King County Healthcare Coalition

Using This Toolkit

ABOUT THE TOOLKIT

This Toolkit is simply a guide. It can be used to support the development of a healthcare coalition, or as a topic-specific reference to complement existing health response planning in your community. It provides background knowledge, tools and resource information documented by Public Health-Seattle & King County in our effort to support the development of a Healthcare Coalition in our region. Please review How to Use the Toolkit first to gain insight on key elements of the Toolkit.

The Strengthening Emergency Response through a Healthcare Coalition Toolkit is designed as a framework, not a substitute, for the collaborative planning process that each health jurisdiction must undertake. The planning process, embedded in your local jurisdiction, is necessary to identify and customize the content of the Toolkit to best fit your local needs. The purpose of the Toolkit is to help you save time by providing you with a planning framework, tools and templates. Keep in mind, your team may add or eliminate sections of the process.

Our King County Healthcare Coalition work continues and this Toolkit will likely be revised and expand. We look forward to adding content and tools as our Coalition advances, as well as incorporating feedback and resources from other jurisdictions. Contact Us with any developing Healthcare Coalition activities you know about or suggestions for improving the site.

Learn more about Public Health-Seattle & King County's other preparedness activities.

How to use this toolkit

Each health jurisdiction has a different landscape and different needs for establishing a coordinated healthcare system. We understand that many different organizations will be involved in planning and developing a Healthcare Coalition. The work described in each section of this Toolkit can be approached sequentially if you are considering a comprehensive development process or the content can be accessed by topic based on your jurisdiction's planning areas . This Toolkit has been designed so that topical sections can stand alone as well as intersect between topics.

Each topical section shares these common elements:

4 THOUGHT. Primary planning questions to consider. Some of these questions are addressed in our planning efforts and others are pending and/or remain unanswered. These questions can be considered a beginning point for discussions in your health jurisdiction.

FUNDAMENTALS. Core components for planning consideration specific to each topic area.

TOOLS & SAMPLES. Worksheets, charts, presentations, checklists and other tools that may be helpful in your planning process.

The Toolkit also has a robust list of RESOURCES that provide references to learn more. If you are aware of additional resources, Contact Us so that we can share these resources with others.

As you explore and use this Toolkit, we recommend that you work as a team, assign tasks and deadlines but also allow enough time to work through the process of planning. Remember, planning is a dynamic process and you must be ready for things to move more slowly than you might initially anticipate. As you progress, visit the site frequently to look for updates and additions.