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The Partnership for Effective Emergency Response (PEER) |
The Partnership for Effective Emergency Response (PEER) is a collaborative effort to enhance the communication capacity in the Greater Boston metropolitan area during response to health and medical emergencies and disasters. PEER includes the five discipline areas of hospitals, local health departments, long-term care facilities, ambulance services, and community health centers that serves 2.2 million people and 62 cities and towns in Preparedness Regions 4A, 4B, and 4C. PEER is coordinated by the Office of Public Health Practice at the Boston University School of Public Health.
Over the past 18 months, PEER has been developing a communication system to improve notification and provide situational awareness to our member organizations in the event of a health or medical emergency. The PEER Information Management System (PIMS) is one of its kind because it enables communication across five health disciplines in three geographic regions. During the initial pilot phase, a functional exercise was conducted to test the effectiveness of PIMS. Although the system worked as expected, the lessons learned are informing ongoing protocol revisions.
In addition to creating a communication system, PEER partners have taken, forged, and strengthen collaborative relationships with colleagues in other disciplines and regions.
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Boston University School of Public Health 
