MEDICAL EMERGENCY
READINESS GROUP (MERG)
Expanding Alaska’s Emergency Response Network
The Joint Medical Emergency Preparedness Group (JMEPG) was founded in 1978 to serve the health and medical community by providing a space to collaborate on preparedness issues. The group has evolved over the years, changing its name in 2026 to Medical Emergency Readiness Group (MERG) and expanding its regional focus to a statewide effort.
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Through partnership with AHHA, the workgroup unites healthcare emergency managers across urban and rural Alaska with a mission to promote healthcare preparedness, and support communities and member organizations, while providing a space for collaboration remains the same. The group's focus is on joint training, education priorities, and network building.​​
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Community Partnership—Identify community partners who are vital to healthcare organizations during a disaster and develop relationships with those community partners to better integrate them into preparedness planning and activities.
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Planning—Work with regional and statewide entities to determine a cohesive plan for incident/disaster response.
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Communication and Information Sharing—Develop strategies for regional information exchange, as well as infrastructure to support situational awareness.
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Drills and Exercises—Plan and execute drills/ exercises to test the preparedness capabilities of healthcare entities. Collectively review and track After Action Reports and Corrective Actions.
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Training and Education—Seek and promote opportunities for training and education for all members.
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Resource Sharing—Develop strategies to promote coordination of resources and resource sharing before and during an incident or disaster.
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Participating Facilities:​
Alaska Native Medical Center
Alaska Psychiatric Institute
Alaska Regional Hospital
Arctic Slope Native Association
Bartlett Regional Hospital
Bristol Bay Area Health Corporation
Central Peninsula Hospital
Centennial Post Acute
Cordova Medical Center
Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson
Foundation Health Partners
Manillaq Health Center
​Mat-Su Regional Medical Center
Municipality of Anchorage/Anchorage Health Department
Norton Sound Health Corporation
PeaceHealth Ketchikan Medical Center
Petersburg Medical Center
Polaris Transitional & Extended Care
Providence Alaska Medical Center
Providence Kodiak Island Medical Center
Providence Seward Medical and Care Center
Providence St. Elias Specialty Hospital
Providence Valdez Medical Center
SEARHC
South Peninsula Hospital
Yukon Kuskokwim Health Corporation
Workgroup Chair
Michael Kubler
Manager of Safety and Emergency Management, Providence Alaska
The group meets quarterly. To be added to the mailing list, contact Debbie Lowenthal at dlowenthal@alaskahha.org.
AHHA Convenes Hospitals for Training to Boost Statewide Emergency Readiness
To strengthen Alaska’s resilience against large-scale medical surge emergencies, the Medical Emergency Readiness Group (MERG), in partnership with the Alaska Hospital and Healthcare Association (AHHA), hosted a training event on September 17 featuring a new solution to create more capacity in hospitals: converting a hotel into a hospital.
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Hotel2Hospital Project: A Practical Solution for Medical Surge
RESOURCES
Materials will be posted here as they become available.