Pharmacists' adoption of nonpharmaceutical supply roles may represent a problem of accepting a paradigm shift in nontraditional roles. Possible shortages of personnel in future disasters may change the pharmacists' approach to disaster management.

A cornerstone of effective disaster management is that response should always begin and end at the local level (1). The response to the Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak in Liberia, West Africa, was a combination of independent efforts by many nations and organizations. Many of these independent efforts ignored or were not able to work with the local levels of emergency management in Liberia. This oversight occurred because of the Liberian’s mistrust of both their government and foreign aid groups, as well as the lack of cultural competency demonstrated by the aid groups. The health-care and emergency management infrastructure in Liberia appeared to be non-existent at the beginning of the EVD outbreak. However, there were resources available at the community level: the Liberians and their culture. Although these resources were rarely used, there were some instances in which communities were included in response efforts. It was in these instances that possible improvements to international disaster response protocol were found.

Effective COVID-19 vaccine distribution requires prioritizing locations that are accessible to high-risk target populations. However, little is known about the vaccination location preferences of individuals with underlying chronic conditions. Using data from the 2018 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), we grouped 162,744 respondents into high-risk and low-risk groups for COVID-19 and analyzed the odds of previous influenza vaccination at doctor’s offices, health departments, community settings, stores, or hospitals. Individuals at high risk for severe COVID-19 were more likely to be vaccinated in doctor’s offices and stores and less likely to be vaccinated in community settings.

Interdisciplinary public health solutions are vital for an effective COVID-19 response and recovery. However, there is often a lack of awareness and understanding of the environmental health workforce capabilities. In the United States, this is a foundational function of health departments and is the second largest public health workforce. The primary role is to protect the public from exposures to environmental hazards, disasters and disease outbreaks. More specifically, this includes addressing risks relating to sanitation, drinking water, food safety, vector control and mass gatherings. This profession is also recognized in the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness and Advancing Innovation Act of 2019. Despite this, the entire profession is often not considered an essential service. Rapid integration into COVID-19 activities can easily occur as most are government employees and experienced working in complex and stressful situations. This role, for example, could include working with leaders, businesses, workplaces and churches to safely reopen, and inspections to inform, educate, and empower employers, employees and the public on safe actions. There is now the legislative support, evidence and a window of opportunity to truly enable interdisciplinary public health solutions by mobilizing the entire environmental health workforce to support COVID-19 response, recovery and resilience activities.

Introduction:Disaster research is primarily posthoc analysis, locally focused or within response organizations, overlooking the wellness and safety of first and second responders or the broad multi- and interdisciplinary activities necessary to foster and sustain recovery. A broad framework to span locality, institutional, and professional boundaries supports the development of a true learning community–a health EDRM sector that supports society in recognizing lessons, refining findings, and free and fluid global sharing.Method:Several organizations joined to create a robust disaster health learning community: CREDO, GloHSA, ICDM, and ECDM, a multi-national, multi-disciplinary collaborative network of patients, universities, societies, regulators, publishing, healthcare, and technology partners designed to foster expert level education and training with shared educational design concepts, milestones, and core curricula that embrace the strength of a standardized base upon which to link unique pillars of excellence of separate functions, institutions, nations, and regions.Results:The Emergency Disaster Global Health Sciences (EDGHS) model developed by University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center is interactive, open, and responsive. EDGHS addresses critical gaps in applied research by convening leaders across the healthcare and public health continuum to map the way forward, designing and implementing high-quality, evidence-based practical and policy research.This defines essential public health functions for national contexts, including a focus on emergency preparedness and response, strengthening competency-based education on essential public health functions, and mapping and measurement of occupations delivering EDRM functions, offering an exportable model of global relevance.Conclusion:Putting disaster prevention into recovery processes is a strategic opportunity to improve the well-being of future generations. The survivability and well-being needs of present and future generations are contingent on knowledge-based, lived experiences of recoverable disaster loss and damage, and the capacity to thrive sustainably. This presentation serves as an invitation to join the growing momentum of creating a learning health EDRM community.