Massachusetts Health & Homeland Alert Network

THE ALERTING NETWORKS  Part 1: Federal, State and Local Alerting Network  Part 2: Dukes County Emergency Notification Network

Part 1: Federal, State and Local Alerting Network PROGRAM NAME  HAN  Massachusetts Alert Network  Massachusetts Health Alert Network  Massachusetts Health & Homeland Alert Network  Massachusetts Homeland Alert Network  Massachusetts Alert Network  HAN

Program Description  Internet-based Alerting System  Simultaneously transmits Alerts vertically downward from a higher echelon Agency at the State level to an unlimited number of local Agencies  ie: ie: 1) Mass DPH to local Boards of Health, Hospitals, etc1) Mass DPH to local Boards of Health, Hospitals, etc 2) From the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency to local Emergency Management Agencies2) From the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency to local Emergency Management Agencies

Program Description, cont.  Alerts are received by lower echelon Agencies via   Cell Phone  Landline  PDA  Alpha Numeric Pager   Fax  Method of receipt is dependant on the priority of the Alert  and is pre-set by the receiver at the time of his inclusion on the HAN

Program Description, cont.  This Alerting System can also be used by permitted agencies at any level to simultaneously transmit Alerts laterally and/or downward to agencies of equal or lesser status  ie: ie: 1) Mass DPH to MEMA1) Mass DPH to MEMA 2) From Town “a” Hospital to all the Police Departments, Fire Depts, and EMS Depts, Emergency Management Depts. In Town “b”, Town “c” and/or Town “d”2) From Town “a” Hospital to all the Police Departments, Fire Depts, and EMS Depts, Emergency Management Depts. In Town “b”, Town “c” and/or Town “d”

Program Features  Alerting Function  Contact Information Look-up function  Online news postings for low priority information dissemination  Collaboration on documents  Document Library

How big is the HAN ?  Massachusetts  Rhode Island  Connecticut  Vermont  New Hampshire  Maine  & New York

Quote for the MDPH  “As a priority, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health plans to make sure that each municipality has at least one person trained from each of the following agencies PoliceFire Public Health Emergency Management EMSHospital Community Health Centers

Funding & Administration  Funded by the Department of Homeland Security & CDC   The MDPH is the overall permit authority and overall administrator  A local administrator is the local permit authority and the local administrator  No Funding is required at the local level

Participants  Federal CDC CDC DHS DHS EPA EPA DPH DPH DOJ DOJ   Can send Alerts to: State Agencies

Participants, CONT.  STATE DPH (Mass Department of Public Health) DPH (Mass Department of Public Health) Mass DHS (Mass Department of Homeland Security) Mass DHS (Mass Department of Homeland Security) MEMA (Mass Emergency Management Agency) MEMA (Mass Emergency Management Agency) Mass DFS (Mass Department of Fire Safety) Mass DFS (Mass Department of Fire Safety) Mass Highway Mass Highway Massport Massport Div of Banks Div of Banks Gov Legislature Gov Legislature Mass National Guard Mass National Guard   Can send Alerts to: Other State Agencies and Local (city, town, county) Agency subscribers

Participants, CONT.  Local Administrator can send Alerts to:  Police Police Fire Fire 1 st Responders 1 st Responders Hospital Hospital Communications Communications Public Health Public Health Emergency Management Emergency Management Elected Officials Elected Officials Dept of Public Works & Highway Depts Dept of Public Works & Highway Depts Harbormasters Harbormasters

Participants, CONT.  and Transportation Transportation Utilities Utilities Industry Industry American Red Cross American Red Cross Safety Safety Schools Schools Long Term Care Long Term Care

How does it work ?  Go to the Internet

Method of Delivery The Message Initiator:  Step 1) Accesses the Internet  Step 2) Selects the recipients  Step 3) Selects message priority (H)(M)(L)  Step 4) Types the message  Step 5)Sends the message

Method of Receipt The Message Receiver:  Step 1) Answers telephone – Says “Hello”  Step 2) Inserts pin number  Step 3) Receives message

Benefits  Access to & Distribution or the most current Federal & State Intelligence  Access to the Productivity Suite    

Part 2: D ukes C ounty E mergency N otification S ystem Courtesy of Dukes County  D ukes C ounty E mergency N otification S ystem- (DCENN)   An add-on benefit of belonging to the State-run HHAN   

D C E N ND C E N ND C E N ND C E N N  How does it work?  Exactly the same as the State-run System except”  1) The local administrator would be from a Dukes County Agency  2) The message initiator function could be either top- down only (County to Town Department(s) and (County to non-aligned Agencies or Businesses)  or  the message initiator function could be both top-down (County to Towns) and lateral (Town “a” department(s) to town “b” department(s)  3) No Funding is required by the County or Towns

D C E N N Uses  Emergency Management  Hurricane & Winter Storm Response Initial Alerts to all towns and County DepartmentsInitial Alerts to all towns and County Departments Coordination during hurricane or stormCoordination during hurricane or storm Shelter coordinationShelter coordination Coordination of Disaster Damage Assessment TeamsCoordination of Disaster Damage Assessment Teams  Haz Mat Response Initial Alerts to all towns and County DepartmentsInitial Alerts to all towns and County Departments Coordination during IncidentCoordination during Incident Responder coordinationResponder coordination Coordination of Disaster Damage Assessment TeamsCoordination of Disaster Damage Assessment Teams  Mass Casualty Incidents Initial Alerts to all towns and County DepartmentsInitial Alerts to all towns and County Departments Coordination during the incidentCoordination during the incident Inter-departmental coordinationInter-departmental coordination  Mass Vaccination Dispensing Alerts Mass call-out of dispensing site volunteersMass call-out of dispensing site volunteers Initial Alerts to all towns and County DepartmentsInitial Alerts to all towns and County Departments Coordination during the vaccination phaseCoordination during the vaccination phase Responder coordinationResponder coordination Coordination of Follow-on actionsCoordination of Follow-on actions

D C E N N Uses, cont.  and  Simultaneous, Secure Communication & Coordination between Emergency Management and All Town Emergency Managers, all Town Departments, and elected officialsAll Town Emergency Managers, all Town Departments, and elected officials MV HospitalMV Hospital MV AirportMV Airport SSASSA County Search & RescueCounty Search & Rescue MASS State HighwayMASS State Highway Mass Vaccination Dispensing SitesMass Vaccination Dispensing Sites Temporary MorgueTemporary Morgue Dukes County Communication CenterDukes County Communication Center Ham Radio OperatorsHam Radio Operators MEMAMEMA OthersOthers

D C E N N Uses, cont.  Dukes County Communication Center  1) Provides a way to phone multiple agencies with a single entry on the Internet   2) provides a secure non-radio communicating device for those incidents that require secrecy or which require perimeter set-up prior to public knowledge of an incident

D C E N N Uses, cont.  Dukes County Mobile Command Post  1) For use during incident when Communication Security is required   2) For use when cross jurisdictional communication is required

D C E N N FAQ  Does any other County or Town use the HAN in this way?  NO, we would be the first to set up a Local Alert Network (LAN   I outlined this project to the MDPH and was given permit authority to form this LAN.  They gave me the permission because, for their benefit, it would get the officials of all 7 Dukes County towns on the Massachusetts HAN and it could prove to other counties and Towns that the HAN also has a local level use.

D C E N N Uses, cont.  Benefits  1) Solves cross-jurisdictional communications problems  2) Simultaneous Communications and dispatch  3) Confidentiality  4) Rapid Communications  5) Receiver does not need computer access  6) Simple to operate  7) No cost to County  8) Receipt of message notification to originator