Innovative public health staff augmentation concepts during a global pandemic

At the onset of the COVID-19 global pandemic, Florida's State Emergency Response Team's Emergency Support Function 8 (ESF-8) Health and Medical Staffing Unit faced a surge of personnel requests from the field. The unit found that, given the scope of requests, standard disaster staffing practices could not always accommodate the requirements of the requests. With full support of leadership, the ESF-8 Staffing Unit developed new and innovative practices to streamline the cumbersome hiring process including coordinating with internal and external partners to expedite staff identification and implementing just-in-time training.