October 2026
I find it interesting every year when the leaves begin to turn, that my experience and instinct drive me to immediately prepare for the work ahead planning and responding to what we all know are our seasonal priorities: the impacts of respiratory illnesses across our communities.
The same trust, collaboration and innovating that moved us through the summer activities and our wildfire season are expected of each of us, and I’m proud to work in lock step with you as we head into this uniquely early flu and Covid season.
This month’s Update highlights how we continue to come together achieving critical milestones such as the Healthcare Worker Masking Consensus Statement, ongoing focus to support infectious disease readiness, and expanded tools that serve long-term care partners.
While these are foundational elements of our yearly readiness planning, our approach, tools and planning have been made stronger by our experiences working together to build novel plans for FIFA World Cup. The games are now long over, but I continue to experience new partnerships and expanded expertise that we’re each leveraging today.
Each month I share that our entire team is fully committed to prioritizing information of greatest interest to you, so please tell us what requests and suggestions you have. Contact us at info@nwhrn.org.
Healthcare worker masking plays an important role in keeping staff and our most vulnerable patients safe. Every respiratory season since 2023, infectious disease and public health experts across the state work together as part of the Network’s Infectious Disease Workgroup reviewing the latest literature and epidemiology to produce the annual Healthcare Worker Masking Consensus Statement. This collaborative effort highlights our state’s dedication to implementing policies based on science and best practices. The Network appreciates all who contribute to this important work.
If you’re interested in joining the Workgroup or becoming a signatory or public health supporter of the consensus statement, please contact us at info@nwhrn.org.
Following a series of collaborative workshops with LeadingAge, Washington State Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS), Emergency Medical Services (EMS) partners and others, we identified a need to help long-term care and adult family home providers move beyond compliance-focused plans towards including practical, layered plans that staff at every level can use. In our non-regulatory role, the Network works with facilities to identify gaps, strengthen evacuation planning, and turn plans into workshops and exercises that improve readiness. We also connect providers with fire, EMS, emergency management, and other response partners, helping build lasting capacity and stronger communication before the next disaster. LeadingAge and DSHS have been essential partners, providing expertise, support, and connections to the right people. Looking ahead, we hope to expand county-level opportunities and build a multidirectional referral network with the Washington State Fire Marshal’s Office and local emergency management partners.
We heard directly through long-term care partners that the evolving learning and planning has meaningfully helped and improve the outcome of their fire marshal surveys, a direct result of plans built off of the information provided.
We’re sharing the latest on infectious disease readiness. As many of you know, the Network provides ongoing leadership to Washington State’s healthcare and public health systems to strengthen infectious disease response. Essential to this work are the relationships established through daily, ongoing infectious disease identification which enable readiness for rare, high-consequence infectious disease threats. This ongoing work enables planning for the identification, testing and patient management of an emerging infectious disease threat such as Ebola or highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) which requires multiple clinical and public health experts. The Network maintains active coordination and planning partnerships with the four National Special Pathogen System (NSPS) designated facilities in Washington state including the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Region 10 Emerging Special Pathogen Treatment Center (RESPTC) at Providence Sacred Heart in Spokane, Seattle’s Harborview Medical Center and Seattle Children’s Hospital, and Providence Regional Medical Center in Everett.
We were inspired by the level of collaboration and co-creation with Washington State Department of Health (DOH) preparing for the earthquake preparedness Level Up Exercise. Included in the planning were DOH, the Network, local health jurisdictions (LHJs), and the Western Regional Alliance for Pediatric Emergency Management (RAP-EM), among others. The exercise was designed to test healthcare response capabilities following a magnitude 9.0 Cascadia subduction zone earthquake that would severely affect western Washington.
Activities included situational awareness of impact to healthcare, identifying healthcare resource needs, redistributing resources for best use, discussion of patient movement concerns and application of waivers for staffing and care delivery requirements during widespread earthquake infrastructure disruptions. Participants evaluated how operational facilities in central and eastern Washington could help absorb or support increased demand for pediatric care, burn treatment, dialysis, medical logistics, and other specialized services. The Network demonstrated its expertise in healthcare decision-making, resource management, clinical support tools and resources, alternate communications, and coordination with response partners.
We applaud DOH for their leadership and engaging the Network as a critical response partner, along with ASPR funding that supported staff participation in planning and an internal adjacent exercise under diminished operating conditions.