Preparedness Starts With People: Stronger Connections, Stronger Preparedness

A strong laboratory preparedness and response system starts with a strong workforce, but building that workforce takes more than training alone. It takes opportunities to learn from experience, connect with peers, share knowledge and develop the next generation of preparedness professionals.

Across the Laboratory Response Network (LRN), programs like the Peer Network Program, CoLABorate Communities of Practice and APHL Emergency Preparedness and Response (EPR) Fellowship help create those opportunities. Together, they strengthen the people behind the network by building skills, sharing expertise, creating connections and ensuring that laboratories have a knowledgeable, collaborative and resilient workforce ready to respond when it matters most.

Connect, share, CoLABorate: Building community across the LRN

Have a question about how another laboratory is handling a challenge? Looking for a resource you know someone in the network must have? Or maybe you found something that worked really well and want to share it with others?

That’s exactly what the LRN CoLABorate Community of Practice is for.

CoLABorate, an APHL-operated online community, gives members of the LRN a space to connect beyond meetings, webinars and conference calls. It’s a place to ask questions, exchange ideas, share resources and learn from colleagues across the network.

And sometimes, all it takes is one question to start a valuable conversation.

For example, a recent discussion asked whether other LRN laboratories use Civil Support Teams as an option for surge testing or continuity of operations. It’s a simple question, but one that opens the door for laboratories across the country to share their experiences, partnerships, lessons learned and different approaches to maintaining testing capacity during an emergency.

That’s the real value of CoLABorate. Chances are, if your laboratory is thinking about a challenge, someone else in the network has thought about it too or may already have a solution to share.

And it doesn’t have to be formal. Ask a question. Share a resource. Post a lesson learned. Respond to a colleague. Even a quick exchange can spark a new idea, strengthen a partnership or save another laboratory from reinventing the wheel.

Better together: The value of the LRN Peer Network Program

Sometimes the best resource for solving a laboratory challenge isn’t a new guidance document or another webinar. It’s another laboratory that has already worked through it.

That’s the idea behind the LRN Peer Network Program.

Across the LRN, laboratories are tackling many of the same challenges: bringing on new technologies, training staff, maintaining readiness, increasing testing capacity and adapting to an ever-changing threat landscape. But no laboratory has to figure everything out on its own.

The Peer Network Program connects laboratories so they can learn directly from each other. A laboratory with experience implementing a new method can share what worked and what didn’t. A laboratory looking to strengthen surge capacity can hear how peers have approached staffing, workflows or equipment. Sometimes, simply having someone to call who understands the unique challenges of working in an LRN laboratory can make all the difference.

For Linda Galicia, a microbiologist who participated in the LRN Peer Network Program, one of the biggest benefits was creating a connection that continued beyond the experience.

“Participating in the LRN-B Peer to Peer Network gave me the opportunity to learn from another laboratory while also building a relationship with the team who hosted me. Having that connection is one of the most rewarding parts of the experience because it gives you people you can reach out to in the future when questions come up, or when you're looking to implement a new idea in your own laboratory.”  - Linda Galicia, microbiologist III, Houston Health Department

Those relationships can also strengthen connections between entire laboratory programs. Drew Francis described the program as an opportunity for laboratories to share successes while building relationships across state lines.

“The LRN Peer Network is an invaluable program that connected Arizona and Louisiana to exchange program successes and build connections between each other.” - Drew Francis, chief, Office of Microbiology and Molecular Diagnostics, Arizona Department of Health Services

For participants, those connections can translate directly into stronger preparedness back home.

“Participation in APHL’s LRN-B Peer Network Program has equipped me with fresh ideas and strengthened relationships that will directly support our emergency preparedness and response efforts. This experience reinforced the value of connection and partnership across the LRN-B community.” - Leticia Barton, manager, Bioterrorism and Emerging Pathogens Unit, North Carolina State Laboratory of Public Health

That’s what makes peer learning so valuable. A visit or conversation may be temporary, but the relationships, ideas and connections that come from it can continue to support laboratories long after the experience ends.

Prepared today, ready for tomorrow: Building the next generation of preparedness professionals

When a public health emergency happens, laboratories need more than the right equipment and testing methods. They need people who know how to respond, adapt and work together when it matters most.

That’s where the APHL EPR Fellowship can make a lasting difference.

Emergency Preparedness and Response is one of the focus areas within the Public Health Laboratory Fellowship Program: an APHL-CDC Initiative, which provides fellows with hands-on experience at host laboratories while building skills aligned with public health laboratory competencies. But the experience is about much more than learning how a laboratory operates.

EPR fellows get an opportunity to see preparedness in action. Through meaningful projects and experiences, they can learn how laboratories plan for emergencies, strengthen response capabilities, work with partners and tackle the unexpected challenges that are part of public health preparedness.

Mentors are an important part of that experience, helping fellows build both the technical knowledge and confidence they will need throughout their careers. Ricardo Quijano, an LRN laboratory supervisor who has served as a fellowship mentor, described mentorship as an investment in the future workforce.

“Serving as a mentor in public health has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my career. Guiding fellows as they navigate the many facets of public health and emergency preparedness reminds me how essential mentorship is in building the confidence and expertise of our future workforce.” - Ricardo Quijano, laboratory supervisor, Houston Health Department

And while fellows are learning, they’re also contributing.

They bring new perspectives, new ideas and additional capacity to the laboratories that host them. That creates a win for everyone. Fellows gain real-world experience, laboratories have an opportunity to develop emerging professionals and the public health laboratory system builds a stronger pipeline of people who understand preparedness and response.

That workforce investment matters. APHL’s preparedness work recognizes that laboratory readiness depends on strengthening both systems and people so laboratories can respond quickly and effectively when emergencies arise.

Today’s fellow could be tomorrow’s laboratorian, preparedness coordinator, program leader or the person helping lead a response to the next emerging threat.

At the end of the day, preparedness is about people. The connections built through the Peer Network Program, CoLABorate and the EPR Fellowship help create a community that can share ideas, solve problems and support one another.

“Preparedness is stronger when laboratories are connected. These programs give laboratorians opportunities to learn from peers, develop new skills and build relationships that become invaluable during a response.” – Michael Perry, DrPH, director, Biodefense Laboratory, New York State Department of Health – Wadsworth Center

Those relationships matter when a response happens. Knowing whom to call, where to ask a question and who has experience to share can make a real difference.

When we strengthen the people behind the LRN, we strengthen the whole network.