Strengthening Community Partnerships with Local Public Health Through Regional Pandemic Influenza Exercises

Local public health departments routinely conduct exercises to assess plans, improve skills, and identify gaps in preparedness and response performance. The emergence of new influenza A virus subtypes, such as H1N1, requires public health agencies to incorporate health-care organizations and other partners into their operating plans and conduct exercises to help ensure that communities can maintain critical functions. There is considerable variability in how exercises are designed and conducted as well as a need for a stronger evidence base on best practices.1 This article shows how a local public health agency and its community partners evolved in the planning, use, and evaluation of a series of exercises for pandemic influenza preparedness.