The primary purpose of the SDHDC is to engage the entire healthcare and disaster community to work together toward emergency/disaster preparedness, response, and recovery. It accomplishes this through the following efforts:

• Promoting quality in the delivery of disaster patient/victim care services by assessing the level of healthcare preparedness, identifying gaps, and making recommendations on activities to address gaps.
• Supporting the needs of healthcare organizations while ensuring the on-going needs of the community are met.
• Developing and implementing effective practices including planning, education, and evaluation as they relate to emergency preparedness.
• The coalition focuses on collaboration among healthcare partners to strengthen regional preparednessm while coordinating with the County Health Officer, the Medical Health Operational Area Coordinator (MHOAC), and the Public Health Emergency Preparedness (PHEP) program to ensure alignment with broader public health and medical response efforts.
• Aligning with the National Response Framework Annex process: Emergency Support Function 8 (Public Health and Medical Services), the State of California Emergency Plan: Emergency Function 8 Public Health and Medical Annex and the California Department of Public Health Emergency Operations Manual process at the local level in accordance with NIMS and SEMS.