PUBLIC HEALTH ARCHIVES
Emergency Preparedness: The ABGs of Radiation
Jeffrey Williams
September 14, 2011
Although radiation hazards are not a new concern, the impact of such hazards on first responders and emergency managers has been brought to the forefront with events such as the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 and the earthquake/tsunami nuclear power plant disaster in Fukushima, Japan, earlier this year. These
Resurrection & Remembrance: The World Trade Center
Joseph Cahill
September 14, 2011
During the fall of the twin towers, many responder groups, and individual responders, were forced to scatter. In addition, responder vehicles and equipment were lost, unit cohesion collapsed, and the air thickened into an almost opaque fluid. As the world’s visible edge moved closer and closer to the viewer on
Improving Situational Awareness During a Nuclear/Chemical Attack
Omar Alkhalaf
September 7, 2011
California’s Ventura County uses forward-looking tracking capabilities to plan for mass evacuations. Its emergency planners are already focusing on the worst-case scenarios of a future nuclear or chemical attack, including the possibility that hundreds of thousands of refugees from Los Angeles might see the county as their destination of choice
The Next Pandemic: Understanding the Public Health Role
Raphael M. Barishansky and Audrey Mazurek
September 7, 2011
In coping with pandemics, public health authorities play one of the most important roles in the overall process of planning, preparedness, response, and recovery. Although the term “pandemic” refers to a wide range of infectious diseases – e.g., human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), plague, smallpox, and tuberculosis – the current focus
The Growing Complexities of Port Rescue Operations
Corey Ranslem
August 31, 2011
Disaster-response operations are always risky, and almost always complicated. The risks and complications are demonstrably much greater, though, when the incident occurs in a major port, which is already a dangerous place to work and, in addition, has in recent years become a particularly attractive target for terrorists.
Answering the ‘What Ifs’ with Real-Life Training
Richard Schoeberl
August 24, 2011
The still young 21st century has already seen more acts of major terrorism, and more natural disasters, than ever before in recorded history. Most nations are for that reason improving their preparedness and response capabilities. But that is not enough – those capabilities must be thoroughly tested through a probably
Studying Hazardous Material Protective Gear in Action
Terrence K. Cloonan
August 17, 2011
With training programs offered in a “true toxic environment,” the Center for Domestic Preparedness (CDP) offers the perfect environment to test and develop new requirements, guidelines, and procedures for personal protective equipment (PPE). Building user confidence in PPE is yet another opportunity offered to emergency responders at the CDP.
Corporate Support for a Healthcare Facility in Crisis
Craig DeAtley
August 17, 2011
Hospitals and other healthcare facilities are marvelous at handling emergencies, healing the sick, and performing a host of minor and major daily miracles. But who heals the healer? In other words, what happens when the hospital itself is suffering from an explosion, an out-of-control fire, or any other type of
UK Approaches in Disaster Medical Education
James M. Matheson and Robert Stellman
August 17, 2011
In the long history of disaster medicine, it has never been more apparent than now how important it is to collaborate with a wide variety of disciplines and jurisdictions, both nationally and abroad. Responders from around the world can learn a lot from the UK’s expanding disaster medicine education and
Training for Multi-Agency Response Efforts
Jennifer Smither
August 10, 2011
Even successful responses can highlight areas in which improvement is needed in the training of responders, which is one reason – a big one – why the sharing of lessons learned is so important. Enhanced training that includes lessons from real-world situations and events can help responders familiarize themselves with
The New CDC ‘Zombies’ of Emergency Preparedness
Joseph Cahill
August 3, 2011
The immense increase in the use of social media offers many new opportunities to educate the American people on emergency preparedness in general and to move agency messages to a broader target audience. Another result of the much expanded range of information outlets – primarily the Internet – is that
Federal Government Initiatives on Grant Alignment
Clare Helminiak
July 27, 2011
A senior HHS executive, and world-class authority on medical-surge programs and requirements, discusses both the National Health Security Strategy the Whole Community FEMA approach – introduced earlier this year in that agency’s 2011-14 Strategic Plan – mandated to maintain “truly integrated and scalable public health…in an environment of increasingly constrained
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