MDCH - 2012 GLBHI Annual Conference & FREE-B Tabletop Exercise

2012 GLBHI Annual Conference & FREE-B Tabletop Exercise

On this page, you will find information about the 2012 GLBHI Annual Conference and the Michigan & Great Lakes Region FREE-B Tabletop Exercise, which were held April 23 & 24 in Plymouth, Michigan, USA.

2012 GLBHI Annual Conference

The Eighth Annual Great Lakes Border Health Initiative (GLBHI) Conference was held on April 24, 2012 in Plymouth, Michigan, USA; and received great reviews from its 114 attendees.

Overall, GLBHI's primary goal is early warning infectious disease surveillance. Each year, GLBHI organizes a face-to-face meeting, inviting local, regional, state and federal representatives from both Canada and the United States to participate as a means of introducing and further cementing relationships established across the borders. This year's Conference, Cross-Border Collaborations and Connections, featured plenary and breakout sessions that were very well received. All sessions are listed below, and where the speakers could share their presentations and handouts, those are attached. Pre-conference meetings held the afternoon of April 23 were very productive, including meetings of the GLBHI Steering Committee and its four primary Subcommittees.

View photos from the 2012 GLBHI Annual Conference. (coming soon)

View the document provided to each Conference attendee, which contains the objectives, agenda and speaker biographies: Agenda & Biographies Packet for Conference Attendees, for the 2012 GLBHI Annual Conference

PowerPoint presentations and handouts from many of the sessions are available below, for you to download and peruse at your convenience. Thank you for your interest!

PLENARY SESSIONS

"GREAT LAKES BORDER HEALTH INITIATIVE (GLBHI) UPDATE" - Justine Hartley

"EASTERN BORDER HEALTH INITIATIVE (EBHI) UPDATE" - Susan Schoenfeld, RN, MSPH

"PACIFIC NORTHWEST BORDER HEALTH ALLIANCE (PNWBHA) UPDATE" - Daniel Banks, MA

"CANADA-U.S. PAN-BORDER PUBLIC HEALTH PREPAREDNESS COUNCIL / BEYOND THE BORDER ACTION PLAN UPDATES" - Capt. Brad Austin, MPH, FACHE (prepared by Mark Saigeon, who was scheduled to present but could not make it to the Conference)

"COMPARISON OF ESF #5 (CANADA) AND ESF #8 (U.S.)" - presentation abstract - Capt. Brad Austin, MPH, FACHE; & Olga Cechmistro Michie, MA, MEd (prepared by Steve Kempton and Capt. Austin; both were scheduled to present this session, but Steve Kempton could not make it to the Conference; Olga substituted for Steve)

"MICROBIOLOGICAL SAFETY OF FRESH PRODUCE - ARE WE SAFE AT THE PLATE?" - Elliot Ryser, PhD

"APRIL 23rd EMERGENCY RESPONSE TABLETOP EXERCISE SUMMARY" - Dan Harpster, DVM

BREAKOUT SESSIONS

"CANADA-U.S. PUBLIC HEALTH LABORATORY INITIATIVES: AN INTERACTIVE PRESENTATION" - Steve Guercio, MSc

"PANEL: FOOD SAFETY IN TRANSIT" - Sarah Popovich, MS; Marianne Courey, MS; & Mary Rutherford, BSc
--- "Indiana Food Transportation Assessment Project" - 1st presentation of Breakout, by Sarah Popovich
--- "Interstate Food Transportation Assessment Project" - 2nd presentation of Breakout, by Marianne Courey
--- "Transportation in Canada" - 3rd presentation of Breakout, by Mary Rutherford

"INTRODUCTION TO PARTERNSHIPS WITH / SOVEREIGNTY OF INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES" - Matthew L.M. Fletcher, JD; & Dwayne Jarman, DVM, MPH, CDR USPHS
--- Culture Card - American Indian and Alaska Native - handout provided to attendees - from Dr. Jarman
--- U.S. FDA Tribal Consultation Policy - handout provided to attendees - from Dr. Jarman
--- Working Effectively with Tribal Governments - handout provided to attendees - from Dr. Jarman

