Seattle - King County Advanced Practice Center (APC)

The Seattle-King County Advanced Practice Center (APC) is a resource for local public health agencies throughout the nation as it develops plans and builds local and regional capacity for responding to an act of bioterrorism or other public health emergency.

The National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) currently funds eight local public health agencies to serve as APCs. Building best practices, APCs combine forces to help all local public health agencies nationwide prepare for, respond to, and recover from public health emergencies.

Survivor Tales comic books tell the real-life stories of individuals who have weathered major disasters. The comics show how a disaster might play out and help readers determine what they might need to be survivors, too. These stories showcase how neighbors and communities can pull together and provide practical tips from actual survivors.

Aftershock Chinese Spanish Vietnamese	In Deep Water Chinese Spanish Vietnamese	Eye Over Houston Chinese Spanish Vietnamese

What the Seattle-King County APC can do for you:

Advanced Practice Toolkits for Emergency Preparation

The Seattle-King County APC is actively working to help all local health departments nationwide prepare for, respond to and recover from Public Health Emergencies.

Toolkits have been developed that address a number of public health emergency preparedness issue including: isolation and quarantine response, techniques for engaging the business community, blueprints for building healthcare coalitions, trainings on crisis and risk communication, and strategies for connecting with organizations that serve vulnerable populations.

Some of these products include:

Business Not As Usual
A DVD designed to assist pandemic flu planning efforts for businesses, government agencies and community based organizations. The video may also be viewed online.

Emergency Risk Communication Course
For public health professionals and students. Developed in collaboration with the University of Washington School of Public Health and Community Medicine, this course was designed to provide an introduction to emergency risk communication concepts and principles.

CD-based Emergency Risk Communications Training Guide
For anyone communicating with the public in a crisis, Speak First: Communicating Effectively in Times of Crisis and Uncertainty is a proven, practical training for building the skills to delivering first messages in the early hours of a crisis. Learn what you need to know, to sharpen your skills and to teach others how to master these best practices. Order now through National Association of County & City Health Officials.

Keeping Children and Teens Home with Flu
A 2-sided comic tip sheet for parents and caregivers to help them understand the need to keep children/teens away from others while sick and provide tips for how to cope with keeping them at home.

No Ordinary Flu
A comic book, available in 20 languages, illustrates a compelling story through the eyes of a survivor of the 1918 pandemic and connects to the present-day threat, including crucial preparedness messages. This comic book may also be downloaded in PDF format.

Pandemic flu preparedness resources for business engagement

Additional tools can be found at: King County Healthcare Coalition resources from the 2008 APC Training Conference