Registered Nurse 4 (Public Health Emergency Response Nurse)

About This Job

The mission of the Louisiana Department of Health is to protect and promote health and to ensure access to medical, preventive, and rehabilitative services for all residents of the State of Louisiana.

Help protect the health and safety of communities across Louisiana. In this impactful role, you'll lead emergency preparedness efforts, coordinate public health response activities, support disease surveillance, and collaborate with healthcare providers and emergency management partners during disasters and public health emergencies. If you're a dedicated nursing professional who thrives in a fast-paced environment and is passionate about emergency response, public health, and serving your community, we encourage you to apply.

This position requires routine statewide duties, including fieldwork, inspections, investigations, or direct services that extend beyond the employee's domicile parish. These statewide responsibilities are an inherent and ongoing part of the job and may require frequent travel.

Minimum Qualifications

Possession of a current Louisiana Registered Nurse license or a temporary permit or multi-state license issued by a Nursing Licensure Compact (NLC/eNLC) state to practice as a registered nurse plus one of the following: Two years of experience as a licensed registered nurse; OR A bachelor's degree in nursing plus one year of experience as a licensed registered nurse; OR A master's degree in nursing or public health plus one year of experience as a licensed registered nurse; OR A doctorate in nursing or public health.

Job Duties and Other Information

Job Duties:

• Assists in special investigations and mass immunization programs. Attends all mandatory training required for team participants, including WMD/Bioterrorism Training. Assists with developing, planning, coordinating and implementing regional Emergency Response Plan. Assists and plans with parish emergency response partners for public health/bioterrorism threats in their parishes; and provides medical/nursing guidance as needed.
• Assists with constructing and implementing regional All-Hazards, i.e. Strategic National Stockpile Distribution Plan, Regional Pandemic Plan. Assists and composes After Action Report (AAR) and Improvement Plans following emergency response activities. Maintains disaster assignments for all OPII staff and utilizes web-based communication systems as needed.
• Responsible for credentialing, updating and maintaining regional Emergency Systems for Advanced Registration of Volunteer Health Professionals (ESAR-VHP) or LAVA, which is federally mandated. Responsible for updating and maintaining employees' training in Workforce Development. Informing and educating staff of training in regards to emergency preparedness, infectious diseases, and other public health topics. Conducts and assists with community outreaches; promoting emergency preparedness and recruiting LAVA volunteers.
• Responsible for educating and training all clinical staff on emergency preparedness issues, as well as, educating non-medical employees on and community on potential public health issues and emergency preparedness. Maintains records of employees' participation in in-services via web-based systems. Serves as a liaison between health units and health care providers; keeping community partners informed of any public health threats.
• Serves on the regional Rapid Response Team and Incident response team. Performance of duties may require responding to emergencies and public Health threats i.e. natural disaster, food-borne/infectious illnesses, environmental exposures and outbreaks as they emerge. Assists with surveillance of infectious diseases and bioterrorism. Coordinates with the regional Epidemiologist and Infection Control personnel in local hospitals as needed.
• Participates in emergency response activities, special investigations, mass immunization clinics and drills. Functions as Operation Chief in Command Structure during activation of the regional EOC. Serves as an OPH liaison for emergency events as needed to local parish EOC. Provides professional nursing care, leadership, and/or surveillance in response to an emergency situation in the community. Plans and collaborates with other Emergency response Personnel; staffing and deployment for Medical Special Needs Shelters, Bioterrorism Preparedness, Bus triage, and other public Health responses to Weapons of Mass Destruction.
• 5% Responsible for personally maintaining CPR certification and Nursing Licensure, as well as, performing any additional duties not listed in job description to ensure the functioning of agency operations at all levels. Supervises, educates, and provides professional nursing care in response to emergencies and public health/bioterrorist threats on a 24-hour basis situation in the community and statewide. Perform other duties as assigned by supervisor not necessarily reflected in current job description but necessary for a smooth operation of the Region.

Position-Specific Details:

Location: Office Public Health / OPH-Region 1-BRCO / Orleans Parish

Appointment Type: This position may be filled as a Job appointment (temporary appointment that may last up to 48 months)

Cost Center: View phone number on click.appcast.io

Position Number(s): 50330808

How To Apply:

No Civil Service test score is required in order to be considered for this vacancy.

To apply for this vacancy, click on the "Apply" link above and complete an electronic application, which can be used for this vacancy as well as future job opportunities.

Applicants are responsible for checking the status of their application to determine where they are in the recruitment process. Further status message information is located under the Information section of the Current Job Opportunities page.

* Information to support your eligibility for the position must be included in the application (i.e., relevant, detailed experience/education). Resumes will not be accepted in lieu of completed education and experience sections. Applications may be rejected if incomplete.

For information on how to check your application status and understand status updates, please click HERE (Download PDF reader).

Contact Information:

Patricia Walker

View email address on click.appcast.io

LA Department of Health (LDH)

Division of Human Resources

PO Box 4818

Baton Rouge, LA 70821 View phone number on click.appcast.io

This organization participates in E-Verify, and for more information on E-Verify, please contact DHS at View phone number on click.appcast.io.

LDH supports Louisiana's commitment to being a State as a Model Employer (SAME) by promoting the recruitment, hiring, and retention of individuals with disabilities.

Information on the Louisiana Works, Louisiana Rehabilitation Services is available here .

LDH is an equal opportunity employer and seeks to recruit a highly productive and diverse workforce and will provide equal employment opportunities to all employees and prospective employees. Employment decisions shall be based strictly on merit and without regard to religious or political beliefs, sex, race, or any other non-merit factor.

Benefits

Louisiana State Government represents a wide variety of career options and offers an outstanding opportunity to make a difference through public service. With an array of career opportunities in every major metropolitan center and in many rural areas, state employment provides an outstanding option to begin or continue your career. As a state employee, you will earn competitive pay, choose from a variety of benefits, and have access to a great professional development program:

Insurance Coverage More information can be found at

Parental Leave Up to six weeks paid parental leave More information can be found at

Holidays and Leave State employees receive the following paid holidays each year:

• New Year's Day
• Martin Luther King, Jr. Day,
• Mardi Gras,
• Good Friday,
• Memorial Day,
• Independence Day,
• Labor Day,
• Veteran's Day,
• Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day.

*** Additional holidays may be proclaimed by the Governor State employees earn sick and annual leave which can be accumulated and saved for future use. Your accrual rate increases as your years of service increase.

Retirement State of Louisiana employees are eligible to participate in various retirement systems (based on the type of appointment and agency for which an employee works). These retirement systems provide retirement allowances and other benefits for state officers and employees and their beneficiaries. State retirement systems may include (but are not limited to):

• Louisiana State Employees Retirement System ( LASERS has provided this video to give you more detailed information about their system
• Teacher's Retirement System of Louisiana (
• Louisiana School Employees Retirement System ( among others