Planning (using ICS and NIMS) in response to the threat of pandemic influenza. The Unified Command includes the Office of Health Emergency Management of the New Mexico Department of Health, the Office of Emergency Management of the Department of Public Safety and the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security, the New Mexico Emergency Managers Association, and the Indian Health Service.

As part of the Incident Action Plan, local Emergency Managers are conducting briefings at the county level. The first briefing is with elected officials and other policy makers. Subsequent briefings and meetings will include hospitals, primary care, long term care, home health care, public health, behavioral health, EMS, and other health care providers; local planning groups such as the Local Emergency Planning Committee and the Community Health Council; public safety providers; community organizations; business; schools; volunteer groups; and others.

Briefings will use a baseline pandemic flu scenario and county-based surge projections. Members of the Unified Command have prepared a Briefing Book and resource materials for these briefings. Following these briefings, local committees convened by the emergency manager will develop and exercise local plans. Exercises will also be held at hospitals throughout the State.

2/10/06 – NM’s Response to Hurricane Katrina

By now, we all know of the devastation that the record breaking hurricane season of 2005 wreaked on the US Gulf Coast. Hurricane Katrina alone was the single costliest natural disaster in our nation’s history. Though NM is not a gulf coast state, many of our agencies and organizations played a part in response and recovery efforts. New Mexico deployed much needed staff and other resources to the affected area, and we provided shelter and health care to Katrina evacuees.

The State Emergency Operations Center (EOC), the City of Albuquerque EOC, and the Department of Health’s Department Operations Center (DOC) were activated in the wake of Hurricane Katrina’s landfall, and they began processing and documenting requests from Louisiana, facilitated through federal interstate Emergency Management Assistance Compacts, or EMACs. These activations, some of which lasted for the better part of September, provided opportunities for Operations Center staff to get some valuable hands-on experience using their NIMS and ICS training. This extended practice benefited both new employees and ‘seasoned’ staff, and the state’s ability to respond effectively to future events was enhanced through lessons learned during the Katrina/Rita activations.

After Action Reports (AAR) were drafted at the end of the activations. Training Units throughout the state will use these AARs to strengthen their training programs, resulting in agencies/institutions that are better prepared to respond to a New Mexico public health emergency. DOH’s Epidemiology & Response Division/Office of Health Emergency Management is also using the AARs to further define areas in which they can effectively support local and tribal emergency managers and other response agencies in the state.