CDP to host training weeks focused on Highly Infectious Diseases

The Center for Domestic Preparedness will host two theme weeks in the coming months centered on highly infectious diseases.

The first week of training is set for from August 25-31.  The second week of training will run Nov. 3-9.

The weeks will include the CDP’s Healthcare Leadership for Mass Casualty Incidents, Barrier Precautions and Controls for Highly Infectious Disease and Personal Protective Measures for Biological Events courses, and enhance the ability of attendees to treat patients with highly infectious diseases, from the first signs of illness to isolation and recovery.  Training will include lectures by subject matter experts, as well as practical exercises in the CDP’s new Highly Infectious Disease Ward.

The ward spans more than 4,000 square feet and includes a number of patient treatment areas with cameras, which allow ‘mock’ patients to be monitored from afar, as well as attending nurses and doctors to communicate with other medical personnel outside during training. 

During the first theme week, Texas A&M University’s Engineering Extension Office will also conduct its Medical Countermeasures: Point of Dispensing, Planning, and Response course on the CDP campus. 

In the past, the exercise portion of the course consisted of a tabletop exercise.  At the CDP, the MCPOD class will actually operate two separate dispensing points during an Integrated Capstone Event, a full-blown exercise at the end of the week where students from multiple courses and disciplines work together to respond to one or more simulated incidents patterned after recent real-world events. This will be a first for both the CDP and the Engineering Extension Office at Texas A&M.