In this update:

• Face-to-Face Meeting – Registration is Open
• Preparedness Lunch & Learn
• Noontime Nugget
• The 'Team Behind the Scenes' Public Health Campaign
• CDC CERC Webinars
• ASTHO Toolkit
• First Point-of-Care Hepatitis C RNA Test Approved

Upcoming events:

March

13 | Monthly PHEP Partners Meeting on Teams
17-19 | Cobalt Magnet national level exercise – CHECC play
20 | Preparedness Lunch & Learn
27 | Noontime Nugget
31 | Q3 contact information updates due
31 | IPPW documentation due.

April 

10 | Monthly PHEP Partners Meeting on Teams

Face-to-Face Meeting – Registration is Open

The 2025 PHEP-HPP Partners’ Face-to-Face meeting will take place on May 5 and 6 in the Monroe Rooms at the DeVos Place before the Great Lakes Homeland Security Conference in Grand Rapids. This year we will be providing an in-person attendance option only. Day 1 will be the joint PHEP-HPP meeting with healthcare coalition partners, tribes, and LHDs. Day 2 is a PHEP only meeting. Both days will allow for dynamic discussion and learning.

Agenda topics (subject to change) include business meeting/Cooperative Agreement updates, incident response recap, environmental health preparedness, health equity, operational readiness planning, continuity of operations (COOP), and cross-regional networking. Final agenda to follow.

Preparedness Lunch & Learn

The next Preparedness Lunch & Learn session will be held on March 18. The subject, Extended Downtime, presented by Dr. Michael Feld from Region 2N and Cara Eule from Grand Traverse County Health Department. 

Noontime Nugget

The next Noontime Nugget will be held March 25 at 12:00 Noon, and the subject, Professional Emergency Manager Program (PEM), presented by Jack Calhoun from Michigan State Police, Emergency Management and Homeland Security Division (MSP-EMHSD).

The 'Team Behind the Scenes' Public Health Campaign

The “Team Behind the Scenes” campaign features Michigan’s local and state public health departments and all the work MDHHS and local public health team members do to help residents lead healthier lives. This statewide campaign launched, by MDHHS in November 2024, includes TV and radio ads, streaming and digital ads, social media content and more, and will run for several months.

Watch the campaign videos at the top of the Michigan.gov/publichealth web page. There are additional resources on this web page below the video.

If your organization would like to use these materials in local or regional health promotion efforts, email the MDHHS Public Health Administration at mdhhs-pophealth@michigan.gov.

CDC CERC Webinars

DC has several recorded webinars on their Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication (CERC) website that would be useful to EPCs and PIOs. The Introduction to CERC webinar fulfills the CERC Basic requirement in the NIMS training compliance document.

ASTHO Toolkit

On February 5, 2025, the Association for State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) published a toolkit titled, “Engaging Partners in a Virtual Space.” This toolkit focuses on virtual engagement techniques that can improve working relationships between a health agency’s internal staff and external partners. Successful and intentional virtual engagement will improve an agency’s administrative readiness and support efforts to retain public health professionals in the workforce.

First Point-of-Care Hepatitis C RNA Test Approved

In June 2024, the Food and Drug Administration announced the approval of the first point-of-care hepatitis C RNA test, granting Cepheid marketing authorization for the Xpert Hepatitis C test and the GeneXpert Xpress system.

• The point-of-care test can detect hepatitis C RNA via finger prick and deliver results in one hour.
• Authorization of point-of-care hepatitis C testing enables a single-visit test-and-treat approach.
• The test is Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments-waived.
• Multiple tests can be run simultaneously on the GeneXpert Xpress system, including COVID-19, flu and RSV and mpox.

For more information, view the CDC's Considerations for the Implementation of Point-of-Care Testing for the Diagnosis of Hepatitis C Virus Infection toolkit.

Regional Points of Contact

Region 1: Denise Fleming
Region 2N & 2S: Jeannie Byrne
Region 3: Jim Koval
Region 5: April Walton
Region 6: Jessica Gould
Region 7: Jeannie Byrne
Region 8: Kerry Chamberlain
Tribes: Terra Riddle & Rose Ann Davis

This message is being sent to the Division of Emergency Preparedness & Response, Tribal Health Care Coordinator, Local Health Department Emergency Preparedness Coordinator, and Local Health Department Health Officer mailing lists.