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Two notices were recently posted by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) National Personal Protective Technology Library (NPPTL) concerning the safety and quality of two types of personal protective equipment (PPE) used frequently by emergency medical services personnel - medical gloves and N95 particulate filtering facepiece respirators.
The first notice, issued by the FDA on Oct. 29, concerns the FDA’s investigation of certain imported medical gloves that appear to have been reprocessed, cleaned, or recycled and sold as new. The FDA has determined that many foreign manufacturers and shippers of medical gloves have failed to consistently provide medical gloves of adequate quality for distribution in the United States.
The FDA is recommending that health care facilities and providers do not purchase or use imported medical gloves from companies included on the FDA’s Import Alert 80-04: Surveillance and Detention Without Physical Examination of Surgeon's and Patient Examination Gloves.
Companies are listed on an import alert when the FDA has enough evidence to allow for detention without physical examination (DWPE) of their products as they appear to be in violation of the FDA's laws and regulations, creating a potential risk to health care professionals, patients and users.
To identify FDA-cleared medical gloves, search the FDA’s 510(k) Premarket Notification database using the product codes for medical gloves.
The second notice was issued by Advoque Safeguard on Sept. 17, and posted by NIOSH NPPTL under its list of Respirator User Notices Issued by Manufacturers. The alert concerns some of Advoque Safeguard’s NIOSH-approved N95 particulate filtering respirators. Advoque Safeguard lists six lots of its model ASG100 N95 Particulate Filtering Respirator (TC-84A-9284) requiring additional sampling for pressure testing.
If you are in possession of any ASG100 product in the 6 lots listed, Advoque Safeguard requests that you isolate the product and notify Advoque Safeguard Quality Control at qc@advoquesafeguard.com. Advoque Safeguard will post a follow up notice when the lots are cleared for use.
For the full lists of products impacted by these alerts, see the FDA’s Import Alert 80-04 and Advoque Safeguard’s User Notice on ASG100 Select Small Lot Numbers.
(Sources: FDA, NIOSH NPPTL)
Often, police officers are the first to respond when someone is experiencing a mental health crisis. This can potentially introduce law enforcement to situations that do not require a police response and overburden the 911 system. It is also an inefficient way to connect people to the immediate behavioral health services they need.
Many 911 call centers face challenges determining whether a response should involve law enforcement, emergency medical services, or a more specialized response when available. A recent Pew Trusts survey revealed many 911 dispatchers lack resources to handle behavioral health crises and training and options for dispatching specialized responses are limited.
In 2020, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and Congress established a universal phone number for behavioral health crises and suicide prevention which would directly connect people to crisis responders—988. The 988 line will launch nationwide in July 2022 and directly route people to local call centers within the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline Network. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) awarded Vibrant Emotional Health the grant to administer the 988 dialing code for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline in earlier this year. For more information on the telecommunications changes required with the launch of 988, see the FCC’s Fact Sheet.
911 call centers will likely continue to be the default for most people to call when they need help. Therefore, law enforcement will still need training on identifying people experiencing a behavioral health crisis and how to de-escalate these crises when they respond.
However, the switch to 988 offers an opportunity for states and local communities to redefine how law enforcement and 911 respond to behavioral health crises. Many agencies are building comprehensive and coordinated crisis systems that expand beyond typical police responses to include mental health professionals and other community responders.
Resources are available offering guidance to 911 and law enforcement agencies as they transition to working with 988 and consider ways to better integrate behavioral health and emergency response skill sets.
The National 911 Program offered a webinar in September entitled “Implementing 988 for Mental Health Emergencies & NG911 Training Tips for Ops and IT Staff.” A summary description of this webinar is available on 911.gov along with the slide presentation. A recording of this webinar is available on the National 911 Program’s YouTube channel. The National 911 Program posts written answers to the questions asked during its webinars, and the Q&A document for this webinar is also available on the website.
On October 20-21, the Council of State Governments Justice Center (CSG Justice Center), with support from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Office of Justice Programs (OJP), hosted a virtual conference, Taking The Call, which explored how to ensure emergency calls receive the appropriate response and how communities can create more comprehensive crisis systems. This first-of-its-kind conference featured top experts from law enforcement, behavioral and mental health, academia, crisis response systems, and federal and state agencies. Recaps of day 1 and day 2 of the conference are available on the CSG Justice Center’s website. Proceedings from the conference include a 2-page fact sheet for law enforcement on How to Use 988 to Respond to Behavioral Health Crisis Calls and a tip sheet on Successfully Implementing Crisis Stabilization Units, with links to examples of model programs implemented by local agencies.
For more information, the CSJ Justice Center hosts a repository of briefs, tools, evaluations, and technical assistance resources broken down by content themes to help communities build effective and comprehensive crisis systems.
(Source: DOJ OJP, National 911 Program)
FEMA’s Emergency Management Institute (EMI) has released a new course in its independent self-study catalog, IS-350 Mitigation Planning for Tribal Communities. This course is now available free of charge through EMI’s Independent Study (IS) Program.
IS-350 provides a full overview of the benefits of mitigation planning and the planning process for Tribal Nations. It is based on FEMA’s Tribal Mitigation Plan Review Guide (2017) and Tribal Mitigation Planning Handbook (2019).
The goal of this course is to provide tribal officials, planners, emergency managers, and other partners with the information necessary to prepare and implement a Tribal hazard mitigation plan. The emphasis is on getting the right people to the table and working through the full planning process.
After attending this training, participants will be able to:
- Describe the hazard mitigation planning process and engage community members.
- Describe how to identify at-risk community assets and hazards as they relate to risk assessment.
- Describe the steps involved in identifying vulnerabilities, the impacts of those vulnerabilities, and the process for assessing risk.
- Describe how to assess capabilities of the community relevant to mitigation.
- Describe the process of developing a mitigation strategy that reflects the results of the risk assessment and capabilities of the community.
- Describe how to maintain a hazard mitigation plan.
- Describe the process for implementing a hazard mitigation plan.
- Describe the available mitigation funding and assistance.
Those interested can access the course on EMI’s website. Course registration is required to take the final exam and to receive Continuing Education Credits (CEUs). A FEMA Student ID (FEMA SID) is required for registration. To obtain a FEMA SID, visit https://cdp.dhs.gov/femasid.
(Source: FEMA EMI)
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