Good news, Mainers: Your state is better prepared than most others to deal with Ebola, lead in drinking water, a massive hurricane or any other large-scale emergency that puts your health in danger, according to a new report by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Released late Monday evening, the 2016 National Health Security Preparedness Index gives Maine a score of 7 out of 10 for overall preparedness, up from 6.8 a year ago. The national average is 6.7.
“You’re obviously moving in the right direction,” said Glen Mays, a University of Kentucky health policy professor who worked on the study. “(Maine is) already kind of leading the national average, and it’s improving faster than the nation as a whole. Those are all good things.”
The report looked at 134 measures within six categories. Maine rated above average in five out of those six categories, including:
• The ability to mobilize resources during a crisis;
• The ability to identify threats before they arise; and
• The ability to prevent people from being hurt by environmental or occupational hazards.
Maine also received a high score — eight out of 10, a full point above the national average — for its ability to lessen the impact from a large-scale emergency.
“We have a designated warehousing system in the state where we have immunizations and flu vaccines, pneumococcal vaccines that we work with the federal government to maintain certain stockpiles,” said Ken Albert, director of the Maine Center for Disease Control. “As well as … durable medical equipment to respond to disasters or large-scale public health issues. We can locate those in geographic areas very quickly.”
Maine fell below average on only one category — community planning and engagement — which measures how communities get various organizations, such as hospitals, day care centers, nursing homes and schools, to work together during a crisis. Maine scored 4.5. The national average was 5.4.
It’s something the state is working on, Albert said.
Right now, the state has two Medical Reserve Corps units filled with volunteers who help prepare for and respond to public health emergencies. The state plans to add six more units throughout Maine over the next 12 to 18 months. The state is also overhauling an antiquated family unification program for child care providers in the case of major disasters.
“We’ve seen it as an area of focus for the past few years,” Albert said of community planning and engagement.
Kara Tudman Walker is director of Central Maine Regional Resource Center, a collaborative of schools, hospitals and other health care providers that helps develop response plans to public health emergencies in the area. The report’s overall scores for Maine felt right to her.
Maine, she said, is prepared.
“People just go to the hospital and just expect the doors are going to be open,” she said. “People work really hard to make sure that’s going to be the case.”
Maine was one of 18 states to earn overall scores above the national average.
Maine’s scores
Overall: 7 (national average, 6.7)
Health security and surveillance: 7.6 (national average, 7.5)
Community planning and engagement: 4.5 (national average, 5.4)
Incident and information management: 8.8 (national average, 8.4)
Health care delivery: 6.3 (national average, 5.1)
Countermeasure management: 8.0 (national average, 7)
Environmental and occupational health: 7.5 (national average, 6.4)
Send questions/comments to the editors.
