NACCHO and the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) announced a new award program recognizing the accomplishments of local health departments (LHDs) related to national health security at the 2015 NACCHO Annual conference in Kansas City, MO. The National Health Security Award will recognize departments that have demonstrated significant accomplishments in implementing health security-related initiatives within their jurisdictions.

Your department’s day-to-day operations impact national health security across the country. Every time you run a vaccination clinic or spearhead a disease prevention campaign, you improve health security. Every time you track a disease outbreak or connect people with personal health services, like preventive or health promotion services, you give health security a boost. Every time you plan how to coordinate the delivery of drugs, supplies and provisions to disaster survivors and populations at risk or push a colleague to keep his or her knowledge and skills up-to-date, you advance our nation’s health security.

Everything LHDs do is meant to improve the health of people in their community, and healthier people are more likely to survive a disaster and bounce back faster. That’s what national health security is all about: the nation and its people being prepared for, protected from, and resilient in the face of incidents with negative health consequences.

We want to hear about the projects making a difference at the local level. LHDs are invited to submit applications for consideration in the following categories:

• Healthcare Coalition Building: Both medical and non-medical partners are crucial in addressing national health security needs in our communities. How do you engage these partners, and what are you working on as a group?
• Volunteer Recruitment and Training: Volunteers are a critical component to public health preparedness and response. How do you prepare and utilize your volunteers to address national health security-related issues?
• Youth Engagement: Young people can be a great resource for new ideas and energy. How are you involving the young people in your community in national health security-related initiatives?

One winner will be selected from each category, and arrangements will be made for awardees to be present at NACCHO Annual 2016, where they will be recognized for their invaluable contributions and commitment to national health security. During an award reception, a short video highlighting the accomplishments of award recipients will be screened, followed by a plaque presentation ceremony. Winners will also be featured in the NACCHO Preparedness Brief Blog.

Important Note: While every section does not require applicants to make the connection between the project/program and national health security, reviewers have been instructed to evaluate entire applications for how completely this connection is made. The most successful submissions will consistently demonstrate strong national health security themes throughout the entire application.

Applications will be accepted beginning September 1, 2015 until October 15, 2015. LHDs are invited to submit one application per category, but will only be eligible to win one award. Stay tuned for more information.