"OUTBREAK CASE STUDIES, TIMES TWO" - Lise Trotz-Williams, PhD; Tom Duszynski, MPH, REHS; & Ryan Gentry, MPH
--- "Canadian Thanksgiving STEC Outbreak" - 1st presentation of Breakout, by Lise Trotz-Williams

"PRACTICAL ASPECTS OF THE FOOD SAFETY MODERNIZATION ACT OF 2011" - Stan Hazan, MPH, MBA

"MEASLES CASE STUDIES AND OUTBREAK MANAGEMENT" - Pam Gahr, MPH; & Teresa Mersereau, RN, BScN, MSc (Public Health)
--- "Measles in Minnesota" - 1st presentation of Breakout, by Pam Gahr
------ Measles Clinical Information, by the Minnesota Department of Health - handout provided to attendees - from Pam Gahr
------ Measles Facts, by the Minnesota Department of Health - handout provided to attendees - from Pam Gahr

* Some presentations are not available. We apologize for the inconvenience.

For more information regarding the Great Lakes Border Health Initiative and a list of the participating State/Provincial Leads and their contact information, please visit www.michigan.gov/borderhealth.

Travel Support

If you have requested and been approved for financial assistance for your travel costs to either or both events, please complete the Travel Expense Reimbursement Form, using the Guidelines (both directly below), and forward to Diane as soon as possible; preferable within one week of the events, but no later than one month. Your signature on the Expense Reimbursement Form and original, detailed receipts (except for mileage) are required; see the Guidelines for more detail.

Mail to Michigan GLBHI staff, care of:

Diane Krueger, GLBHI Project Coordinator
Michigan Department of Community Health
201 Townsend Street, 5th Floor
Lansing, MI, USA 48913

Contact Diane with questions at (517) 335-6533; or email her at kruegerd@michigan.gov.

GLBHI Travel Expense Reimbursement Form

GLBHI Conference / TTX Travel Reimbursement Guidelines

2012 Michigan & Great Lakes Region FREE-B Tabletop Exercise

GLBHI, in conjunction with the Michigan Food Safety Alliance and the Michigan Food & Ag Protection and Defense Work Group, put on a food & feed emergency response tabletop exercise (TTX) on April 23, 2012 in Plymouth, Michigan, USA; with 88 participants and an additional 11 evaluators/observers/facilitators. This TTX used the Wilted Woes scenario from the U.S. Food & Drug Administration's Food Related Emergency Exercise Bundle (FREE-B) Exercise program.

The primary objective of the TTX was to improve multi-disciplinary and multi-agency emergency response coordination and communication. Participants included U.S. and Canadian representatives of Great Lakes region agencies, universities, and food and feed industries.

View photos from the 2012 FREE-B Tabletop Exercise: Tabletop Exercise Photolog

View the Situation Manual used during the TTX: Situation Manual for Wilted Woes, presented at the Michigan & Great Lakes Region Tabletop Exercise of April 23, 2012

View the PowerPoint presentation used during the TTX: PowerPoint for Wilted Woes, presented at the Michigan & Great Lakes Region Tabletop Exercise of April 23, 2012

The FREE-B is a set of 5 tabletop exercises examining food contamination events, intended to assist stakeholders in assessing current food emergency response capabilities. The FREE-B is available online at U.S. FDA Food Defense website.

Special Thanks To Our Funding Agencies:

U.S. Food and Drug Administration, for the Food Protection Task Force Conference Program Grant, as well as the FREE-B Toolkit Grant

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services - Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response Grant (provides EWIDS grant to fund the GLBHI Program)

U.S. Department of Homeland Security - State Homeland Security Grant

(Funding was made possible, in part, by the Food and Drug Administration through grant 1R13FD003589-04. The views expressed in written materials or publications and by speakers and moderators do not necessarily reflect the official policies of the Department of Health and Human Services; nor does any mention of trade names, commercial practices, or organization imply endorsement by the United States Government.)