Citation

Zane DF, Haywood T, Adams B, Alva H, Heines V, Feldt BA, Rosen JG, Henry J, Thompson K, Stonum S, Johnson K, Wiltz-Beckham D, Gomez M, Short K, Stone KW, Horney JA. Texas Public Health J. 2016; 68(1): 6-13.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2016, Texas Public Health Association)

DOI

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PMID

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Abstract

The Community Assessment for Public Health Emergency Response (CASPER) is a tool created for rapidly assessing public health threats and needs. CASPERs can be conducted in both disaster and non-disaster settings. It can provide situational awareness to public health and emergency management officials to strengthen disaster response and recovery, assist with public health preparedness planning efforts, and identify routine public health issues. Since 2001, Texas has ranked second in the nation in the number of CASPERs conducted. Multiple local health departments and the Texas Department of State Health Services have conducted CASPERs in their jurisdictions. We were interested in identifying and sharing lessons learned in conducting CASPERs. In spring 2015, we identified key informants at agencies and organizations in Texas that were believed to have conducted CASPERs from January 2008 through May 2015. Agencies and organizations included local health departments and DSHS Health Service Regions (HSRs) and Texas A&M University. Through facilitated telephone calls and email communications with key informants, we identified and documented lessons learned. We identified over 70 lessons learned in conducting CASPERs. These lessons were categorized according to the four general CASPER phases outlined in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's CASPER toolkit. As jurisdictions across Texas and the nation become trained on CASPER methods,we anticipate that more CASPERs will be conducted. We hope that these health departments and other organizations will use this shared knowledge to accelerate their CASPER planning and increase the potential success of their assessment. It is our desire that the CASPER community-of-practice will grow.