The National Council of Urban Indian Health (NCUIH) is seeking applications from Title V Urban Indian Organizations (UIOs) interested in serving as a Storytellers for a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)-funded project on emergency preparedness/response and vaccine planning.

 Applications Are Now Open!

The National Council of Urban Indian Health (NCUIH) is recruiting UIO health care organizations and individuals to be Storytellers for NCUIH’s Protecting our Future through Vaccine Planning and Emergency Preparedness. Storytellers will be supporting other organizations through knowledge, experience, and resources to assist others to maneuver through adult vaccinations, such as influenza and COVID-19, within their organizations and roles.

Also, Storytellers will be awarded up to $30,000 for their leadership in providing and tracking documents, news articles, best practices, lessons learned, and vaccine plans. Help us by being part of the solution, a trail blazer through your organizations’ story telling of your vaccination journey!

The goal of COVID-19 Public Health Emergency Response and Vaccine Implementation Planning in UIOs is to develop the capacity of UIOs in COVID-19 preparedness, response and vaccine dissemination. Through COVID-19 Prevention and Control in UIOs, NCUIH will work closely with up to 41 UIOs to address public health priorities related to COVID-19 by supporting UIO public health emergency response and vaccine implementation planning.

NCUIH will accomplish this through talking circles, one-on-one technical assistance on the development of emergency preparedness/response and/or vaccine implementation as well as providing best practices, vaccine plans, and resources with all UIOs and provide information on NCUIH website, newsletter,and Sharepoint site

As part of this work, NCUIH aims to provide support to member organizations to promote sustainable systematic improvements in emergency preparedness/response and vaccine planning, progressing towards a culture of safety. Members provide a spectrum of primarily outpatient services including full ambulatory services (medical, dental, behavioral health, etc.), limited ambulatory (limited hours), outreach and referral services only, and residential treatment centers.

The project period will begin by October 2022, and end on July 31, 2023.

No specific work is implied or guaranteed, and specific activities and deliverables will be determined based on technical assistance needs of member organizations over the course of the project. Potential activities may include:

• Provide training to staff to successfully implement plan developed, with support of SME.
• Develop and provide acceptable template(s) and reference documents/materials for the UIOs in collaboration with CDC, in accordance to regulatory bodies and applicable government bodies that UIOs must address for their vaccination requirements, and addressing leadership and management emergency preparedness topics to include but not limited to:
  • Adult vaccinations
    • Federal regulations and guidelines
    • State regulations and guidelines
    • Indian Health Services (IHS) regulation and guidelines
  • Emergency preparedness
    • Policies
    • Procedures
  • Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)
• Share best practices with all UIOs and provide information to NCUIH to be utilized on NCUIH’s website and through the NCUIH newsletter
  • Template, SOPs, Policies and Procedures, Best Practices, Trainings utilized within the organization
• Support and assist in development of training events with NCUIH
• Assist in identifying training needs for UIO staff to support development of TA strategies
• Develop and deliver UIO training to successfully implement plans developed
• All other duties as assigned

Core Requirements

• Submit a minimum of two (2) articles to NCUIH's newsletter on emergency preparedness and/or vaccine planning
• Complete tracking spreadsheet of all documents, references, materials, etc. shared via Sharepoint and NCUIH Newsletter/Website
• Designate staff as a project director with commitment to emergency preparedness and/or vaccine planning
• Attend monthly check-in calls with NCUIH project staff & UIO Storytellers
• Provide documentation of all professional development trainings completed with proof of certification/attendance

Project activities, trainings and collaboratives are anticipated to include substantive participation from experts from CDC with experience in emergency preparedness/response and vaccine planning, however the expectation is the SME is available as an adjunct on an as needed basis to more rapidly and effectively meet the needs of NCUIH members.

Complete the form below for consideration. For questions, contact Yvonne Ito (yito@ncuih.org) or Aliyah Smith (asmith@ncuih.org)