The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently launched Project Firstline, a collaborative of diverse healthcare and public health partners that aims to provide engaging, innovative, and effective infection control training to more than 6 million healthcare personnel in the United States, as well as members of the public health workforce. Project Firstline will provide every person working in a U.S. healthcare facility the foundational understanding of infection control to protect the nation from infectious disease threats, such as COVID-19.

The project will increase local infection prevention and control (IPC) capacity by providing, in close collaboration with CDC, training and technical assistance to public health and healthcare professionals including local health department (LHD) staff, healthcare providers, and other professionals working in healthcare settings (e.g., frontline administrative staff, environmental cleaning staff). Training and technical assistance recipients may also include community stakeholders who can influence IPC awareness and practices in healthcare facilities and other settings where people receive care for their health and well-being. Training and technical assistance will also focus on settings (e.g., rural communities, nursing homes, other long-term care facilities) where populations are disproportionately affected by COVID-19.

NACCHO will provide training and technical assistance in support of CDC’s national healthcare workforce IPC training collaborative to: (1) build workforce capacity among LHDs and healthcare facilities; (2) enhance communications to and among LHDs; and (3) identify, develop, support, evaluate, and disseminate best practices, and implementation resources for local COVID-19 IPC efforts. LHDs will receive additional support to subsequently train and educate about IPC their communities so that people providing care for the health and well-being of others have greater IPC awareness, knowledge, and abilities. Project efforts will also seek to establish greater awareness of LHD and healthcare facility goals, priorities, opportunities, threats, needs, and strategies. NACCHO will facilitate information exchange and collaboration between LHDs and other key stakeholders at the federal, national, state, and local levels.

Read this one-pager to learn more about the program, and stay tuned for more updates.