Resilience workgroup, which ensured healthcare providers were optimized to meet the historic demands on the country’s medical system. The group provided guidance and sponsored webinars on strengthening the health care system, like preserving PPE, the latest techniques in COVID-19 treatment, support for mental health of first responders, and sharing best practices from those on the “backside of the curve” with peers facing rising cases in their locale. As the Operations Deputy for the workgroup, Bryan was awed by the scope of practice, “We had members from many agencies, including CDC, FDA, DOD, DoT, and HHS, coordinating support activities for every level of healthcare worker from doctors in major metropolitan areas to rural paramedics to nursing assistants in long-term care facilities all across the nation,” said Bryan. “It was an amazing experience to combine the incident command knowledge I have gained from the Coast Guard with my civilian healthcare background, and synergize both to save lives.” There were other teams like the Mitigation and Risk work Petty Officer 3rd Class Thomas Virgona, a reservist at Coast Guard Sector New York, assists residents at a FEMA COVID-19 vaccination site in Brooklyn, New York, March 2. Photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Cory J. Mendenhall COVID 19 Response and Assistance Field Teams When a troubling trend of emerging “hot spots” around the group, which found effective community mitigation strategies to prevent or slow COVID-19 transmission. It was staffed primarily by the CDC in Atlanta, and issued guidance on mask wear, pre-holiday infographics, and recommendations for stemming the progression of the pandemic. Another, the Data Strategy and Execution work group, created a common operating picture used by every level of the response from the White House to local health officials. Put in operational terms, this was the intel shop! DSEW gave the response insight into where the “enemy” of the disease was going, evolving, resulting impacts and finally metrics on response actions. This allowed all responders at every level of the incident to see and respond to an agreed upon problem set. The Supply Chain and Next Generation Strategic National Stockpile work group slogged through a complicated domestic supply and demand mismatch, combined with the struggle globally to source the same key supplies. In a massive effort to scale up production of a variety of necessary supplies, such as ventilators, N95 masks, and nitrile gloves, the response called on DoD support to leveraging their expertise in Domestic Production Act, the U.S. industrial base, and large dollar acquisitions. The DoD support broke into two groups, the Joint Acquisition Task Force and the Supply Chain Task Force, which worked to provide organic HHS agencies with a structure for long-term DoD acquisitions support to continue building the SNS and further develop the U.S health related industrial base. “The dedication, perseverance, and productivity of the working groups was phenomenal. Over 400 HHS employees volunteered to serve the COVID response along with their interagency partners,” said Abel. “The entire Public Health Service and civilians from other HHS agencies really sacrificed everything in their personal lives to meet the needs of the nation over the last year.” 30 RESERVIST � Issue 1 • 2021 nation developed in June 2020, the JCC received direction to deliver resources to the local-most level to reduce the spread of the virus and “flatten the curve.” To meet this “ember strategy,” that acted on disease trajectory data to quell threats, an innovative, multidisciplinary, interagency program called the COVID-19 Field Assistance Response Teams (CRAFT) was created. Within a week, the mission and membership was defined and fielded. “This was a fast-paced, all-hands-on-deck evolution” said Abel. “It was an extraordinary inter-agency effort requiring quick action that drove the concept into action.” Capt. Tiffany Danko, a member of the Coast Guard Reserve, served as the program lead for the CRAFT teams. These teams were provided critical information and tools to mitigate the effects of COVID-19 in vulnerable populations. Abel and the JCC staff led the rapid-response CRAFTs, comprising more than 340 personnel from the Public Health Service, CDC, FEMA, ASPR, the Health Resources and Service Administration, the U.S. Surgeon General, and many other agencies. These deployments were carefully coordinated with members of Congress, governors, state health officers, local officials, community partners, and agency leaders to ensure the purpose of this federal role was understood and not seen as a threat. “Our CRAFT mission was a hands-on partnership with representatives from all levels of government as well as nongovernmental and community organization leaders to directly assist local jurisdictions with mitigation measures and information sharing,” Danko said. “I was incredibly impressed by the dedicated public health experts who directly assisted our communities.” The CRAFTs creating a repository of community “best practices” for other struggling communities to apply to their similar needs. In all, the CRAFTs conducted more than 650 engagements in 33 states over 14 weeks, eventually transitioning to virtual and online resources accessible to communities worldwide.
